Expectations of Pamela’s Presentation of Herself and Her Situation in Her Narrative

Samuel Richardson is widely considered the first author to promote the epistolary novel in the 18th century with his popular novel Pamela. Richardson claimed that epistolary novels would help close the distance between readers and characters, helping them understand the physical and mental basis from which protagonists drew inspiration when writing letters. However, it is immediately apparent that Pamela is based on only one character: the eponymous Pamela. In contrast to the primary argument that epistolary novels possess a distinct edge over other formats due to the variety of perspectives represented through letters, Pamela, in presenting only one point of view, prevents readers from accessing other characters with the same intimacy. Essentially, readers are assessing all the other characters solely through Pamela’s perspective, a quality that is oppositional to what the reader expects from the epistolary format. Richardson is regarded for his ability to imbue Pamela’s letters with an authentic female voice that channels the feminine concerns and sensibilities of his time. Nevertheless, readers develop biased interpretations of the other characters due to Pamela’s emotional, naïve disposition. While Pamela’s letters are part of the novel’s realism, they simultaneously serve to weaken the verisimilitude of this novel. For example, in one of Pamela’s letters, she writes, “My young Master” (11). This salutation could be interpreted in many different ways, influencing the readers’ understanding of her intentions. In this essay, I will explore both Richardson’s technique and role in expanding and popularizing the epistolary novel as well as the textual evidence in Pamela that undermines her credibility as a narrator and casts her virtue into question.