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Acknowledgement
A special thanks and gratitude go to my
amazing instructor Dr. Salih Abdullah for his
wonderful guidance throughout our
difficult master journey. May our great
God bless him and enlighten his path.

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Abstract
This study aims at shedding light on Pamela.
The protagonist of Richardson’s Pamela; or, virtue
rewarded as a maid belongs to the lower class, and the
events which move her to the upper class. It is divided
into six sections and a conclusion. The first one gives a
summary of Richardson’s literary life.
The second section is a general introduction,
the third is a quick guide to the text, the fourth one tackles
the social differences between Mr. B and Pamela. The
fifth section dives deeply into the changes and how they
led to the differences between Pamela with other upper-
class women in the last section.
The conclusion sums up the study.

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1. Samuel Richardson’s Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded

1.1 Richardson’s Life.

S amuel Richardson was born in 1689 into a middle-class family.

He was supposed to join the ministry but his father could not afford to
send him to school after he was 15 years old. Instead, Richardson chose
to take an internship at a printer. He worked his way up and became a
successful printer himself.
At the end of the 1730s, he was approached by two booksellers who
asked him to compose a book made up of examples of letters for
different occasions. These were to be called ‘Familiar Letters on
Important Occasions’ and were published in 1741. It was during his
work in this field that he came up with the idea for his first novel,
Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, and started working on it. Some critics
have considered Samuel Richardson the father of the novel. George
Saintsbury declared Pamela the first novel in history, He later published
two more novels; Clarissa in 1747-48, and Sir Charles Grandison in
1753-54 (Kinkead, 1971, 240-241).
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1.2 Intro.

P amela is one of the first novels in English literature, written by

Samuel Richardson. It was published in 1740, much before the rise of
feminism as a movement. Even so, Richardson’s portrayal of the
protagonist Pamela acknowledges that eighteenth-century society
required a movement that supported women and addressed their
masculine difficulties.
There have always been people in society who see women as having a
‘second-class status’. Thus, gender restrictions have become important
issues in the cultural, social, intellectual, and political growth of women.

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‘The word feminism was first used in English in the 1890s and is derived
from the French word feminisme’.
Cultural feminism, on the other hand, is the study of a woman’s social
position. It focuses on the distinctions between men and women in terms
of gender.
The inequality of women, according to cultural feminism, is sexual.
Patriarchy treats women’s bodies as objects of desire for men, and women
are seen as exclusively attractive and sexual. Women, like men, are unique
individuals, like men, Women must have their own rights and freedoms
(Echols 245).

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1.3 Summary of Pamela.

P amela; or Virtue Rewarded is the story of a young girl who is tried

time after time by her master, Mr. B.
Mr. B. is the son of Pamela’s former mistress and takes a liking to her.
Mr. B. tries to seduce the young, poor Pamela and she protects herself
the best she can.
Not being able to seduce her, he kidnaps her and she is kept under the
watchful eye of the horrible housekeeper, Mrs. Jewkes.
Pamela protects her virtue throughout the novel even after she finally
realizes that she has fallen in love with Mr. B. After many attempts to
seduce Pamela, Mr. B. also realizes that he cannot live without her.
Pamela’s story is written as an epistolary novel. The genre became
popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. The letters are written by the main
characters.
Though there were attempts of writing such a genre, critics consider
Richardson’s Pamela to be the first truly epistolary novel (Baldick, 2008,

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114). Richardson revises the novel many times. Hence, one edition may
be slightly different from another. (Evas and Kimpel, 1967, 88).

1.4 Social Differences.

To know that the English society was built on a strong class

structure, different classes knew their places in society.
It was almost impossible to move from one class to another, for women
this can happen only through marriage or inheritance.
In Pamela, a social jump is made by the heroine.
Pamela climbs the social ladder by marrying Mr. B. A woman marrying
a man from a higher class would be elevated to his level. This does not
mean that the other number of the class would accept her without some
protest (a woman would be looked at as an inferior person).
Pamela is of a lower status than her man, a social gap is not easy to
overcome. Pamela remains a poor girl until the day she marries Mr. B,
up to a point, inherits his social status.
What is worth mentioning is that Pamela received some education from
her mistress while other poor girls like her, didn’t have a chance to learn.
The education she has received from Mrs. B, dancing, singing, drawing,
and doing needlework, has not prepared her for the poor life she would
lead if she were to return to her parents, however, she has been taught to
read and write, she sews and plays the harp. All these are skills taught to
the women of the upper class, and they were activities the ladies used to
occupy themselves. She wears silk dresses. When moving to her
mistress’s house she was given clothes that are more fitting for someone
of a higher social group than her own. Pamela at one point says herself
‘’Be sure I had better, as things stand, have learned to wash and scour,
and brew and bake, such-like’’. (Richardson, 76).
All these indicate that Richardson has given Pamela the tools needed to
be able to fulfil her later role as Mr. B’s wife.

