Textuality » 4A Interacting

MStefanich - Pamela. The rich despise the poor
by MStefanich - (2010-05-18)
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Now I am going to analyse Lady Devers's  letter written to her brother Mr. B and following Pamela's letter written to her parents.

In this letter, made up by two, the events are narrated by two points of view: from Lady Devers's (rich class) and Pamela's (poor class).    

In her letter she invites her brother to let Pamela in peace and she provides the reader three important argumentations to support her invitation.

As a matter of fact, at the time was an ordinary event for noble men to have a lover and a wife and was also an ordinary event for them to behave in such way with young girl of the lower class.

First she says that Pamela was a good girl, after that she adds that he must not attempt to her virtue. Pamela  was not a noble woman, on the contrary their family was an ancient as the best in the kingdom.

The function of the letter for Mr B' s sister is to make her point clear about the situation that was developing.

In the second part Pamela writes a letter to her parents  in which the most important theme is the relation between the social classes, in particular between poor and rich. She provides her parents her opinion, she thinks poor people are despised by the rich and after that she discusses this sentence.

The first argumentation is that they were "all on a foot originally": it means that they were all equal. She also represent the Puritanism ideology. Religious theme:  she is speaking of the final judge; Philosophy: to demonstrate that she is in right. Pamela works as a maid it  implies that she did not study so it sounds strange that she could speak about these areas.

In the last part of the letter Pamela explains the function of her reflections because she says they occurred to her thoughts.

She calls Mr B's sister lowly because she is proud of her noble gentry and she defines herself high-minded because she hopes she is too proud "ever to do the like".

Finally she emphasizes once again the miserable situation of poor people but with the last sentence she communicates her pray to be kept from the pride of a high estate. It means that she prefers to be poor rather than have a "sinful pride".