Pamela is an epistolary novel centered on the
ordeal and misfortunes of a young girl named Pamela, who suffers at the hands
of her young master in his 20s after the death of his kind-hearted mother.
Narrated through Pamela’s letters to her parents, the novel highlights the
tyrannical Mr.B, who is obsessed with ruining the chastity of the young girl.
However, Pamela's virtue and morality hiders the despots plan from reaching
fruition. It is this virtue and innocence of Pamela that Richardson has focused
on throughout the novel, and which forces Mr.B to reform himself in the end.
Richardson has brilliantly arranged events that help Pamela’s virtues to become
triumphant and make the two tie the knot and lives happily after.
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Sexism is a recurrent theme in the major works of Richardson, and ‘Pamela’ is no exception, as it raises issues of feminists’ interest such as women abuse and discrimination against them at the hands of their masters and society. Mr.B, who is a member of the landed gentry uses his upper-class social status to abuse and misuse his female servants. He believes it is his prerogative to act according to the patriarchal social codes of English society. Therefore, he makes Pamela a target of his advances as she is beautiful; a servant who needs the job she is doing which makes her an ideal target for sexual exploitation.
After the death of his mother, Mr. B thinks of himself as the man of the house and the master of all and gives himself a carte blanche for doing whatever he wants to Pamela. Although he tries to lure her, abuse her, seduce her, sexually assaults her and kidnaps her, yet society, as well as the law, provides him with blanket immunity from any type of prosecution. Pamela is left with no choice but to use religious rhetoric and appeal to morality to deter him. Though, she succeeds in keeping her virginity intact, but not without great hardships and a painful experience.
Pamela comes from the lower stratum of society who has to work as a maid to make ends meet. Her social status is her weakness that makes her endure the improper advances of her master. If she decides to kiss goodbye to her job, where would she go? How would she survive without money? How would her parents survive who depends on her money? As society does not give her an alternative option, she decides to stick to her job despite being humiliated every day. This fact is reflected in the very first letter that she writes to her parents, that though she is mourning the death of Mr.B's mother, she is more concerned about losing her job.
Being a servant she can be accused of things she has not done or can be faulted for things even when she is innocent. Simon Darnford, another aristocrat, defends Mr.B in these words: "And if he takes care she wants for nothing, I don’t see any great Injury will be done her. He hurts no Family by this" As a servant, she has to learn to get punishment not reward. Belonging to the lowest class of society, she has no rights under British law. She asks “how came I to be his Property?” It is not by choice, but rather by customs, traditions and social norms that she becomes Mr. B's property. The issue of sexism and respect for male authority was so deep in that society that women had internalized their subjugated status as evident from the fact that the other maids believed themselves to be owned by Mr. B and can be treated as he wished. When Mr.B is about to rape Pamela, Mrs.Jewkes says to him "What you do, Sir, do; don’t stand dilly-dallying"
At the end of the novel, Pamela is happily married to Mr.B, but that does not end her subjugation. Even though they are in love with each other, Mr. B's masculinity still demands respect and submission. After getting married, Pamela explores different ways to please her husband. The only thing that has changed is the nature of the authority; from a ruthless master to a male-chauvinist husband. Even after marriage, she calls him master.
A huge mystery that remains an issue of debate for years is to figure out the true motive of Richardson in writing this novel. Is Richardson trying to highlight women plight in society or is he trying to defend the religious notion of morality? By making Pamela rebel at the beginning of the novel against her master's inappropriate gestures, and making her an obedient wife, in the end, gives reasons to ponder over this issue. Is he trying to present a robust defence of the Christian notion of virtue and innocence and trying to provide a role model for women to follow? Or is he trying to tell women of the time to rebel against male domination because they are not their properties?
This article is written by Asif Abbas, one of the contributors at the School of Literature
