MY CHALLENGE OF THE YEAR - 2013

CLARISSA; or the History of a Young Woman- Samuel Richardson

Ever since seeing Sean Bean in the TV adaptation (along with other well known names Saskia Reeves and Hermione Norris) I have wanted to read this classic novel. Studying A level English literature and obsessed with 19th century literature - Austen, the Bronte's, Hardy to name but a few - I searched the bookshops of Leeds for this elusive epistle; not surprisingly it had been out of print for years but surely due to the TV drama, I did eventually track down a copy in Waterstone's, a huge bible of a book costing £17!!! That was beyond my paltry means and, frankly, the sheer size of the book made me ponder the wisdom of holding this giant for hours at a time and the damage it might do to the tendons in my wrists! So, it was with much regret that I put Miss Clarissa on the backburner...but never out of my mind.
Twenty years later and a few times I've checked in book shops for the mighty epistle - and it was still as big - and decided against it and then....I got my Kindle and surely the first thing anyone does on getting a Kindle is…no, not reading the instructions but browsing the Kindle Store. All those free books! All those books that have not been heard of for decades, that you might not be able to purchase in print even and what was there but Clarissa. In NINE volumes.
Destiny? Surely.
So Clarissa, in nine volumes, was downloaded and here is my 2013 challenge - to finally read Clarissa; or the History of a Young Lady. Why it has to have two titles.....
In Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4 and I learnt that Clarissa is a very proper lady who was the apple of her doting family’s eye until she attracted a man who not only turned down her sister but engaged in a fracas with her brother. Clarissa has just been made aware that she is her grandfather’s heiress and is a woman of independent means, a fact that goes against her with her jealous brother and sister. It is no secret that Clarissa is well thought of by all and her Uncles have promised that she will benefit from them also.
Despite his having rebuffed her sister, who would have been very glad to have him, when his preference for Clarissa is noted Lovelace is encouraged by her parents to visit and pay court to her; Clarissa not being interested in him, or any man, she is nevertheless encouraged to write to him about his tours, all perfectly legitimate as her family read his letters but still, she shows not the slightest interest in him and when her brother returns from Scotland he shows great antipathy towards Lovelace (due to a snubbing of old)and encourages sister Arabella’s also (although it should be noted that she is getting past her prime and is bitter that Lovelace should prefer Clarissa over her!). When an altercation between Lovelace and her brother occurs he is barred from their house and Clarissa is banned from having further correspondence with him; Lovelace is determined to reach Clarissa however and takes advantage of her visiting a friend to renew their acquaintance which when discovered by the family goes badly against the innocent Clarissa.
Incensed, brother James insists that Clarissa should be married and got out of the way of this libertine. Clarissa is a woman of great privilege and freedom, for that era. She has not been thrust down the aisle with the first fop that came to hand but has been allowed a certain amount of say so in her future gaoler husband. Except she is being rather awkward about it and has refused a few suitors and now, because of the jealousy and bitterness of her siblings and their belief that she has encouraged Lovelace they are determined that she will marry the ghastly Mr Solmes (in the TV drama Solmes is depicted as a truly horrific fop – bright orange, wild curly hair, blackened teeth, leaded skin and a very effeminate way of carrying on….a rather excellent portrayal that enhanced my reading – and sympathy for Clarissa!) Naturally, a beautiful, good and intelligent young woman like Clarissa is horrified beyond belief that her family would marry her off to someone like that and refuses to have him and despite finding herself in deepest disgrace for doing so and continuing to do so she will not give in to marrying this creature. (And who could blame her?)
Her family turned from her and forbidden to write to her dear friend Anna Howe, Clarissa finds a way to keep up a secret correspondence with her and Mr Lovelace, whom she believes is being unfairly treated by her family but who, she is hoping to convince, should give up his hopes of her.
There follows many an account of her imprisonment and the treatment of her family to her in letters to Anna Howe and some between the family members urging her that it is for her own sake that she should marry Solmes and equally many accounting for her reasons why she can and will not. Then we are finally introduced to the voice of Lovelace himself (pause to think about the delectable Sean Bean in tight breeches and frilly shirt) who in letters to his friend informs us of the reasons he has for pursuing Clarissa; originally a genuine liking for her has now become a point of honour with him to seduce the lovely lady as revenge to her detestable brother and family for their treatment of him.
Never a more crafty villain has there been. Charming and gracious, rich and handsome, women fall at his feet and if they don’t, well, he’ll have ‘em anyway! Clarissa has held out, has shown little interest in him and it is partly this, as well as his hatred for her brother, that makes Lovelace so determined to take Clarissa, willingly or not.
Knowing everything, by means of bribing servants, that Clarissa is suffering and still pursuing her by means of secret correspondence, with meticulous planning and some trickery Lovelace finally gets Clarissa into his hands and spirits her away to his friends. (Friends – with benefits, we might say today!) For Lovelace takes Clarissa, ah, the lovely naïve and innocent Clarissa to a house of ill-repute although this is not broadcast to her, hoping to wear her down with promises of marriage and reconciliation with her family, but alas, Clarissa has moved from one prison to another, her life is not her own and as she becomes more suspicious of these strange women and their relation to Lovelace, and indeed Lovelace’s intentions, her spirits become lower and her need to escape greater but still she refuses to agree to marry him; despite his best efforts to engage her affections, Clarissa will not be moved.
And so to Volume 5 and 6 where Lovelace’s machinations appear to be working; Clarissa acknowledges some degree of affection to her friend Miss Howe and has agreed to marriage after some trickery of Lovelace’s convinces her that her family is for it. Alas, it is all trickery for Mr Lovelace seems to be losing interest in the idea, confessing he has an aversion to matrimony and cannot get a license. He still has hopes of having Clarissa without marriage! Again wary Clarissa actually manages to escape his clutches…but not for long. The villain soon tracks her down and is in pursuit of her affections once more, but has he dallied too long? Intercepting letters from Miss Howe it seems that Clarissa may have been stringing him along all this time for Miss Howe has been discovering things about him. Incensed, Lovelace determines he will have her by fair means or foul… and by foul means Lovelace succeeds in getting the poor Clarissa back to their lodgings in the house of ill repute and there, defiles her.
Unlike the dramatization, which depicted a horrific rape scene, we do not read about the rape, it is merely announced.
“And now, Belford, I can go no farther. The affair is over. Clarissa lives.”
Which really still emphasizes to the reader how brutal and violent he has been. It is all we need.
In the following Volumes, much is done to try to reconcile Clarissa to the vile rapist; many letters are sent and read. The wicked women of the brothel have Clarissa arrested on a sham charge, which incenses even Lovelace and when she is eventually released and all charges dropped with the aid of his friend Belford, (who surely has taken his time to put a stop to Lovelace’s villainies!) it is clear that the torments she has gone through have had an everlasting effect on Clarissa and she is more than happy to die. Volume 8 is pretty much taken up with her death – it is a long time coming, though covers only a few weeks in letters. Even in death Clarissa is astounding! She manages to write her will, appoint an executor, write many letters (though with shaken hand) go to church and even order a coffin which she then has placed in her chamber, to the shock of her friends and which she uses as a desk to write her last instructions……(a sense of humour from Richardson?) and still talks about and looks forward to her decline with eagerness and anticipation. When she expires, finally, it is with many tears from her friends and in a state of near beatification and a smile from herself.
Of course, this story would not have a moral if it was not even more tragic (though it takes some believing that it could be more so!) For shortly before her death, Cousin Morden has come to her rescue and after many interviews with the villain and his family and Clarissa’s family, has had her reinstated as the most beloved of any family, acquitted of any ill and immoral behavior and her inheritance is to be returned to her. However, despite many urgent entreaties that Clarissa is dying from many parties, no one really supposes she is THAT bad (why would they?!) so Cousin Morden takes his time about his enquiries, only just making it in time to reassure the now blind and gasping Clarissa that she is forgiven. Which must have been a great weight of her mind as she breathed her last and looked with greedy glee towards her coffin…
So Clarissa is laid to rest as she wished, at her grandfather’s feet in the family vault. It’s the least the family can do after all the trouble she has been through and their guilt knows no bounds; we are often informed of this through letters twixt Belford and Morden. As for Lovelace, does he get his comeuppance? He tells us that he pines for Clarissa and seems to be in a decline for a short while and regrets his actions…but only for a while, gallivanting off on a tour abroad for his health…well he has to keep his spirits up, lots of pretty girls to seduce after all.
And will no one avenge Clarissa’s death? Uncle Morden wants to but Clarissa, anticipating this as she seems to have anticipated everything, urges in her Will that the only person who can avenge her is God.
Alas, word gets to Lovelace that Morden has threatened him and he throws down a challenge that Morden accepts and swords are drawn………
And there I shall leave it.

