It is very disappointing that at the end of the novel Pamela, Pamela marries Mr. B. Pamela is very naive and innocent. Pamela thinks Mr. B is wonderful and she writes home that he is taking very good care of her and that he has given her money and some of her mistresses old clothes, he even pays special attention to her hand writing in the letters she writes. Yet Pamela doesn't question the attention he pays to her. Which is why the reader feels sorry for Pamela when Mr. B tries to assault and seduce her.
Mr. B promises to be kind to Pamela but he treats her horribly. Pamela protests her virtue, against Mr. B's multiple attempts to seduce her. Mr B is relentless and even goes as far as to imprison her in his house, and he cuts off her contact with her parents. It is hard to believe that Pamela marries Mr. B after he mistreats her. Also it is unfathomable that the reader is supposed to be happy with her decision. The alternate title of this novel is Virtue Rewarded. Pamela's story is a classic rags to riches tale. The author's point of view is that Pamela should be greatful that she elevates her socioeconomic status, but Pamela was not seeking to elevate her wealth and social status. Pamela sought to keep her virtue which she loses when she marries Mr. B. Instead of a reward, Pamela loses what she sought to protect and she is looked down upon for being a poor woman, who married nobility.
4 comments:
Yeah... I found it funny that the title of Pamela was "Virtual Rewarded" as well, as it seems that her virtue was far from rewarded. Instead it was constantly punished by more and more sexual assults from Mr. B. Sounds like fun, right? If the reward is her marriage, I'm assured of the fact that her marriage will be no more pleasant than her time was while she was his servent. Now he just doesn't have to pay her and gets to demand sex whenever he wants. Great reward!
I totally agree!! I seriously can't understand how she can love a man like Mr. B who treats her so horribly! I agree with cara that the "Virtue Rewarded" title was juust a bit off. If Pamela was as virtuous as she made herself out to be then she should never have submitted to Mr. B's advances towards her and ultimately married him.
I agree also with the point you make about Pamela almost forgetting all about the things Mr. B put her through. The story makes it seem that Pamela completely disregards the imprisonment and the inappropriate sexual advances of Mr. B. It makes we wonder if Pamela is actually as intelligent as she was made out to be or if she is letting other people make her decisions. An in response to the title, I agree that the reward she receives is, in a way, not worth it. Pamela moved up in her social class and is now well off, but she now has a husband who essentially molested her for a large portion of their relationship. How much of a reward is that?
I thought your comment on the fact that the title "Virtue Rewarded" was extremely interesting and something I hadn't really thought about. I do however disagree that it's the classic rags to riches story for the simple fact that she was in a sense forced into the new position in society.
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