The eighteenth century is marked by the rise of the
sentimental novel, a new gender that focusing on the feelings and emotions of
the characters and the main issues of its society, is going to originate an
enormous passion for reading and literature in general. Themes such as: fear, prudence, morality, melancholy,
innate goodness and chastity came into vogue, but the most relevant of all was,
undoubtedly, virtue. It became the central topic of sentimental novels, especially in Richardson's novel Pamela where it
was portrayed, in a peculiar way.
Female virtue,
paraphrasing Corrinne Harol’s ideas in the essay Faking It: Female Virginity and Pamela's Virtue, was completely related
to sexuality and the body. Virtuous equal
to virginity constitutes a distinctive
aspect that can be seen all through Richardson’s novel, where, according to
Harol’s point of view “Pamela’s heroic attempts to preserve her virginity
produce evidence about her interiority and thus allow readers to evaluate her virtue
… virtue depends upon preservation of her virginity” (Harol, 2) a fact that
Pamela defends till the end, knowing it would be her “free pass” to happiness
and a good marriage and consequently to a better future.
As a reflection
of the society of her time, Pamela embodies all the women whose unique option to
achieve respect, prestige and wealth is through a good marriage, possible only
for those who keep their virginity in soul and body. But it is not the first
time we see this. In The Rape
of the Lock we find Clarissa struggling to preserve her virginity, this time, equal to her physical appearance, in order to get
married and maintain her social status in the high-class society.
This is one of the ways in which the
literature of this period develops. By portraying the main issues of its
society, it will not only achieve a wider public and acceptance but also its maximum
splendour, its golden days.
Bibliography:
- Harol, Corrinne. Faking It: Female Virginity and Pamela's Virtue. Eighteenth-Century
Fiction: Vol. 16: Iss. 2,
Article 3. 2004
