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I was proceeding; and he said a
little hastily— Because you're a little Fool, and know not what's good for
yourself. I tell you, I will make a Gentlewoman of you, if you be obliging,
and don't stand in your own Light; and so saying, he put his Arm about me,
and kiss'd me!
Now you will say, all his Wickedness appear'd plainly. I struggled,
and trembled, and was so benumb'd with Terror, that I sunk down, not in a
Fit, and yet not myself; and I found myself in his Arms, quite void of
Strength, and he kissed me two or three times, as if he would have eaten me.
—At last I burst from him, and was getting out of the Summer-house; but he
held me back, and shut the Door.
I would have given my Life for a Farthing. And he said, I'll do you
no Harm, Pamela; don't be afraid of me. I said, I won't stay! You won't,
Hussy, said he! Do you know who you speak to! I lost all Fear, and all
Respect, and said, Yes, I do, Sir, too well! —Well may I forget that I am
your Servant, when you forget what belongs to a Master.
I sobb'd and cry'd most sadly. What a foolish Hussy you are, said
he, have I done you any Harm? — Yes, Sir, said I, the greatest Harm in the
World: You have taught me to forget myself, and what belongs to me, and have
lessen'd the Distance that Fortune has made between us, by demeaning
yourself, to be so free to a poor Servant. Yet, Sir, said I, I will be so
bold to say, I am honest, tho' poor; And if you was a Prince, I would not be
otherwise.
He was angry, and said, Who would have you otherwise, you foolish
Slut! Ceafe your blubbering! I own I have demean'd myself; but it was only
to try you: If you can keep this Matter secret, you'll give me the better
Opinion of your Prudence; and here's something, said he, putting some Gold
in my Hand, to make you Amends for the Fright I put you to. Go, take a Walk
in the Garden, and don't go in till your blubbering is over: And I charge
you say nothing of what has past, and all shall be well, and I'll forgive
you.
I won't take the Money, indeed, Sir, said I; poor as I am! I won't
take it: for to say Truth, I thought it look'd like taking Earnest; and so I
put it upon the Bench; and as he seem'd vex'd and confus'd at what he had
done, I took the Opportunity to open the Door, and went out of the
Summer-house.
In this part,
though Pamela is frightened and cries, she successfully escapes from the
room instead of submitting to his seducement and bully. Her bold rebellion
against her master shows her virgin and self-esteem.
The epistolary mode in Pamela is much more than a narrative
structure upon which the plot constructs. Rather, the exchanges of letters
are vital to the formation of character and the dynamics of the plot, as
various letters are intercepted and fall into the wrong hands. In Pamela,
letters demonstrate an almost revolutionary potential to stand against B.'s
attempts to manipulate and control the heroine's life. Letters allow Pamela
to contest B.'s narrative of events, to create her own counter-plots to the
schemes that Mr. B. contrives against her. When Pamela can no longer send
her letters to her family, she stitches her letters to her under-petticoat,
emphasizing their status as a material articulation of her selfhood. Mr. B.
becomes increasingly preoccupied with her letters, and the narrative they
contain. In order to fully obtain Pamela, B. realizes that he must divest
her of her letters. Therefore, in this novel, Letters’ role is essential and
cannot be neglected.
Besides the creative employment of epistolary form, it
abandons the “improbable and marvelous” achievements of the former heroic
romance, and describes realistically the life and love of common earthly
people. The adoption of the first person singular particularly arouses
readers’ sympathy and eager concern for the fate of the heroine. It is the
first English psychoanalytical novel because the author depicts not only the
characters’ speech and behavior but also their thoughts and feelings.
Though critics in different decades differentiate their views on Pamela a
lot, it has its own position in English literature. In Richardson’s age, the
Pamela’s vogue had its greatest impact in the literary marketplace. It
spawned numerous proses, dramatic and even operatic imitations that sought
to imitate on Pamela's success, such as Pamela's Conduct in High Life (1741)
by John Kelly. Furthermore, the influence of the novel reached far beyond
the immediate literary success, it arguably contributes to the literary
trend of sentimentalism in the late eighteenth century.
Apart from the employment of outstanding epistolary form in
his novels, Richardson also tried every means to combine moral instruction
the works beauty together. He is good at describing characters’ inner life
with exquisite and fine diction. No doubt, Richardson made a remarkable
contribution to the development of English novels and is always regarded as
one of the greatest novelists in the eighteenth century. He even influenced
the later novelists such as Henry James, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.
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