Pamela's character of Richard Novel

Pamela's character of Richardson  Novel

  P-102 Assignment

Name-Kishan Jadav

 Paper 102:Literature of the Neo-classical Period   

Topic :- Pamela's character of Richardson Novel

Roll no-11

Enrollment no-3069206420200008

Email id- jadavkishan55555@gmail.com

Batch-2020-22 (MA Sem-1)

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English,

                Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Pamela's character of Richardson Novel

Introduction :-

                  "Pamela" is a novel.  In which Richards depicts the characters named Pamela.  Which depicts the female character of the character he saw.  How a woman who lives in the midst of her own society saves her work and religion.  Here is a brief introduction to what we see in this novel. Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel first published in 1740 by English writer Samuel Richardson. Considered one of the first true English novels, it serves as Richardson's version of conduct literature about marriage. Pamela tells the story of a fifteen-year-old maidservant named Pamela Andrews, whose employer, Mr. B, a wealthy landowner, makes unwanted and inappropriate advances towards her after the death of his mother. Pamela strives to reconcile her strong religious training with her desire for the approval of her employer in a series of letters and, later in the novel, journal entries all addressed to her impoverished parents. After various unsuccessful attempts at seduction, a series of sexual assaults, and an extended period of kidnapping, the rakish Mr. B eventually reforms and makes Pamela a sincere proposal of marriage. In the novel's second part Pamela marries Mr. B and tries to acclimatize to her new position in upper-class society. The full title, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, makes plain Richardson's moral purpose. A best-seller of its time, Pamela was widely read but was also criticized for its perceived licentiousness and disregard for class barriers. The action of the novel is told through letters and journal entries from Pamela to her parents.

              Pamela, who is aged 15 when her story begins, has been employed by a middle-aged lady as a maidservant and companion. The novel begins with the lady’s death. Pamela’s real sorrow mingles realistically with her anxieties about getting another job. The lady’s adult son Mr B assures this daughter of a poor family that she need not worry, but eventually she finds cause for concern in his attentions. Pamela Andrews must free herself and find another situation.Pamela has a lot of different capabilities.  We find within this novel that Pamela as a woman, Pamela as a father's daughter, Pamela as a maid, Pamela as a husband's wife, and Pamela as a women.

1] Pamela as Servant:-

   “O Sir! my Soul is of equal Importance with the Soul of a Princess; though my Quality is inferior to that of the meanest Slave.”

               -Pamela, 158

                 From the above quotation we know that Pamela may have been working as an ideal maid. So let's get some information about her.  Pamela works as a maid at Lady B's house.  Who is only a 15 year old girl but due to home conditions she does the work of this maid.  She does her work diligently and with dedication and faith.  However the author describes the fact that she did not have any kind of discrimination such as hatred or stealing.  After Lady B.'s death, her son, Mr. B., manages the house.  Then she worries what will happen to my job now?  Do I have to go back to my home again in the same poor situation?  Can't I help my parents now?  Will this new owner keep me as a maid now?  How many such questions were popping up in her mind.  The answers were very hard to come by.  Because she was more worried about her poverty she wanted to help her parents so many such questions were simmering in her mind like clouds at once.  She was also telling her friend another maid what will happen to us now?  Will this new owner keep us?  So the answer to all her questions is coming in this one sentence of Mr. B.  He told all the servants to continue working the way they were working there.  No one will be fired.  Pamela is very happy to hear this.  She works as a maid inside the house but now the concern was that the absence of a man could raise a big question mark over a woman's character.  And what happens in this novel is that Mr. B is attracted to his maid Pamela and tries to make her his own.  But Pamela wants to keep herself holy.  So even though her owner says no, she maintains her virtue despite being a slave.  It's a big deal to refuse your boss even though Pamela is a maid.  Because if he refuses, he is likely to lose his job.  Pamela is also willing to put up her own job to preserve her sanctity.  Of course, these qualities with the fact that she's a tender fifteen years old when the book opens, hardly old enough to have her driver's license. Plus, she's a woman and a servant, which in the hierarchy of the eighteenth century meant that she had about as much power as a toddler has today—and maybe even less.

       You can see some of the naiveté that comes with those qualities in her early dismissal of her parents' concerns about staying with Mr. B: "I Must needs say, that your letter has fill'd me with much Trouble. For it has made my Heart, which was overflowing with Gratitude for my young Master's Goodness, suspicious and fearful; and yet, I hope I never shall find him to act unworthy of his Character; for what could he get by ruining such a poor young Creature as me?" (6.1).  

        So Pamela as a maid proves to be fearless and virtuous.  Who is always loyal to his master but cannot bear if his master has a bad eye towards him.  And she informs her parents about all this through letters.

2] Pamela as Daughter :-

“Indeed I am Pamela, her own self!”

