A Novel of Letters

A striking aspect of the novel Pamela is the form it takes as a series of letters written to her parents describing the various circumstances she finds herself in in which she supposedly has no control. Thus far, we have discussed the form of the novel as a venue which can expose the interior of characters through the scenarios they are put in. In Hayood’s Love In Excess, we were able to understand the motives behind the main characters. Melliora struggled between preserving her virtue despite the countless advances of Count, and Alyvosa was always enraged with jealousy; in the midst of all of these unfolding events, the omniscient narrator walked us through the emotions and motives. Last weeks, Robinson Crusoe, we went further deep into the interior of a single character’s narration through his struggles on the island. He told us his thoughts at every moment of recollection. This week, we have a combination of the letters in Haywood’s novel and the interiority of Crusoe’s first person narration in the letters written by Pamela that tell the story. Drawing such connections on what we have read so far, it is important to explore the epistolary form and why Richardson would choose to use it for the majority of the story’s narration.

Last week, Cooper discussed Pamela in his presentation of Ian Watt’s argument on the teleological rise of the novel. Richardson’s audience was increasingly comprised of lower class women who had time to read, and his own concerns included moral construction and matrimonial affairs. As the title, Pamela; or Virtue Rewarded, indicates, the novel is about a virtue that is rewarded—thus instructing the lower class on how to remain virtuous and maintain their sexual agency regardless of circumstance. Here, Richardson shows how a lower class woman, a servant, whom were typically not virtuous or considered women of high moral regard, upholds her morality and in the end lives happily ever after. Back to why Richardson chose the novel form, the genre enables him to demonstrate the interiority of her feelings as she dodges each sexual advance by Mr. B and finds herself in different scenario. The epistolary form especially enables the interiority as they are written from her perspective; the interiority of her thoughts are reinforced especially when she is held at Mr. B’s country house (Lincolnshire Estate) and continues to write even though she is unsure that her parents will ever receive the letters. Since she is so uncertain, at that point she is keeping a sort of journal (she titles it that at the beginning of Vol II).

Just like Melliora who maintained her virtue and Count’s advances, and in the end was rewarded with a marriage to the charismatic nobleman, Pamela, too, has resisted the advances of Mr. B and we see at the end of this first part she is on her way to marrying him. The main difference is that Melliora wasn’t of a lower status as Pamela was a servant. Accordingly, Richardson writes this tale to show that regardless of status, a woman should maintain her virtue and will get rewarded accordingly.