Saturday, January 23, 2010

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson

This book chronicles the adventures of the lovely Pamela, a beautiful young maid who converts her master from a rake to an honorable gentleman through her goodness and virtue. At times Richardson waxes long. Very long. And the gender politics are not always what I would prefer--Mr. B. makes a big point of how a woman can marry up because her husband ought to be her master, whereas if she marries down, she subjects herself to someone below her, socially. Still, Pamela shows resistance to passive acceptance, first in her commitment to virtue over her duties to her master, and later, as her husband gives her a list of rules (48!) that she ought to follow as his wife, she copies them out (for her parents to read) and then gives some gentle commentary. Another part of the book I found useful was the insistence on the connection between the written word (Pamela's journal entries to her parents) and the soul--several characters see these letters as a way to know Pamela. Furthermore, during her captivity, Pamela secrets her writings on her body--emphasizing that reading them without her consent is as much a violation as the other tricks Mr. B. undertakes. Finally, I think the Sally Godfrey story is worth mentioning. It allows Pamela to demonstrate her goodness twice over--first in proving that Mr. B. was a rake who needed to be reformed and second in her generosity in bringing Miss Goodwin (daughter of Sally Godfrey and Mr. B. ) to live with them.

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