Pamela by Samuel Richardson | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Samuel Richardson was an English writer, and printer, who was a good friend and contemporary writer of Samuel Johnson. He was baptized on August 19, 1689, and he died on July 4, 1761. Richardson began his career as a printer in 1706 at the age of 17 when he chose to work as an apprentice of a well-known printer John Wilde. Richardson chose the profession of printing because he hoped to "gratify a thirst for reading.” Being an avid reader, he developed an interest in writing, however, he failed to get any patrons. He began his writing career in 1733 when he wrote The Apprentice's Vade Mecum, urging young men like himself to be diligent and self-denying. In 1739, his friends asked him to write and publish epistolatory articles in a common style to help those countrymen who find it hard to attain quality literature. This proposal inspired him to write his first epistolatory novel titled Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded which was first published in 1740. An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters between the fictional characters of a narrative. Pamela is considered one of the first English novels and the first modern novel. It is a form of conduct literature about marriage. Conduct literature is a genre of books that attempts to educate the reader on social norms and ideals.

Characters of Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded:

Pamela Andrews is a 15 years old young girl who works as a maidservant of Lady B. She is the daughter of Mr. John Andrews and Mrs. Elizabeth Andrews, a poor couple living in the countryside. Pamela remains in contact with her father through letters. Lady B was a kind old woman who employed Pamela as her maidservant and ensured that she attains proper education and develops a virtuous character. On her deathbed, she told her son to look after all the estate servants, especially Pamela. Mr. B is the son of Lady B who is a country squire. He is around 25 years of age and owns properties in Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, Kent, and London. After her mother’s death, he gets infatuated with Pamela and pursues her, trying to force Pamela to accept his sexual advances. He is a rakish person with fundamental decency. Lady Davers is the elder married sister of Mr. B. She objects to the marriage of her brother with the waiting-maid of her mother but ultimately, accepts Pamela as her sister-in-law. Mrs. Jewkes is the housekeeper of Mr. B’s Lincolnshire estate. She is a loyal ally of Mr. B. Mrs. Jervis is another lady servant of Mr. B who is a virtuous lady and tries to help Pamela out. Mr. Williams is a junior pastor of Mr. B’s parish in Lincolnshire. Monsieur Colbrand is a Swiss man, a servant of Mr. B whom he sends to Lincolnshire to keep a watch on Pamela. Jackey is Lady Davers' nephew who tries to exploit Pamela but soon understands that she is a respectable virtuous girl. John Arnold is the footman of Mr. B’s estate who delivers Pamela’s letters to and from her parents. Nan is another maidservant of Mr. B at his Lincolnshire estate. Sally Godfrey used to be a mistress of Mr. B who bore him a girl child named Miss Goodwin.

Summary of Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded:

Pamela is a beautiful young girl of age 15 who is working as a maidservant of Lady B at her Bedfordshire estate. She belongs to a poor family and her parents are living in the countryside. Her father is an educated man and Pamela continues to write letters to him. John Arnold, the footman (postman) of Lady B’s estate delivers Pamela’s letters to and from her parents. Lady B falls ill and then dies and all her property is transferred to Mr. B, her son, who is a squire. Before her death, Lady B recommended that Pamela should work for Mr. B. Pamela desperately needs money to help her family and thus she accepts her new position as maidservant of Mr. B. She excels at her work and Mr. B rewards her four guineas and some silver. Pamela sends all the money to her father and informs him about her new job position as a servant of Mr. B through a letter.

Pamela is a good learner and she gets help from an old servant Mrs. Jervis who likes her and advises her well in time of need. However, Pamela soon notices a change in Mr. B’s behavior as he starts flirting with her incessantly. He kisses her many times without her permission and continues to pursue her. Pamela writes a letter to her father informing her new employer’s ill behavior and vows that she will suffer any injury or social penalty rather than sacrifice her chastity. Her father writes back, praising her devotion to her virtue, and advises that she should leave the job and return home before Mr. B may physically assault her.

Pamela isn’t willing to return to poverty and tries to change her job instead. She requests Mrs. Jervis to recommend her to be transferred to Lady Davers’ estate who is the elder sister of Mr. B. Mr. B promises to transfer Pamela to Lady Davers’ estate but Pamela’s departure date never seems to come.

Pamela realizes that Mr. B has no intentions to send her to his sister’s estate and thus, she decides to return back to her parent’s home. Meanwhile, she continues to write letters to her father. One day, Mr. B accuses her of gossiping against him in letters and Pamela realizes that he stealing her letters written to her father. On the same night, Mr. B hides in the closet of her room to spy on her and as she undresses, he rushes out to have his way with her. Pamela gets frightened and faints. When Mr. B notices that Pamela is unconscious, he loses his libido and realizes that he doesn’t just sexually desire Pamela, rather he wishes her to love him. Nonetheless, he continues to harass Pamela who, despite being willing to go back to her parents, fails to do so.

Finally, she determines that she can take no more and packs her bag to leave Bedfordshire estate. Mr. B gets frightened that if Pamela goes away and complains about his rape attempts at her, it will ruin his reputation. He tries to bribe her and promises her that he will arrange for her marriage with Mr. Williams, a clergyman in his parish. He lets her go back to her parents. However, the coach driver that takes Pamela out is a loyal man of Mr. B who takes her to Mr. B’s Lincolnshire estate where Mr. B intends to keep Pamela as a prisoner. Mr. B writes a letter to Pamela’s father with a fake explanation of why she failed to reach them in the village. Mr. Andrews doesn’t trust Mr. B and thus he arrives at his Bedfordshire estate and tries to seek Pamela but fails to get any information about her.

