Textuality » 4A Interacting
MY GOOD LADY DIED
Pamela is an epistolary novel written by Samuel Richardson in 1740. This novel is made up by letter written by Pamela and her parents. Epistolary novel reaches his height with Samuel Richardson' s Pamela, that became a model for epistolary novel.
In the extract we had to analyze Pamela is writing a letter to her parents, particularly to her father, in order to explain them what happened . She had trouble because her good lady died . Consequently she is afraid because she doesn't want to return home .
As a matter of fact her lady died before recommending what she had to do. But unexpectedly Mr.B. declared to take care of her and moreover he gave her four golden guineas and some silver which were in lady's pocket. Pamela uses her money to pay some debt . At the end she promises her parents to be a good girl because she wants to be dutiful . Pamela also asked her mum and dad to pray for her , she was afraid . One day she was writing this letter in her lady's dressing- room when Mr.B. entered and pretended to read her letter. She was also ashamed because in the letter she tell about her master.
This is a narration made up only by Pamela, so the reader has only one point of view. In this way she describes her inner thoughts and feelings. " I have a great trouble", "I feared", "I have been scared", "ashamed I was", "forgive me" are phrases that reveal Pamela's confusion and feared caused by her lady's death, but also by her master behaviours : I will take care of you , my good maidens", " took me by the hand ", "I will be a friend to you ", " and said if I was a good girl, and faithful and diligent , he would be a friend to me". So Pamela and her master relation isn't a common relation between master and housekeeper.
Richardson, in his work, portrayed behaviours of a puritan society, as a matter of fact there are a lot of words and attitudes that refer to religion : " Good bless him", "pray with me", "virtue reworded" In addition to this Pamela wants to maintain her work because in puritan religion work is important to society progress.
Summarizing Pamela represents a puritan girl , but Richardson plays with this protagonist in order to paradise the society of eighteen century. And so he uses novel to create a fiction. Pamela's words reveal that she is unreal because she is afraid to be disturb her parents, and than because she is dutiful and diligent but she does what she want, so she pretends.
At the end of this analysis I have understood that Richardson's aim is to portrayed, through characters like Pamela, behaviour of society.