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There is one more thing indicating that Richardson wished to prove that
Pamela deserved, and was equipped, to become Mr. B’s wife. The
history of her family also raises her somewhat from the common servant.
We learn, during the course of the novel, that her father was not always
as poor as he is now, he used to own, and run, his own school, and taught
the children in the area but he was unlucky and the school had to close.
Even though both of Pamela’s parents now work hard, this contributes to
the feeling that Pamela meets some of the requirements needed to
become elevated.
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1.5 Pamela’s Social Status Versus Mr. B.

Mr. B differs from Pamela in many ways. For one thing, he

is gravely educated. He is a lawyer and therefore has the trust of being a
Judge in the future. He is also a Member of Parliament. With this comes
a lot of power. Mr. B is a very wealthy man; he owns multiple
properties.
His position in society is one of the highest standards. The people in the
area look to him as a high-standing member of their community and trust
that he knows right from wrong.
The difference in social status is explained by Pamela on many
occasions. At one point she says ‘’if you was not rich and great, and I
poor and little’’ (Richardson, 69). This clearly demonstrates the fact that
her master holds a great deal of power, and that she really does not. She
scolds him for trying to take advantage of someone who belongs to a
lower class, and someone dependent on him for her well-being. If he is
not satisfied with her, he can send her back to her parents who live in a
great poverty, a life she is very much fearful of. Nevertheless, Pamela
continues to scold him for his behavior toward her, and in his replies, it
becomes evident that his social superiority is quite clear by him and that
he does not truly bear her stubborn behavior towards him.

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He, a member of the aristocracy, believes in the order of things and truly
believes that he has the right to Pamela whether she agrees to it or not,
something that becomes evident in the rape scene.
The fact that Pamela is under the direction of Mr. B further underlines
the difference in social status. Mr. B has the power to keep her with him.
He alone decides if she can go home, and even after he promises her that
she can leave, he adjusts the timing of her returning to her parents by
deciding she should wait until he has checked with lady Davers whether
Pamela can get a post with her.
Mr. B is seen by others as having a right to whatever he decides to do.
Pamela should obey his orders. She really does not have any rights of her
own and her parents ‘’have no power at all’’ (Golden, 1964, 59). No one
can help her. This shows just how much power a wealth man had in
society, and how low the status of a waiting-maid really was.
The scene where her father Mr. Andrews, comes to Mr. B inquiring
about his daughter also shows this. However, marriage could prove to be
more of a burden to Pamela than a blessing.
Members of the upper class cannot exclude Mr. B from their class
because of his properties as a wealthy lawyer but the story is different
with Pamela.
Mr. B points out, the ladies of the upper class will not won't Pamela's
company. Being from a humble background, Pamela understands that
she might not be accepted. She respects those of a higher class than her,
and she's quite aware of how low her status in society is. She always
remembers the humble background she comes from.
Lastly, she again shows her awareness of the social classes after she is
married. She is no longer accepts being treated as an inferior by Lady
Davers (Mr. B's sister), However, she also showed that she has not
forgotten where she comes from. (Hunter, 1990, 17).

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1.6 Pamela and the Women of the Upper Class

Being poor as Pamela is, it's not surprising that not everyone thinks
her marriage to Mr. B is a good idea. As we have seen above, the poor
were by some (or perhaps most) not even regarded as having the same
rights as the gentry. One good example of how society regarded Pamela
is set forth by Mr. B’s own sister, Lady Davers.
This event takes place after The Marriage of Pamela and Mr. B but the
union is not widely known. As Mr. B is away on a business trip, Pamela
is left in the mansion and expected to meet up with him for dinner at a
friend's house. As Pamela is getting ready to leave, lady David shows up
demanding Pamela’s company.
As Mrs. Jewkes (the housekeeper), wants to save Pamela from the
meeting with Lady Davers, she warns Pamela of her arrival. Lady
Davers, however, doesn't appreciate being kept waiting and cries out to
the servants to find Pamela.
‘’I will see the Creature’’ and ‘’Bid the Wench come down to me’’
These are not exactly the most caring ways to address someone and
show clearly how Pamela is regarded by Lady Davers. She feels superior
to Pamela, and the names by which she calls her are a way of stating just
how little regard she has for Pamela.
In the first quote, she seems to take Pamela out of the human sphere and
in a way places her down with the animals. She refuses to stop
addressing Pamela in this way and continues even after she learns of
Pamela’s marriage.
Pamela has no other option but to go down to Lady Davers where she
finds herself being verbally attacked and mocked for hours. Lady Davers
believes that Pamela has lost her virtue and lives in sin with Mr. B and
she doesn't care for the way Pamela treats her. Pamela on her part wants
to avoid telling lady David about the marriage but at the same time is not
willing to negotiate her new position. (Richardson 380-398).

