"A fair match, by Jupiter!": Language, Performance, and Struggle in Richardson's Clarissa by Allison Marie Murphy

This thesis insists we read Richardson's Clarissa not just for its words, but for the unwritten languages--such as gestures and clothing--in which the characters also communicate. By paying attention to these details, Murphy argues, the struggle between Lovelace and Clarissa is not so one-sided. I liked this approach: it accounts for Clarissa's agency (and the reader's interest in her) far better than other accounts that see her as a passive tool of her foes (both her family and Lovelace).