Clarissa

Observations on what I've read so far of Clarissa, this winter and then this afternoon:

Clarissa gets an inheritance from her grandfather when he dies provided that she marry the right guy. Mr. Solmes comes sauntering along. Clarissa's brother likes money, and would like nothing more than to see her sister married to get some slice of it. What, she doesn't want to marry him? Well, he turns the family against her, father and all, and locks her up until she obeys. Friends are denied access. Clarissa is left to resist them with as much impudence as could be allowed, trying to respect her father while at the same time disagreeing with her brother's influence on him. Mr. Solmes is repeatedly told by her that she doesn't want him, but he is in turn convinced by the family that she'll calm down once she's under his marital power. Threats of a rushed ceremony ensue.

Mr. Lovelace witnesses the family's bullying. He becomes enamored with Clarissa in turn, but she cannot accept his advances because he has a blemished past and her accepting his advances would mean going against the family wishes, which she does not want to do. Also, she does not like the power he would have over her were she to accept his aid, which would involve him taking her away. How can she trust his promises? He's too sure of himself and keeps assuming that once he rescues her she will marry him.

And then she has a cadre of friends that gain some access to her, either through letters, or irregular appeals. Miss Howe in particular is the main correspondent in the epistolary. As her family keeps recommending Mr. Solmes, Miss Howe keeps saying, "If you do run off with Mr. Lovelace, you had better marry him right then." The cousin says the same thing. There is no choice. Marry one man, marry another, or...? Disgrace? Quite possibly. But yet Clarissa keeps admitting her one hope, that she might resist Mr. Solmes and turn him away, turn the family back to her side, or lacking that, gain the generous help of Mr. Lovelace and remain Single. How does she accomplish that, when she is utterly dependent?

She is stuck in dire straits. The marriage is to happen no later than Wednesday evening. She asks Mr. Lovelace to usher her away to a private residence from which he will be separated. Then she determines not to, as it gives him too much power. He doesn't get (or refuses to receive) the letter telling him to not come. He comes. He placates her. She goes.

What happens? Will she be ruined? Will she make the correct choice? Will she blind scurrilous men with her purity, or will it be trod upon before Mr. Lovelace's advances? Is she a Pamela, or something less? In any case, she's no Shamela.

I am genuinely engaged by it, though I must admit... it's an acquired taste. Eighteenth-century novels are that way. And it's all carried along because Clarissa is a sympathetic character... and because you want to punch her brother in the face.