Pamela or Virtue Rewarded

by Samuel Richardson

Volume 2 of Richards popular novel picks up after Pamela's wedding, telling the story of Pamela as wife and mother.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, 18th Century, Literary Fiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1741

About the author

Pamela (1740) and Clarissa Harlowe (1748) of English writer Samuel Richardson helped to legitimize the novel as a literary form in English.

An established printer and publisher for most of his life, Richardson wrote his first novel at the age of 51. He is best known for his major 18th-century epistolary novel Sir Charles Grandison (1753).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_...

Reviews

[Nicole C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 2 was a bit better, as there was more variety in the letters, and even a bit of strife (even though you knew it would come out fine in the end). Pamela does go on a lot, though, with her exclamations.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd already been fascinated by the famous first part of 'Pamela', and was keen to read this sequel - really a separate novel in its own right - where Pamela becomes a mother and struggles to organise her household and feel herself an equal to her husband. An interesting aspect of this novel is how much time Richardson, through the voice of Pamela, spends justifying the controversial plot of the first novel - he seems to feel increasingly anxious about the idea of a rake being reformed, perhaps showing the way forward to Lovelace in 'Clarissa'.

After long and sometimes stodgy passages about everything from breast-feeding to educating children, the novel really comes alive when things go wrong in Pamela's marriage - Richardson is always at his best in writing about emotional turmoil, it seems.

[Will Albers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't believe I finally finished nearly 1,000 pages of Pamela. Admittedly I tried to skim as much as I could but I kept getting drawn into the plot and various dilemmas our heroine faced. Much of the book is interesting and amusing and I can't help but think I've seen the plot recast in modern times as some type of romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and the actress du jour of that year. Samuel Richardson could have used an editor as we certainly don't need a hundred page critique of John Locke's ideas on education. This would have been a far better book at half the length. Still, I'm always amazed that these examples of early fiction (off the 1,000 Books.... list) are far more entertaining than I expected them to be. That being said, I'm not going to jump into Camilla (Richardson's next boot) right away. I need something lighter and more modern to cleanse my palette.

[Igenlode Wordsmith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shorn of the melodrama of the first half, volume 2 is actually more readable than one might think, although as the author admits there is "a suspicion that the extent of the work is to be measured by the patience of its readers"! Pamela's constant gratitude and praises to Heaven are as tedious in style and repetitious in content as ever, but she flashes out from time to time into "saucy" (as she calls it) independent observations which run contrary to what one might expect. And the book is an unintentional treasure trove of period language and usage, from the shift in 'awful' and 'naughty' (which have subsequently lost much of the impact they clearly carry here) to the terms 'pug' and 'slut' (the latter having gained a derogatory sense, whereas here it seems to imply no worse than 'girl' or 'wench') used for young women, or 'fox-hunter' used as slang for a libertine.

The author appears to gain more confidence as a novelist rather than a didactic writer, allowing the imperfect characters such as Jackey, Miss Darnford and crude old Sir Jacob their own vivid voices that stand out among the anodyne similarities of Pamela and her supporting chorus. I confess to a great deal of skimming and speed-reading, but one can see flashes of ability in the text, even if largely obscured by the more overt intentions of the writing. However, the best that can really be said for it is that the volume is not as boring as one might expect.

[Marcia Lonteen-Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 2 picks up after Pamela marries Mr B. Some of Mr. B's friends are scandalized by his marrying someone of such humble beginnings, but soon they are all won over by Pamela's specialness. One by one they visit and eventually become Pamela's great friends. Little by little Mr B begins to introduce her to proper London society, such as going to plays and parties,especially masquerade parties. That evening proves to be one which they both regret, for soon Mr B becomes fascinated by a woman and passes himself off as a bachelor. This is particularly bad time, as Pamela has given birth to their first son. Soon neighbors begin to tell Pamela of her husband's dalliance, and this devastates her. She becomes very sullen, sad, and withdrawn. Then, in a way only a man could do, he begins to stay away from home, avoiding her presence and pouty ways. When she bursts into tears, instead of feeling guilty, he becomes angry and orders her out of his sight. Being a totally selfless woman, she finally talks to him, saying she is ready to release him from his obligation to her. She explains because of her pure love for him, she wants only his happiness, so if he has found another, she will adjust to him leaving her and allowing her and her son go and live with her parents. Now Mr B realizes Pamela knows indeed of his relationship with the Countess, which causes him to recognize the exceptional goodness of Pamela, who wants most of all, his happiness. He recounts his evil ways, saying he passed himself off as an unmarried man for a time, until the Countess determined that indeed he is, so they began to discuss Pamela and their son. All turns out well after this scare, but this guy is really beginning to irritate me, thinking Pamela drove him away by her moodiness instead of feeling guilty. In the last part of the book Pamela meets with 4 young women, all who had possible tendencies toward giving themselves too easily to men. As Samuel Richardson wrote volume one to give instructions to women going into service in wealthy households, this volume outlines rules for young women in how to guard themselves against the advances of eager young men and how to be a dutiful wife.

[Richard Clay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do not read this book.

Richardson all but admits it was cooked up to meet public demand for more of the same after the success of Volume One. But he'd told the story he had to tell and better than three quarters of Volume Two consists of notional secondary characters congratulating the narrator on how well she behaved in the previous book. All very tiresome.

I'm prepared to accept that it was right for me to read Volume One of Pamela in order to appreciate how vastly better Richardson's second novel, Clarissa, is. We shall see: I plan to read that one next year. But I think that purpose is served by Volume One alone. Volume Two is of no value to any reader apart from the postgraduate Richardson scholar. And there can't ever have been too many of those.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book was actually quite pleasant to read.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The least read of Richardson’s fictions, the sequel Pamela in Her Exalted Condition, which recounts the story of her marriage, is much underrated.