Composing Purpose in Richardson's "Pamela"

Author(s): Jane Blanchard

Source: South Atlantic Review , Spring 2011, Vol. 76, No. 2 (Spring 2011), pp. 93-107
Published by: South Atlantic Modern Language Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43050924

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 Composing Purpose in
Richardson's Pamela

Jane Blanchard

In 1740 the E
his own Pame
letters from
of her mistre
mistress' son,
same "Proflig
an engaging
response tha
so primarily
deal of enter
and sentimen
enjoy the at
the same tim
is thus trace
agenda often
reader pause
or unintentio
writer is or h
that Richard
Depending
confessional,
her meta-nar
since it offer
other characte

In Richardson
of meta-narr
Pamela: or, V
a Beautiful Y
In order to
the Minds of
its Foundat
that it agree

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94 Jane Blanchard
Incidents, is intirely divested of all those Images,
many Pieces calculated for Amusement only, te
the Minds they should instruct.
This marvelous front-piece forthrighdy states t
author, who adopts the persona of a lovely, young,
servant purportedly writing her beloved parents, in
and delight his readership. With this declaration th
fulfills the request of the friendly booksellers who
produce such a work,5 meets the centuries-old stan
moral instruction by delightful means,6 and addresses
concern that fiction, especially in prose form, mig
and thus dangerous to the reading public, especially
young females.7
After the tide page comes the Preface by the Editor,
a series of conditional clauses specifying justificatio
and the first one again discloses the author's purpo
Entertain, and at the same time to Instruct, and Improv
Youth of both Sexes." Toward the end of this prefa
Editor " ventures to assert, that all these desirable Ends a
Sheets : And as he is therefore confident of the favourable
boldly bespeaks for this little Work; he thinks any furthe
for it, unnecessary ." These claims sound rather presum
are prescient nonetheless, for Richardson's work
widespread approbation, even to the point of literar
Editor next declares that others who read with "the least Attention "
will be as "uncommonly moved in persuing [sic] these engaging Scene /' as
he has been, before he finally maintains that "an Editor may reasonably
be supposed to judge with an Impartiality which is rarely to be met with in an
Author towards his own Works " (3). With these statements, the Editor
is definitely stacking the deck by suggesting that anyone who is not
"moved" (presumably favorably) by this book must not be paying
proper " Attention ." In addition, this unnamed Editor is being deceptive
as well as manipulative by distinguishing himself from the unnamed
Author, when Richardson actually served in both capacities regarding
the publication of this book.9
Moreover, a reader does not have to go far into the book itself to
realize that Pamela Andrews's letters are so much more than mere

summaries for her parents. They do start out as such, by reporting what
happens after the death of Pamela's beloved and beneficent mistress, as

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 South Atlantic Review 95

Pamela wonders whether she will continue employmen

or be sent home. But since the person making this de
Lady's son, the rakish Mr. B., who takes a less-than
in Pamela, things get complicated very quickly. In
Mr. B. has made advances toward Pamela in the Summer-house and
has then instructed her and bribed her to "keep this Matter secret" (35),
one of Pamela's letters goes missing, the one reporting the "Matter," of
course; and Pamela suspects that the letter has been stolen, especially
since she has observed that Mr. B. has observed her writing and has even
complained to Mrs. Jervis, "This Girl is always scribbling; I think she
may be better employ'd" (34), and again, "That Girl is always scribbling;
methinks she might find something else to do, or to that purpose" (37).
Pamela righdy concludes that Mr. B. is culpable (directly or indirecdy)
for the theft of her letter when she overhears him tell Mrs. Jervis during
another conversation, "Well, no more of this silly Girl . . . you may only
advise her, as you are her Friend, not to give herself too much Licence
upon the Favours she meets with; and if she stays here, that she will not
write the Affairs of my Family purely for an Exercise to her Pen and her
Invention. I tell you, she is a subde artful Gypsey, and time will shew it
you" (39-40). Then, when Mr. B. confronts Pamela herself about talking
to and about writing to others about his actions, Pamela boldly charges,
"[Y]ou could not have asked me this Question, if you had not taken
from me my Letter to my Father and Mother, in which, I own, I had
broke my Mind freely to them, and asked their Advice, and poured forth
my Griefs!" (41). Importandy, Mr. B. does not deny anything; instead,
he angrily responds, "And so I am to be exposed ... in my House, and
out of my House, to the whole World, by such a Sawcebox as you?"
(41). In this outburst, Mr. B. neither explains nor excuses his behavior;
rather, he blames Pamela for opposing and reporting it. This incident
imparts that Pamela's writing appalls her new employer because it reveals
his true character, that is, his questionable character, to those outside
his household and thus beyond his control. According to Andrew
Alexander, Mr. B. considers such writing "a threat" since it allows others
to "measure [his] private conduct against the public image he wishes to
project" (26). The so-called gendeman finds himself embarrassed and
infuriated by an audacious servant girl who records as well as resists his
advances, and so, as Jessica Leiman observes, "he wilfully [sic] shifts the
onus of transgression from himself to Pamela . . . [and] blurs the moral

