If Pamela was alive back in the early 2000s, she'd totally have a LiveJournal. (And it would be full of sparkly Bible quotes.) She might love virtue, but she loves reading and writing almost as much—and so does Richardson. The book is full of Pamela's meditations on letters and letter-writing, and she's constantly stressing out about what's happening to her letters and who gets to read them. That's because writing is Pamela's superpower: it gives her the ability to instruct the other characters and us in moral action—in how to be just a little more like her. As Mrs. Peters says, her letters make her a "worthy pattern" for all the young ladies in the country—and she doesn't just mean Lincolnshire.
Questions About Literature and Writing
- Do you find it odd that practically everyone seems to think they have the right to read Pamela's letters? Why is it important that Pamela's thoughts pretty much become public domain by the end?
- What does it say about Mr. B's character that he's always likening real-life events—events in which he participated—to stories?
- We get pretty much everything we know about these characters and the situations described from Pamela herself. Is she a reliable narrator? How do we know? How does the framing device of the editor figure in your perceptions of Pamela's narrative authority?
- Would Mr. B have made his big conversion if he hadn't had access to Pamela's letters?
Chew on This
Richardson strongly hints that Mr. B's conversion from villainous rake to model husband would not have occurred if he had not read Pamela's letters.
The frame narrative is a way of making Pamela's narration seem authentic; unfortunately for her, there are enough inconsistencies in her story that her reliability gets the side-eye.