Foil

Character Role Analysis

Pamela and Mrs. Jewkes

Mrs. Jewkes is ugly, man-like, and apparently lacks any kind of innate moral compass, taking her cues for how to act entirely from Mr. B. In other words, she's the anti-Pamela.

When she expresses some queasiness about her behavior toward Pamela (after Pamela becomes mistress, of course), Pamela offers the following gentle rebuke that contrasts Mrs. Jewkes's morality with her own:

People, said I, Mrs. Jewkes, don't know how they shall act, when their Wills are in the Power of their Superiors; and I always thought one should distinguish between Acts of Malice, and of implicit Obedience; tho', at the same time, a Person should know how to judge between Lawful and Unlawful. And even the Great, continued I, tho' at present angry they are not obey'd, will afterwards have no ill Opinion of a Person for withstanding them in their unlawful commands. (93.137)

In other words, unlike Mrs. Jewkes, Pamela listens to the dictates of her heart, and not her master. She would have known how to act right from the start.