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96 Jane Blanchard
distinction between his sexual advances and her epi
them . . . (239).
Pamela's descriptions of the less-than-honorable b
justify the concerns of herself, her parents, and he
regarding her remaining in the household. But Mr. B.
let her go, and so he attempts to keep her from put
His efforts at suppression do not work very well, t
is resourceful enough to continue composing and se
the assistance of other servants. At this point, howeve
episdes changes in that they become reflective as w
and increasingly so, as time goes on. In short, when
begins to fall in love with her own writing, not jus
also the process. For example, when Mr. B. attacks
time, she has a "Fit," in other words, a fainting spe
a meeting for "To-morrow after Dinner, in [his] Mo
Pamela later writes,
At last he went up to the Closet, which was m
Dressing-room; a Room I once lov'd, but then
Don't your Heart ake for me? - I am sure m
about like a Bird in a Cage new caught. O Pam
my self, why art thou so foolish and fearful!
no harm! what, if thou fearest an unjust Judg
art innocent, wouldst thou do before a just one
guilty? Have Courage, Pamela, thou knowest th
how easy a Choice Poverty and Honesty is, rath
and Wickedness? (43)
This letter is much more rhetorical than previous ones
demonstrates its writer's awareness of readership
and situation. Thus, Pamela interrupts her passiona
melodramatic question to her poor parents - "Don
for me?" - as she anticipates their later reaction to
progress about an incident that has already occurre
sense of immediate experience" that Richardson u
'"[wjriting to the moment'" (Eaves and Kimpel xi, xiv),
only recreates the impact of the past in the present bu
into the future. In addition, this passage contains tw
of a trapped bird and that of a legal trial), two instanc
("O Pamela and "Have Courage, Pamela "), and sev
antithetical syntax ("lov'd" versus "hated," "unjust

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 South Atlantic Review 97

and "Poverty and Honest" versus "Plenty and W

elements suggest that Pamela has begun to enjoy
if not enduring, her awkward encounters with Mr.
narrative includes more and more meta-narrative ev
more and more anguish about her situation.
As Pamela anticipates a return to her parents' home
as the style of her writing changes. She still wants t
about what is going on in her life, and she also wan
since she cannot yet convey herself, but once she lear
parents "keep Pier] Letters, and read them over and
have done Work" (51), she begins to understand that
capacity to entertain, and to entertain others as well
that reflects Richardson's own as revealed on the tide
discussed above. Additionally, Pamela starts to con
means of strengthening her resolve to remain virtuou
she anticipates re-reading her own letters in the futu
"P]t may be some little Pleasure to me, may-hap, to r
I am come to you, to remind me what I have gone t
God's Goodness has been to me (which, I hope, will r
good Resolutions, that I may not hereafter, from m
Reason to condemn myself from my own Hand, a
other words, since Pamela does not want to find hers
reading about her own bad behavior, she will attem
behavior so that she will have nothing to regret, noth
about Commenting on this passage, Robyn L. Sch
"Pamela seems very much aware of herself both as
her letters"; accordingly, this is one of many instan
stages the act of writing" (434) and thereby joins the
C. Booth calls " setf-consaous narratori ' (155). Such met
Pamela does not want to disappoint herself any mor
disappoint her parents. It also discloses that Pamela d
review an account of God's providence. Accordingly,
letters, she wants to reflect upon "God's Goodnes
Pamela again notes these purposes some pages and le
resolves, "I Will continue my Writing still, because
read it, when I am with you, to see what Dangers G
escape; and tho' I bring it in my Pocket" (85). Moreov
herself with fewer and fewer chores after her mist
her departure from the household, she turns to wr

