Is Henry Fielding’s Shamela exposing Pamela’s true
character? In an early letter to her mother, Shamela says the squire held her
hand and she “pretended to be shy” (243).
And when he had kissed her, she “pretended to be Angry, and to get away”
(243). She continues and says that by “Ill-luck,” Mrs. Jervis walked in on the
squire kissing Shamela and spoiled the moment. We’ve wondered about Pamela’s
honesty in her letters regarding her feelings for Mr. B and his attempts at
her. Is Shamela the real Pamela exposed? If Pamela were not trying to appear
virtuous to her parents, would she have also said she was pretending to be
upset? Shamela is an honest narrator, she tells her audience that she enjoys
the squire kissing her and holding her hand, but is aware of her role as a
woman and must appear to be virtuous in front of the squire. The difference
between her and Pamela is she’s actually honest in retelling her story through
her letters. Is Shamela less virtuous than Pamela because she admits to liking
the squire’s attempts? I think Shamela is a self-conscious and honest narrator,
unlike Pamela.
In Letter VI, at Twelve o’Clock, Shamela is writing to
her mom and says, “You see I write in the present Tense” (247). Shamela is
conscious of the act of writing and is honest in admitting her presence as the
narrator. She then admits to having feigned a “Swoon” in front of the squire and
in having difficulty maintaining her “Countenance, when a violent Laugh desires to burst forth” (18). Shamela has freedom
as a self-conscious narrator, and when she desires to laugh at pretending to
have swooned, I think she desires to laugh at her own reckless freedom in
writing the truth, where others before her have tried to conceal it.
In conversation with Mrs. Jewkes,
we continue to see Shamela’s self-consciousness. Mrs. Jewkes tries to lecture
Shamela on her behavior in Letter X and says if other servants are punished, it
is her fault. Shamela, however, doesn’t allow this conversation to
continue. She says, “Mrs. Jewkes
remembered the Smart of my Nails too well to go farther; and so we sat down and
talked about my Vartue till Dinner-time” (258). Later down the page, Shamela
says they “talked of honourable Designs till Supper-time” (258). Shamela is not trying to be affected like
Pamela was; Shamela is putting everything out on the table in discussing
“vartue” and “honourable designs”. The artistry of a narrator is in the novel.
Shamela
brings all artistry to the surface. Fielding appreciates the self-conscious
narrator, which is why I think he pokes fun at Pamela’s supposed “virtue.” We
will see the self-conscious narrator reappear in Fielding’s Joseph Andrews as well.
The title to Eliza Haywood’s Anti-Pamela reads: Anti-Pamela; or Feign’d Innocence Detected. Feigned innocence
detected is similar to my speculation that Fielding is exposing Pamela as
feigning her innocence and dislike of Mr. B’s attempts. Syrena’s intentions are revealed to us in the
very beginning from a narrator. We are told early on that Syrena
did not hope to become a laborer but that she may
become rich either through “Marriage, or a Settlement from some Man of
Condition” (56). She is willing to
become a mistress to someone of high rank or status; and she is only 13 years
old at this point! Syrena is a social climber, and Haywood may be implying that
so too is Pamela.
The self-conscious narrator, after
having relayed to us that Syrena and her mother hoped for more grand options, says,
“Here one cannot forbear reflecting, how shocking it is, when those who should
point out the Paths of Virtue, give a wrong Bent to the young and unform’d
Mind” (56). The narrator is giving her
own opinion on the behavior of her characters. Is this opinion directed at
Samuel Richardson who claims to “cultivate the Principles of Virtue…in the
Minds of the Youth”? Haywood is clearly not concealing her sentiment towards
Richardson’s novel in her title Anti-Pamela.
Syrena is similar to Shamela in
that she is honest about her feelings too. She admits to pretending to act a
certain way and is very obvious in wanting money, status, and gifts from men of
high rank. We know very well what she is after and she lays it all out. Like Shamela, she is aware of her role as a
female, and so puts on a virtuous act in front of Vardine when they first meet.
He is very sexual towards her, admitting to watching her dress and asking her
opinion on which stockings to purchase. Though Syrena appears to be careless in
front of him, she says “I said nothing, but pretended to be mighty uneasy, tho’
in my Heart I was well enough pleas’d” (61). And then of course she does choose
a pair of stockings. Syrena is aware of her role as a female though and so she
rejects the stockings when Vardine insists she takes them. She is honest in admitting though that "indeed they were very pretty” and later regrets not taking them (62, 69).
I am very curious about the
narrator appearing before Syrena’s letters. Can we safely assume this is
Haywood laying out her thoughts and giving us a depiction of her character
before we’re even able to judge Syrena for ourselves? The narrator continues to
reappear throughout the novel, commenting on Syrena and exposing her
intentions.
Also, why don’t we get to see the
letter Syrena wrote to her mom pretending she got rid of Vardine (73)? Instead,
the narrator relays their conversation to us. Is this significant in any way?
Does the narrator seem to have her own agenda throughout the novel?
Nabilah: The way you trace self consciousness of Shamela and Syrena as alternatives to Pamela herself is very interesting. In the case of Shamela, here you make the argument that she is a more honest narrator than Pamela was. This is especially in the excerpt where she says she is writing in the present tense. However, you began changing your mind as class discussion progressed, and I would also like to suggest as you change your thought process that even Shamela wasn't always honest. For example, we would not have known about her bastard child from her affair with Parsons had it not been for Mrs. Jervis' letter to Shamela's mother. A similar case happens with Syrena, where yes, Syrena admits to her schemes in various instances; yet it is important to note that Haywood gives readers even further behind the scenes type information through the third person narrator she employs in this tale. Thus, I think that you are right in terms of the honesty expressed behind both Shamela and Syrena's feelings, but the ways in which they are contextualized are not possible solely based on their honesty.
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