Pamela Richardson

Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel first published in 1740 by the 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 acclimatise 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 criticised for its perceived licentiousness and disregard for class barriers.

Furthermore, Pamela was an early commentary on domestic violence and brought into question the dynamic line between male aggression and a contemporary view of love.

Moreover, Pamela, despite the controversies, shed light on social issues that transcended the novel for the time such as gender roles, early false-imprisonment, and class barriers present in the eighteenth century.

The action of the novel is told through letters and journal entries from Pamela to her parents.

Richardson highlights a theme of naivety, illustrated through the eyes of Pamela.

Richardson paints Pamela herself as innocent and meek and further contributes to the theme of her being short-sighted to emphasize the ideas of childhood innocence and naivety.

Two years after the publication of Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, Richardson published a sequel, Pamela in her Exalted Condition (1742).

He revisited the theme of the rake in his Clarissa (1748), and sought to create a "male Pamela" in Sir Charles Grandison (1753).

Since Ian Watt discussed it in The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding in 1957, literary critics and historians have generally agreed that Pamela played a critical role in the development of the novel in English.

Pamela Andrews is a pious, virtuous fifteen-year-old, the daughter of impoverished labourers, who works for Lady B as a maid in her Bedfordshire estate.

After Lady B's death, her son, Mr. B, inherits the estate, and begins to pay Pamela romantic attention: first gifting her his mother's fine clothes, and then attempting to seduce her.

Pamela rejects Mr. B's advances multiple times by fleeing and locking herself in her bedroom.

In one instance, she faints, and finds the laces of her stays have been cut.

When Mr. B attempts to pay her to keep his failed seduction secret, she confides in her best friend and housekeeper of the estate, Mrs. Jervis.

Later, Mr. B hides in Pamela's closet and tries to kiss her when she undresses for bed, which causes Pamela to consider leaving her position and returning to her parents to preserve her innocence.

She is insistent on remaining at the estate to finish embroidering a waistcoat for Mr. B, hoping that by doing so he will let her leave on good terms.

Angry at Pamela for telling Mrs. Jervis of his attempted seductions, Mr. B informs Pamela that he intends to marry her off to Mr. Williams, his chaplain in Lincolnshire, and gives money to her parents to persuade them to give consent.

Pamela refuses the engagement and decides to leave the estate, but Mr. B intercepts her letters to her parents and tells them she is having an affair with a poor clergyman and that he will send her to a safe place to preserve her chastity.

Pamela is forcibly taken to Mr. B's Lincolnshire Estate by Mr. B's servant Monsieur Colbrand, where she begins a journal with the intention of sending it to her parents.

The Lincolnshire housekeeper, Mrs. Jewkes, is "odious" and "unwomanly", devoted to Mr. B, and keeps Pamela as her bedfellow.

Mr. B promises that he will not approach Pamela without her leave and stays away from the estate for some time.

As Pamela is mistreated by Mrs. Jewkes, she begins communicating with Mr. Williams by letters, which they leave for one another in the gardens.

After Mrs. Jewkes beats Pamela after she calls her a "Jezebel", Mr. Williams entreats the village gentry for help.

They pity Pamela, but they too are loyal to Mr. B, and are convinced a seduction would either not occur or be inconsequential because of Pamela's low social standing.

Mr. Williams proposes marriage to her to help her escape the estate and Mr. B's advances but shortly afterward is attacked and beaten by robbers.

Pamela attempts to flee home to her parents, but is terrified by two cows, which she mistakes for bulls.

Mr. Williams accidentally reveals his correspondence with Pamela to Mrs. Jewkes and so Mr. B has him arrested and announces that he will marry Pamela to one of his servants.

Desperate, Pamela attempts to escape by climbing a wall, and, injured, gives up.

Mr. B returns and offers Pamela a list of conditions that he would meet, should she accept his hand in marriage, but she refuses, citing her reluctance to think above her social station to become his mistress.

In league with Mrs. Jewkes, Mr. B molests Pamela while she is in bed and is dressed as the housemaid Nan.

Pamela is sent into hysteria and seems likely to die.

Mr. B repents and is kinder in his seductions, but Pamela implores him to stop altogether.

Mr. B implies that he loves Pamela but will not marry her because of her social status.