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98 Jane Blanchard
frequently. She pens, "I Must write on, tho' I shall co
I have hardly any thing else to do. For I have finish'd al
do, and only wait the good Time of setting out" (76).
the purpose of keeping her occupied until she is dismis
has recently told the servant Longman, "Not a Word m
I can't let her stay, I'll assure you; not only for her ow
but her Letter-writing of all the Secrets of my Family
Apparendy, Pamela has so much time on her han
to writing poetry as well as prose. She entities her fi
on my going away," consisting of fourteen quatrai
rhyming lines before a fourth line ending in her
Addressing her " Yellow-servants ," Pamela reflects up
return to " low Degree" and exhorts her peers to join
by avoiding " Temptations ," by loving and serving " Pa
and by praying for one another as well as "our Mas
well as the style of this poem are all appropriate to
Pamela's situation and temperament, a disappointed ye
is memorializing her ambivalent sentiments as she an
to her parents. However, before enclosing this "P
what she supposes her final letter, Pamela writes, "I s
Jervis, and she liked them; and took a Copy; and mad
her, and in the green Room too; but I looked into the
This syntactically stringy statement reveals that the
properly respectful of Mrs. Jervis's place and spac
but she is also courageous enough to approach her
share with her (and her alone at this point) a com
is obviously proud of. Happily, Pamela is rewarde
for both a copy and a performance of these vers
sad Regrets" upon leaving for home, a definite enc
future work that she might have inspiration or oppor
Unbeknownst to Pamela, this poem serves as a f
as well as to his servants, for Pamela's master has
the correspondence between the maid and her pa
courier John Arnold. Pamela has not yet figured o
but she does express bewilderment about his re
repeated inquiries for additional letters, especially
of her imminent departure (87). Of course, it is r
responsible for these delays and inquiries, for each
provides him more insight into who she is and w

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 South Atlantic Review 99

him. Despite his frequent complaints about her writin

constancy, Mr. B. has found himself paradoxically
He has become as obsessed with Pamela's script as h
self. Without revealing John's role, Mr. B. has even to
before, "I have seen more of your Letters than yo
am quite overcome with your charming manner of W
easy, and so much above your Sex; and all put together
tell you, love you to Extravagance" (83). Thus, Mr. B
to postpone her departure once again (after all, she
embroidering his new Waistcoat), but once he run
and excuses and still cannot bear to lose Pamela, he
miscarried from his house in Bedfordshire to his house in Lincolnshire
and imprisoned under the watch of Mrs. Jewkes.
At this point Pamela stops writing regular letters to her parents and
begins keeping a secret, serial journal whose pages she intends to read
again and again until she can send them to her parents for them to
read again and again, and the intrusion of a strange narrative voice
signals this shift immediately after her verses appear in print: "Here it
is necessary to observe, that the fair Pamela's Tryals were not yet over;
but the worst of all were to come. . . ." (89). It is this narrator who
reports Pamela's journey and captivity, who exposes John's duplicity,
and who includes a letter from Mr. B. to Pamela's father explaining that
Pamela has been hidden away in order to save her from an "'Intrigue
with the young Clergyman'" (90). This narrator then details Goodman
Andrews's futile efforts, first, to find Pamela and, second, to persuade
Mr. B. to release her, before a brief but evasive note from Pamela's
own hand arrives to reveal that she is alive if not altogether well. To
conclude this interlude, the strange narrator pronounces,
We shall now leave the honest old Pair, praying for their dear
Pamela, and return to the Account she herself gives of all this;
having written it Journal-wise, to amuse and employ her Time, in
hopes some Opportunity might offer to send it to her Friends,
and, as was her constant View, that she might afterwards
thankfully look back upon the Dangers she had escaped, when
they should be happily over-blown, as in time she hoped they
would be; and that then she might examine, and either approve
of, or repent for, her own Conduct in them. (94)
Pamela's writing from this point on does not change as much as
the term "Journal-wise" implies, however, for she still assumes an

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 1 00 Jane Blanchard
audience of her parents as well as of herself in the futu
writes in order to keep herself busy and pure in the pre
she may someday reflect upon past "Dangers," and she
her narrative with meta-narrative.

