Pamela

I've fallen behind in my blogging, so for now I'm just laying out some of the initial impressions I had of Pamela. (I know that a lot of this was discussed in class and in the secondary readings).
First, I hated Mr. B. and somehow found him just as repulsive after his supposed transformation, which happens much too quickly and too completely to be believable.
One of the things that is disturbing about him is his severe case of virgin/whore syndrome. He is chastened by the proof of Pamela's virtue that he finds in her letters, but before he has that proof, when she's just a servant, he think it's all right to assault her. (I think it's interesting that a lot of the insults he hurls at her for simply telling the truth about him --"hussy," "boldface," "saucebox," etc., seem to connote promiscuity as well as defiance). So has he really changed, or has he only changed his behavior toward her? Will he continue to harass other servants or poor girls whom he deems less virtuous than Pamela?

The way that the novel deals with class was what stood out to me the most. It is strange that Richardson saw his novel as promoting virtue, when money is such an important concern in it. The message isn't so much that "virtue" is "rewarded," but that one should use one's assets wisely. Pamela raises her value as a commodity by making herself unavailable for sex. She is rewarded with a man who is abusive to his servants and gets away with it because he is wealthy. The novel shows the tyranny of the wealthy over the poor, but also approves it with the idea that Pamela should always "honor" her "master" and that she should love the would-be rapist who kidnaps and imprisons her. She explicitly deplores the power that the wealthy have over the poor, but other events in the novel support class hierarchies. For instance, Pamela keeps saying that Mr. B. is the man who would most deserve her respect if only he would behave as her "master" and stop trying to rape her. This is a rather low threshold for earning her respect.

Another thing that is interesting is how the nosy aristocrat neighbors ask to see Pamela's reunion with her father and read her letters. It's as if the emotional lives of the servants exist for their entertainment. But Pamela goes along with all of that and tells them everything, why? Because she's eager for their approval? Because she enjoys an audience? Because she's a gossipy teenage girl who doesn't know any better? Is it just how it was in those days, that letters were important not just for communication, but for entertainment? Is Richardson satirizing the idle rich? Or does he think that a good poor girl should have to perform and prostrate herself in the way that Pamela does, not only sharing her letters with them but also constantly assuring them that she doesn't think she's as good as they are? Part of Pamela's "virtue" is the humility of knowing her place (although she exhibits an odd combination of humility and vanity and often reports that others praise her for her humility).