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Pamela, in this scene, shows that even though she's quite aware of the
fact that she will not be accepted fully into the upper class, she will not
accept being treated badly.
She can live with not being invited into the social circle of the other
ladies, but she will not be ridiculed by them in what is now her home. By
marrying Mr. B, she has become a member of the nobility and she will
not be treated as an inferior. This is shown by how Pamela refuses to
answer some of the questions set forth by Lady Davers, and by her
sitting down in Lady Davers’ company even when she is not asked to.
The fact that lady Davers sees this as an insult to her, doesn't change
how Pamela behaves. Moreover, her new station in life gives her the
right to do these things.
Lady Davers in this scene gives us a taste of how society considers
Pamela. Being second-rated to the people in the upper class, she's
obliged to answer their questions. The poor girl does not have the
privilege to resist. In this scene, though, Lady Davers doesn't believe
Pamela to be married to her brother, not even after Pamela sees no other
way than to tell her.
Lady Davers is sure her brother has finally won through in his attempts
to seduce her and that Pamela has just convinced herself that they have
married to justify herself in her own mind.
When Mr. B later could convince Lady Davers that the marriage has
taken place, her tone doesn't really change: ‘’But, Brother, said she, do
you think I’ll sit at Table with the creature? . . . I cannot. I wo’not sit
down at Table with her, said she: Pamela, I hope thou doesn't think I
will?’’. She seems unwilling to let Pamela partake in the benefits of her
own class. for lady Davers, accepting Pamela as one of her own is an
impossibility. The class of a person doesn't change overnight, and Lady
Davers couldn’t comprehend that someone that she considered so very
much below herself can suddenly be one of her own relations.
Therefore Pamela, being the sweet girl that she is tries to make the
situation easier for lady Davies by suggesting that ‘’if your good Brother
will permit, I will attend your Chair all the time you dine’’(Richardson

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427). This clearly shows that Pamela, even though she seems to accept
her new social standing, also remembers the place she came from and
has an understanding of how her rise in the social order might be
difficult for some. What is really interesting about this is that even
though Pamela doesn’t stand being treated as a second-class or as a
minor, she does to some extent put herself in an inferior position at times
(even though she on this occasion is stopped by Mr. B as he finds it
unacceptable for his wife to wait upon his sister).
Yet, Lady Davers is not the only representative of the aristocracy. When
Pamela and Mr. B finally admit their feelings for each other and decide
to marry, Mr. B also introduces Pamela to some of his neighbouring
friends, Lady Davers and her daughters, Sir Simon, Mr. Peters and Lady
Jones. These have a different view of Pamela. Mr. B invites this group of
people to his house and introduces them to Pamela. they are taken by her
beauty and grace ‘politeness’, and welcome her into their company. She
is included in their game and conversations, and they seem quite
interested in her story.
These people show a completely new side of the people from the upper
class. Unlike Lady Davers, they accept Pamela as one of their own. They
delight in discovering the marriage and they take Pamela under their
wings, so to speak.

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2. Research Conclusion

Richardson’s Pamela, the protagonist of the novel, is a poor, young, and

virtuous maid who falls victim to her immoral lord. She is always evading her master
Mr. B’s attempts of seduction and rape. She is so miserable as a result of her situation
that she attempts suicide. As a result, Pamela’s only option is to marry her lord; in
reality, marriage is a reward for her, as the novel’s title suggests: ‘Virtue Rewarded’.
As a result, the term implies that in the eighteenth century, a young lady must be
virtuous in order to be worthy of marriage. More interestingly, it appears that upper-
class males seduce and rape their servants on a regular basis. These patriarchal
(male-controlled) societal views appeared irrational to those who had developed a
“feminist sensibility” (Toksöz 132).

Be sure do not let People’s telling you are pretty, you did not make
yourself, and so can have no Praise due to you for it. It is Virtue and
Goodness only, that make the Beauty. Remember that, Pamela.
(Richardson 20).

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What is the moral lesson of Pamela?
The moral lesson of the novel would be that this virtuous behavior turns out to be
rewarded.

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1- Baldick, Chris. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford: Oxford
university press, 2008.

2- Golden, Morris. Richardson’s characters. Ann Arbor. University of Michigan

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3- Hunter, Paul Before Novels, The Cultural Context of Eighteenth Century

English Fiction, New York: WW. Norton Company, Inc, 1990.

4- Kinkead- Weekes, Mark. ‘’Defoe and Richardson-Novelists of the City’’. In

Dryden to Johnson, edited by Roger Lonsdale, London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1971.

5- Richardson, Samuel. Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, edited by Thomas Keymer,

Oxford: Oxford university press. 2001.
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1719-1900. Columbia University Press, 2005.

7- Barnes, E. “The Paradoxes of Female Authorship in Samuel Richardson’s

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Movement”. Social Text, 2020.

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