During her confinement, though, Pamela becomes inc

obsessive about protecting as well as continuing her episto
Of course, she has good reason to be secretive, beca
attempts again and again, directly and indirectly, to curta
her scribbling, even though, as John A. Dussinger observ
most assiduous reader of her letters, Mr. B. does not rea
eradicate her activity and rob himself of his voyeuristi
(28). Thus, according to Richard Hauer Costa, "Richardso
a double purpose. By having Pamela keep a journal whose
is expected to show to her keeper, Mrs. Jewkes, the author e
principle of continuous record while also leaving open the
of monitorship" (43). Such a context causes Pamela to sec
more and more often in order to write, to re-write, to read
read her own words, including an alteration of the 137th Psa
own "Case" (127). Moreover, just as her compositions at B
include the words of others, her compositions at Lincolns
as she continues to record the spoken and written commu
everyone she encounters, directly or indirectly. However, sin
forced to become more evasive about preserving as well a
her writings, she begins to hide them in her clothing until s
them in the garden so that the honest clergyman Mr. W
retrieve them. Furthermore, whenever Pamela learns or fear
letters might be or have been lost, she spends much time and
replicating or summarizing them. By doing so, she revie
what has happened but also how she has recounted what h
All the while, Mr. B. has attempted to limit or intercept Pam
which have continued to reveal both his dishonorable character and
Pamela's admirable one. But despite himself, Mr. B. has fallen even more
in love with his late mother's waiting maid, for Pamela's letters have shown
her to be gracious and virtuous, cunning and charming. Consequently
and inadvertently, her words accomplish what her person cannot: they
convert a "libertine" into a "responsible head of household" (Harol 21 1).
Granted, a lustful Mr. B. does try on several more occasions to force
himself upon Pamela, often with the help of the wicked Mrs. Jewkes.11
Then he tries to make her a kept woman through his solicitous articles,

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 South Atlantic Review 101

which Pamela, of course, incorporates, along with her re

narrative and thereby proves herself even more attractiv
after reading ten-days' worth of papers confiscated by M
B. insists that Pamela produce all of her available writings
When she declines, he threatens to strip off her clothing
Pamela reluctantly and tearfully agrees to turn over to hi
possession "'without the least Alteration, or adding or dim
she delays doing so until she has spent the whole night r
re-arranging her work (204). Such behavior indicates that
to terms with the fact that her safety and liberty depend
favorable response to her writing.
Before reading any of these newer selections, Mr. B. in
to send for the older ones in her parents' possession; and
his attention to the papers before him, he declares th
near-suicide, "a very moving Tale" (208). After readin
puts the papers away, embraces Pamela, and exclaims, "O
You have touch'd me sensibly with your mournful Re
sweet Reflections upon it. I should have truly been
had it taken Effect. I see you have been us'd too roug
Mercy you stood proof in that fatal Moment" (208-20
attributes her preservation to the "religious Educatio
her parents and his mother as well as to "God's Grace,
Come, kiss me . . . and tell me you forgive me for
into so much Danger and Distress. If my Mind
can see those former Papers of yours, and that
Pocket give me no Cause to alter my Opinion, I will
to defy the World, and the World's Censures, an
Pamela Amends, if it be in the Power of my whole
the hardships I have inflicted upon her. (209)
The many conditions that Mr. B. embeds in this
despite his previous compliments to her writing, mak
of a "Sham-marriage," which she has been warned a
requests to go home to avoid "Envy to herself, and Discr
(209). The fact that an angry Mr. B. actually allows he
that her writing has effected his "reformation - his tran
a virtuous, rather than a vicious, master" (Kibbie 567)
finally free to leave "the Author of all [her] Miseries" (1
enough to realize that her "Story surely would furnish o
kind of Novel, if it was to be well told" (212-13); an

