Pontalti, Gisela Language and Culture 3 Teacher: Julia H. Gomila Assignment #1 Topic: Pamela.

Letter from Samuel Richardson to Aaron Hill Read the letter. Choose any two topics mentioned in the letter that are representative of the period weve been studying, either in history or literature terms. Expand on those ideas and support them in a wellbalanced paragraph. One of the topics that Richardson approaches is that one of the reading public in the eighteenth century. This is reflected when he mentions that his wife and the other young lady demanded more of Pamela to read. In the eighteenth century there was an increasing interest in reading and a tendency for literature to become a primarily feminine pursuit, as they had more spare time and lead a more sedentary life. This is manifested in the inclination of booksellers and writers to address special appeals to the feminine audience. This increase in feminine leisure was due to an economic change in England, many household duties were no longer necessary since most necessities were now manufactured and bought at shops. Most women were devoted to religious literature, and fiction was the main reading of younger girls, so there was no chance of Pamela not becoming a total success, as it enabled readers to enjoy the attractions of both fiction and devotional literature at the same time and at the same work. Richardson attempts to please feminine taste and his point of view is seen in the wealth of minutely described domestic detail in Pamela. He was very proud of his works tendency to exalt the sex and of the homage with which he had been repaid. In regards to the reading social classes, the high cost of books emphasized the restriction in the reading public. However, there were two important groups of relatively poor people who had the opportunity to read, they were the apprentices and the household servants, as there would often be books in the house, and also, since they didnt have to pay for food and lodging, they were able to buy some if they wanted to. Richardson, in his letter points out the fact that his work was being written in an easy and natural manner, introducing a new species of writing. In the eighteenth century, in England, their code of romantic love began to accommodate itself to religions, social and psychological reality, notably to marriage and the family. Richardson definitely contributed to establish this new code. He wrote at a time when a variety of economic and social changes were combining to make marriage much more important for women than before, and also much more difficult to achieve. In Pamela, the relationship of the lovers has all the absolute quality of romantic love and it can be made to involve

Pontalti, Gisela many of the basic problems of everyday life. Of course, this made people, either high and low, feel identified with the characters. Along with the characteristics of romantic love displayed in Richardsons piece of writing, Pamela is seen as a stereotype of woman at that time, since being humble, pretty, inexperienced, passive, virtuous, were all the typical features expected for a woman to be perfect. Besides, her outlook as a servant girl narrated in the story was very hopeful for the poor, as the normal fate of domestic servants was much less happy: they were usually bound to stay with their employers either they were twenty-one or until they married. Pamelas marriage was her chance of escaping servitude, she married her employer, whose marriage was a supreme act of individual choice which set at naught the traditions of his family and his class.