Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Pamela, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Value of Virtue
Class and Morality
Religion and Marriage
Sexual Politics
Summary
Analysis
Pamela writes to her mother, explaining that since she can’t find the stolen letter, she’ll try rewriting it. Mr. B has been watching her, and one day he approached her just after Mrs. Jervis left. He said he noticed how she was fleeing him, but he wants her to stay still this time and hear him out. He asked if it’s true she’d prefer to go to his sister, Lady Davers. Pamela said she would—she was used to serving Lady B and would like to serve another lady, since there’s no lady in Mr. B’s household.
Mr. B realizes what Pamela herself knows—that Mrs. Jervis can help keep Pamela safe. Mr. B wants Pamela isolated, which is why he steals her letter to cut off communication with her parents and waits for moments when Mrs. Jervis isn’t around. But he also knows that even with the power imbalance between himself and Pamela, he still has to be mindful of his reputation, which is why he keeps referring to Pamela’s upcoming transfer to Lady Davers’s house, even though he doesn’t seem to have any intention of actually sending Pamela there.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
Continuing her letter, Pamela writes that Mr. B promised to turn Pamela into a gentlewoman. All of a sudden, he kissed her, leaving Pamela so stunned that he kissed her a couple more times before finally she broke free. Mr. B told her not to be afraid, but Pamela started crying. Eventually, Mr. B got angry and claimed that he was only testing Pamela and asking her to keep the kisses a secret. He gave her some gold to make up for it.
Mr. B’s actions are sexual harassment or even assault, but he doesn’t seem to be afraid of the consequences, perhaps because he knows that Pamela is the only witness—and that people will trust the word of a gentleman over a servant girl like Pamela. Mr. B tries to make Pamela doubt her own memory by claiming he was only testing her, even though it’s obvious that wasn’t the case.
Themes
Literary Devices
Quiz
Test Yourself
In the same letter, Pamela writes how she refused the gold from Mr. B. Mr. B asked again to make sure Pamela keep what just happened a secret. Pamela left to go walk in the garden. In the present, she writes that she has not yet decided to leave the house of Mr. B, but she is frightened.
Pamela has learned that her parents were right: Mr. B’s original payment to her was indeed an attempt to keep her quiet, something he attempts again here. It’s telling that Mr. B’s solution to a potential moral problem is to just bribe people into forgetting about it—it seems that Mr. B is used to using money to get his way.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