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 1 02 Jane Blanchard
story is so well told, even in pieces, that Mr. B. arranges a
after Pamela, strangely enough, demonstrates her affection
deciding to return to Lincolnshire rather than to go home w
last has the chance.12
Many critics over many years have debated whether or
really desires and expects her work to be read by her maste
the contention of this study that Pamela never writes for t
of gaining a suitor, much less a husband. Her letters acc
end - her end and Richardson's end - but neither the narrative nor the
meta-narrative of the book shows that she intends or desires that Mr. B.
become one of her readers, for again and again she exerts great effort
in trying to keep her papers out of his grasp and thus out of his view.13
Even after she has promised to turn all of them over, she initially offers
Mr. B. only the first of two packets with the request that he not read any
of the contents: "Here, Sir, they are. But, if you please to return them,
without breaking the Seal, it will be very generous: And I will take it for a
great Favour, and a good Omen." Of course, Mr. B. immediately breaks
the seal and retorts, "So much for your omen" (207). Then, realizing that
this packet does not contain all of Pamela's stash, Mr. B. asks for the
rest, and Pamela hands him the second packet containing letters written
most recendy, but she also informs him that she cannot continue to write
in the same mode or manner if she anticipates his readership: "[N]ow
you will see what I write, I will find some other way to employ my Time:
For I can neither write so free, nor with any Face, what must be for
your Perusal, and not for those I intended to divert with my melancholy
Stories" (208). Thus, throughout most of Richardson's wonderfully
ironic work, even as the master tries to stop the servant's production of
what paradoxically disturbs and delights him, the servant tries to stop the
master's reception of what eventually ensures her safety and procures her
fortune. As Pamela later confesses to her parents, "But see the wonderful
Ways of Providence! The very things that I most dreaded [Mr. B.'s] seeing
or knowing, the Contents of my Papers, have, as I hope, satisfy'd all his
Scruples, and been a Means to promote my Happiness" (261). Pamela's
rise by "Means" of writing and writing about writing is indeed reason for
her and her parents to rejoice.
Once Pamela's Tapers" have won her the heart and hand of her
employer, their purpose changes yet again, for they become the means
of obtaining the approval of Mr. B.'s sister, Lady Davers. Arriving
unexpectedly in Lincolnshire, this not-so-gendewoman accuses Pamela

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 S outh Atlantic Review 103

of being Mr. B.'s mistress rather than his wife, for she ca
that her brother has actually married their late mother's
especially since Mr. B. has a history, unknown to Pamel
until this point, of seducing pretty young women.14 C
confronting the new bride during Mr. B.'s absence fro
Davers behaves so horribly that Pamela decides to escap
through a window. Later convinced that a marriage ha
place, Lady Davers asks to see the reputed "Journal of
detailing Mr. B.'s "Stratagems, Attempts, Contrivances
Offers" and Pamela's "pretty Counter-plottings . . . resolu
and . . . noble Stand" as well as "the Steps by which h
subdued, and his Mind induced to honourable Love": "F
a rare, an uncommon Story; and will not only give me gre
reading, but will intirely reconcile me to the Step he h
Eager to appease and please Lady Davers, Pamela expla
parents presendy have the letters, and that Mr. B. has spo
next, but "when they have done reading them" and if M
she will share "the naked Sentiments of Pier] Heart" with
law (375). Once Pamela regains possession of these letter
them and determines to send "all that's necessary for
Curiosity" regarding her own "Sufferings," Mr. B.'s "
and "God Almighty's Doings," minus whatever puts L
a bad light (388). Consequendy, on this occasion, even
previously, "Pamela emerges as her own editor figure",
at that, since her selected works do win the favor of Lady
also uses them to mitigate the hurt feelings of an arist
whom Mr. B. declined to marry into (Schiffman 434).
Pamela is thus able to convince her husband's sister of the truth
of what she wrote long ago to her parents: "For you see by my sad
Story, and narrow Escapes, what Hardships poor Maidens go thro',
whose Lot is to go out to Service; especially to Houses where there is
not the Fear of God, and good Rule kept by the Heads of the Family"
(73). But what a "Story" Pamela has composed! One that has enabled
her to inform and entertain her parents, to occupy her mind and time
with godly and ungodly matters, to protect her virtue until she marries
the "Gendeman of . . . Parts and Knowledge" who has attacked and
confined her, and finally to win the "love" and respect of a volatile
sister-in-law who has insulted and assaulted her (388, 374). Notably,
however, Pamela stops writing letters not long after she weds, for she

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 1 04 Jane Blanchard
has fulfilled her purposes, as Richardson is soon to fulfil
least until he starts his sequel. Indeed, Pamela informs her p
pleasing her husband might mean ceasing her correspond
continue writing till I am settled, and you are determin'd
shall apply myself to the Duties of the Family, in order
useful to my dear Benefactor, as my small Abilities will l
As Christopher Flint laments, "What empowers her and
attractive to the reader as well as to Mr. B and Lady Davers
with words - must be relinquished" (510).
And so a second break in the narrative occurs near the end
when the strange voice intrudes once again to declare: "H
Letters of the incomparable Pamela to her Father and M
as they arriv'd at their Daughter's House on Tuesday Eve
following Week, she had no Occasion to continue her Jou
(408). This narrator then tells what happens to each of s
characters, including Pamela, who "was look'd upon as th
her Age and Sex." The narrator next states, "Having thus
little History to a happy Period, the Reader will indulge us i
Observations, which naturally result from it; and which
so many Applications, of it most material Incidents, to t
the Youth of both Sexes" (409). The narrator finally analy
characters for the benefit and pleasure of his readers before
himself as "the Editor of these sheets," who "will have h
the compilation "if it inspires a laudable Emulation in the M
Worthy Persons" (412). Since this narrator is assumed to hav
does have, the same voice as the speaker of the title page and
the same voice of Richardson himself, the conclusion stru
rhetorically completes the frame for the protagonist's exper
makes this epistolary compilation of both narrative and met
quite "an Exercise to . . . Pen and . . . Invention" (39-40).