                          -Pamela, 56

            This is the first line of what Pamela says about herself at the beginning of the novel.  She wrote letters to her parents every day telling them that this had happened to me.  She always wrote to her parents about every incident.  However this one mark was good in her as a daughter.  Because telling parents everything about themselves is a big deal for a daughter.  Her parents had to send her to work outside because she was living in poverty.  Therefore, since the parents are also worried about their daughter, the daughter understands herself and writes down everything that happened to her parents in a letter and tells her parents everything.  This indicates how loyal a daughter is to her parents.  In the same letter he tells his parents without any hesitation about the good and bad things that happen to Pamela.  However, this may seem like a common thing.  But a daughter is not able to tell her father everything.  He also tells about the bad things that happened to her through these letters.  He proves that he maintains his holiness and respect even though he is poor.  Her father also tells her to maintain chastity.  Which is a big deal for a daughter and a father.  It is a new thing for her father that a fifteen year old daughter has to work as a maid in someone else's house.  Which is said to be the biggest concern.  But Pamela provides the role of an ideal daughter in this novel that tells every happening event to her father.  He also informs his father by letter of the matter when Mr. B rapes him.  So from this we can say that Pamela as a daughter proves to be an ideal and cultured daughter in this novel.  In which saves the father and his virtue as a daughter

3] Pamela as wife:-

“[L]et us talk of nothing henceforth but Equality.”

                          -Pamela, 350

           Pamela was a poor girl.  So she is known as a low level girl.  But her marriage takes place with Mr. B.  Who is a rich man.  And the caste is also an upper class man.  So when he marries Pamela, Pamela tells him that we are no longer inferior or inferior.  Mr. B persuades Pamela many times to marry him.  Pamela was his maid.  The first time they chose him they didn’t just have to marry him.  He just wanted Pamela to settle down.  But hearing Pamela's words, they are ready to marry him.  When Pamela realizes that Mr. B is not married, he already has a daughter.  Even though Pamela knows all this, she accepts that if I am married to her now, then she is my husband.  He also accepts his daughter.  So Pamela proves to be a virtuous woman.  Because he forgot all the incidents that happened to Pamela and now he is married.  So she wants to start her own marriage, believing that she is her husband.  Pamela maintained her chastity until Pamela was married to Mr. B.  So it can be said that Pamela is a heroic woman.

4]  Pamela as women:-

“All the Good I can do, is but a poor third-hand Good; for my dearest Master himself is but the Second-hand. GOD, the All-gracious, the All-good, the All-bountiful, the All-mighty, the All-merciful GOD, is the First: To HIM, therefore, be all the Glory!”

                                                     -Pamela, 497

                   This passage, one of her final reflections in the novel, is Pamela’s effort to inoculate herself against the possibility of vanity and pride in her new position. Pamela is portrayed as a female character in this novel.  Because a woman can be a mother, a daughter, a wife.  And the biggest thing for any woman is her self-esteem.  If a woman cannot have a relationship with another against her will.  Because he has more respect for his parents.  Which we see through the character of Pamela in this novel.  Even though she is a 15 year old girl, she preserves her reputation and virtue.  She is a good maid, a good daughter and a good wife.  Fills all roles as a woman.  The dignity of women in society is an important issue.  Because at that time women were considered inferior.  But Pamela's character is pure and sattvic, she comes before us as a holy woman, as an ideal wife.

Conclusion :-

                We see Pamela as a woman in many different ways in this novel.  In which a woman as a woman,  as a daughter,  as a wife and as a maid. Nothing can save Pamela, not even unconsciousness – nothing except Mr B’s inner unwillingness to commit the rape. He always hoped that Pamela would somehow fall in with his scenarios. When she absolutely refuses, he finds that committing an assault, an injury to one he loves, is not what he truly wills. After this turning point the couple must learn to talk to each other without pretences. There can be no real love without free choice. Pamela makes her most important choice – trusting Mr B – without consulting her parents.Moving through sexual harassment and assault to love and marriage, the presentation of Pamela and Mr B’s relationship has always troubled Richardson’s readers – as the author intended. 

Citation:

Castle, Terry. "An analysis of Pamela -or virtue rewarded by Samuel Richardson." The Insistence of the Letter: Fiction and Experience in the Novels of Samuel Richardson, 1980, Accessed 14 Feb. 2021.

Keymer, Tom, and Peter Sabor. Research paper on Analysis of Pamela Character. London: Routledge, 2001. Accessed 14 Jan.-Feb. 2021.

Richardson, Samuel. Pamela; or, Virtue rewarded [by S. Richardson]. 1811.

Sabor, Peter. "JOSEPH ANDREWS AND PAMELA." Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 1, no. 3, 2008, pp. 169-181.

Words -1860

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