Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Richardson's Pamela (1740-1) |
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| Author | Samuel Richardson |
|---|---|
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Epistolary novel |
| Publisher | Messrs Rivington & Osborn |
| Released | 1740 |
| ISBN | NA |
Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, first published in two volumes in 1740. It tells the story of a maid named Pamela whose master, Mr. B., makes unwanted advances towards her. She rejects him continually, and her virtue is eventually rewarded when he shows his sincerity by proposing an equitable marriage to her. In the second part of the novel, Pamela attempts to accommodate herself to upper-class society and to build a successful relationship with him. Revised editions followed in February 1741 and again three more later in the year, revised subsequently in 1746, 1754 and again after Richardson's death in 1761.[1]
The story was widely mocked at the time for its perceived licentiousness and it inspired Henry Fielding (among many others) to write two parodies: Shamela (1742), about Pamela's true identity; and Joseph Andrews (1742), about Pamela’s brother.
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[edit] Conduct books and the novel
When Richardson began writing Pamela, he conceived of it as a conduct book. (One could say that the eighteenth-century conduct book is the forerunner of today’s etiquette and self-help books.). But as he was writing, the series of letters turned into a story. Richardson then decided to write in a different genre, the novel, which at the time was a new form. He attempted to instruct through entertainment. In fact, most novels from the middle of the eighteenth century and well into the nineteenth century, following Richardson’s lead, claimed legitimacy through their ability to teach as well as to amuse.
[edit] Plot summary
[edit] Epistolarity
Epistolary novels, that is, novels written as a series of letters, were extremely popular during the eighteenth century and it was Richardson's Pamela that made them so. Richardson and other novelists of his time argued that the letter allowed the reader greater access to a character's thoughts - Richardson claimed that he was writing "to the moment," that is, that Pamela's thoughts were recorded nearly simultaneously with her actions.
In the novel, Pamela writes two kinds of letters. At the beginning of the novel, while she is deciding how long to stay on at Mr. B’s after the death of his mother, she writes letters to her parents relating her various moral dilemmas and asking for their advice. After Mr. B abducts her and imprisons her in his countryhouse, she continues to write letters to her parents, but because she is unsure whether or not her parents will ever receive them, they are to be considered both letters and a diary.
In Pamela, the reader receives only the thoughts and letters of Pamela, restricting the reader’s access to the other characters; we see only Pamela's perception of them. In Richardson's other novels, Clarissa (1748) and Sir Charles Grandison (1753), the reader is privy to the letters of several characters and can thus more effectively evaluate the motivations and moral values of the characters.
[edit] The body
Pamela’s body is often at the center of the events in the novel. Mr. B attacks it as much as her morality. In fact, he often attacks her virtue through her body. For example, he attempts to kiss her at one point and she has to shake him free. In another important episode in the novel, Mr. B attempts to rape Pamela, but she “conveniently” faints. Finally, in one of the most revealing scenes of the novel, Mr. B attempts to steal the letters that Pamela has hidden in her petticoats. The letters have, in a sense, become herself.
[edit] Literary significance & criticism
[edit] Reception
Richardson’s novel was the bestseller of its time. It was read by countless buyers of the novel and was also read aloud in groups. For example, one apprentice might buy or borrow the novel and read it aloud to the others while they were working. The novel was also integrated into sermons as an exemplar. It was even an early “multimedia” event—fans and mugs, among many other items, were illustrated with Pamela themes.
[edit] Richardson's revisions
The popularity of Richardson’s novel led to much public debate over its message and style. Richardson responded to some of the criticisms by revising the novel for each new edition; he even created a “reading group” of women to advise him. Some of the most significant changes that he made were his alterations to Pamela’s vocabulary. In the first edition her diction is that of a lower-class maid, but in later editions Richardson made her more linguistically middle-class by removing the lower-class idioms from her speech. In this way, he made her marriage to Mr. B less scandalous as she appeared to be more his equal in education.
[edit] Criticism
- Armstrong, Nancy. Desire and Domestic Fiction: A Political History of the Novel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
- Doody, Margaret Anne. ‘’A Natural Passion: A Study of the Novels of Samuel Richardson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974.
- McKeon, Michael. The Origins of the English Novel: 1600-1740. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
- Watt, Ian. The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1957.
[edit] Allusions/references from other works
- 2007 - Jonathan Freedland The Long View
On 9 Jan 2007 BBC Radio 4 broadcast The Long View which contrasted Pamela's effect on eighteenth-century society with that of video games on twentieth-century society.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Pamela the Novel. Eighteenth Century England at Department of English, University of Michigan (2001). Retrieved on 24-01-2007.
[edit] References
- Richardson, Samuel (1940). Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, 1st, London: Messrs Rivington & Osborn.
- Doody, Margaret Ann (1995). Introduction to Samuel Richardson's Pamela. Viking Press.