Notes
1 These terms come from the novel itself, pages 358 and 350, respectively, of the Riverside
edition of 1971. All further references to this primary source will be cited parenthetically.
2 In a letter to Aaron Hill, Richardson recollects his hope that 'Pamela "might possibly
introduce a new species of writing, that might possibly turn young people into a cour
of reading different from the pomp and parade of romance-writing, and dismissing t
improbable and marvellous [sic], with which novels generally abound, might tend t
promote the cause of religion and virtue" ( Selected Letters 41).
3 See T. C. Duncan Eaves and Ben D. Kimpel (vi-viii), Mark Kinkead-Weekes (70-71),
and Ian Watt (50-55).

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 South Atlantic Review 1 05
4 In using the term meta-narrative , this paper follows a common
reflexivity. C. Hugh Holman rightly defines the prefix, meta-, to m
of a higher logical type,"' before noting, "When it is added to for
the name of a discipline or process, it designates a new but related d
that deals logically and critically with the nature, structure, logic
original discipline or process. For example, 'metatheory' is a theor
analyzes, or describes theory itself" (264). Accordingly, meta-n
narrative about narrative.

5 Again, see Eaves and Kimpel (vi) as well as Watt (55).

6 Whether or not Richardson was familiar with classical or Renaissanc
this dual standard for poetry, such as Horace's The Art of Poetry, T
the Heroic Poem, and Sidney's The Defence of Poesy , he would have been
eighteenth-century publications that implemented it for prose, includ
Magagne, founded by Edward Cave in 1731 (Watt 51-52), and a re
L'Estrange's Aesop s Fables, printed by Richardson himself in 1739 (Pi
7 This concern persists and even increases throughout the eigh
discussed by Jacqueline Pearson (18, 82-86). Nancy Armstrong also
extensively in her chapter, "The Rise of the Novel" (96-160), as w
earlier chapter (37, 266-67n.9).
8 See Terry Eagleton (5), Eaves and Kimpel (vi-vii), and Kinkea
course, Pamela also provoked literary parody such as Henry Fielding
9 See Joe Bray (74), Catherine Ingrassia (149), Michael McKeon (35
Warner (203-205).
10 It is noteworthy, though, that Pamela anticipates having little chan
write (82) once she returns home to a life of hard labor.
11 In reporting the last of these occasions, Pamela curiously, if ineffe
limit her readership: "What Words shall I find, my dear Mother, (fo
not see this shocking Part) to describe the rest . . ." (176).
12 Interestingly, it is Mr. B. who has led Pamela to conceive of he
literary manner by wording his request for her papers as follows:
I long to see the Particulars of your Plot, and your Disappo
your Papers leave off. For you have so beautiful a manner, that i
and partly my Love for you, that has made me desirous of readin
tho' a great deal of it is against myself; for which you must e
litde. And as I have furnished you with the Subject, I have
Fruits of your Pen. - Besides, said he, there is such a pretty A
as you relate them, in your Plots, and my Plots, that I shall be be
what manner to wind up the Catastrophe of the pretty Novel
13 Temma F. Berg is one of the critics taking the antithetical po
conflating Pamela's purposes with Richardson's: "The secrets a
perturbations of [Pamela's] heart are placed on paper so that
accessible to her master" (119). Richard Hauer Costa similarly ma
the moment of peripety when [Pamela] came to see her monitor
most potent ally, she depended on their being intercepted" (45); y
is ill-advised to scour the novel for admissions direcdy from Pamela
Richardson that she is writing the letters and journals in the expect
intercepted" (46).

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 106 Jane Blanchard
14 However, reports early in the narrative that Lady Davers desire
Mr. B.'s household and join her own suggest that the sister knows
brother's weakness for pretty girls. See pages 29 and 33, in particular

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