Pamela is kept in the Lincolnshire estate under the strict ruling of Mrs. Jewkes who is the housekeeper of Mr. B’s Lincolnshire estate. She harasses Pamela and tries to force her to accept Mr. B’s sexual advancement. Pamela makes friends with another maid named Nan who is working in Lincolnshire estate. Mrs. Jewkes forces Pamela to share the bed with Nan. Nan is a good girl but she is addicted to alcohol. Pamela maintains her virtue and continues writing letters but since she doesn’t know when she will be able to send them to her father, she keeps them to herself with dates and signature. Meanwhile, she meets Mr. Williams, the junior pastor of Mr. B’s parish in Lincolnshire. She finds him a good man and seeks his help in escaping. They arrange a system of secret correspondence whereby they will hide their notes from each other beside a sunflower in the garden. Mr. Williams tries to gather support for Pamela in the local public but fails to do so because people suspect his intentions. Mr. Williams then proposes that Pamela should marry him to escape the clutches of Mr. B but Pamela declines the offer as she knows that Mr. B already planned her marriage to Mr. Williams. One day, Pamela gives all her letters to Mr. Williams and asks him to send them to her father. But when Mr. Williams goes to send the letters, some robbers attack him and snatch all the letters from him. Pamela then tries to run away from the Lincolnshire estate on foot but is soon caught by Monsieur Colbrand a strong Swiss man whom Mr. B sent to keep an eye on Pamela. Meanwhile, Mr. B suspects that Mr. Williams is colluding with Pamela and thus, he gets Mr. Williams arrested for debt.

One day, Mr. B arrives at Lincolnshire estate without letting Pamela know about it. He then orders Mrs. Jewkes to offer too much alcohol to Nan. Nan gets surprised and drinks a lot and soon falls into a stupor. At night, Mr. B decides to impersonate Nan by wearing her dress and goes to the maid's room to share the bed with Pamela. Pamela fails to recognize Mr. B in the dark and believes that Nan is sleeping with her. When Mr. B gets convinced that now he can easily overpower Pamela, he surprises her by removing his impersonation and attempting to sexually exploit her. Yet again, Pamela faints and Mr. B fails to make any sexual advancement when she is unconscious. He returns to Bedfordshire the same night but continues to spy on Pamela.

After some days, he returns to Lincolnshire with some letters written by Pamela that she gave to Mr. Williams and asks her to submit all the letters she has written till now. Pamela hesitates but submits all her letters. However, she gets surprised that Mr. B doesn’t get angry even after reading those letters, including those in which she crudely criticized Mr. B. Rather, she notices that Mr. B is going through a change while reading her letters. Mr. B realizes his mistake and decides to let Pamela leave and go back to her parents. Soon Pamela takes a coach and leaves the Lincolnshire estate. However, much before she could reach her village, Mr. John Arnold, the footman delivers a letter from Mr. B to her. Pamela reads the letter and comes to know that Mr. B is very ashamed of his bad behavior but he insists that he really loves her and has fallen ill since he couldn’t bear the pain of losing her. After reading the letter, Pamela realizes that despite all the harassment she has faced, she doesn’t hate Mr. B, rather she finds him handsome. She gets worried that Mr. B is ill and decides to return back and take care of him.

When Pamela returns to the Lincolnshire estate, she notices a marked difference in Mr. B’s behavior who is now a much moderate and sincere person. Soon he regains his health and proposes to Pamela to marry him. However, Pamela is not convinced as she suspects that Mr. B might only be trying to trick her into a sham marriage. Mr. B then tries to win her trust back. He even gets Mr. Williams out of jail on bail and takes back all charges against him. Finally, Pamela agrees to marry him but insists that they should not make it an expensive wedding. She asks Mr B to clean up his chapel in Lincolnshire where she wishes to marry him.

After their marriage, Mr. B appears to be a completely changed man who takes good care of Pamela and respects her. His elder sister Lady Davers arrives with Jackey, her nephew, to meet him. Lady Davers is unaware of Mr. B’s marriage to Pamela. She abuses Pamela accusing her of trying to trap Mr. B in her lure for his money. Jackey too harasses Pamela but finds her very attractive and tries to flirt with her. Soon it is revealed that Mr. B is already married to Pamela. Lady Davers declines to accept their marriage and demands Mr. B should reveal the truth about Sally Godfrey to Pamela. Mr. B then explains that he had an affair with Sally Godfrey during his college days and he impregnated her. He reveals that he has a daughter from Sally who now studies at a school in Bedfordshire. Mr. B reveals that her daughter is Miss Goodwin who doesn’t know anything about her parents and considers herself an orphan. He informs that Sally Godfrey moved to Jamaica where she married a rich landlord.

Pamela listens to all these revelations with calmness and promises to improve everything. Mr. B gets angry at her sister for forcing him to reveal these things to Pamela in such a manner but Pamela and Lady Davers calm him down. Lady Daver starts treating Pamela well as she finds her beautiful, virtuous, and compassionate. Pamela and Mr. B return to the Bedfordshire estate and start living as husband and wife. After some time, Pamela suggests that they should adopt Miss Goodwin to which Mr. B agrees. Pamela takes good care of Miss Goodwin, treating her as her own child while inculcating virtuous behavior in her.

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