Only joking! Let us just say that Clarissa is avenged but not in the way she would have wanted. And Uncle Morden is left with a lifelong guilt for not having listened to his darling.
Of course it wouldn’t be the tale of morality it is if all the other sinners weren’t punished also. So there is an epilogue detailing the miseries that befall the other principals in this tale and the goodness that embraces the good.
And the moral of the story? Do good. Be good. Be sure your sins will find you out. Do not presume to punish others as only God can do that. Forgive those who have sinned against you. Almost any biblical reference would fit here but I think you get the picture and so I leave you with my not so brief account of
CLARISSA; or The History of a Young Lady
And my thoughts thereof, in brief
Long winded; I feel certain the same moral points could have been achieved with less writing but the characterization was excellent and you did feel you knew the characters. Did I like them? Not really, the one I liked best was Miss Howe who was just the right mix of faulty and naughty and not all perfect. The story does probably give a fairly accurate account of life at this time with regard to marriages and circumstance; the fact that behind the silken drawing rooms was a very seedy underground world of sex and violence; it depicts jealousy and lust and purity of body and spirit in a perfect juxtaposition and you cannot fail to know what Samuel Richardson is getting at and the points of morality he is making with his perfect heroine Clarissa. The only thing is, by the time it has been read it’s really difficult to want to dissect it in full, so take my word for it, he does it very well and maybe in a couple of months I will read the notes and become intimate with the purpose of this novel.