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 father that Mr. B has given her more gifts from Lady B’s old possessions. She felt particularly awkward about taking some of Lady B’s nice stockings, especially because Mrs. Jervis wasn’t around, but Mr. B assured her there was no need to blush. But later, Mrs. Jervis reassured Pamela that Mr. B was probably just dressing her nice to get her ready to go to Lady Davers’s place. Pamela admits to her father that she was still uneasy about accepting the extravagant gifts, but she pledges to remain virtuous.
As Pamela spends more and more time with Mr. B, she begins to realize that her parents might be right about his intentions. Nevertheless, either because Pamela is in denial or because she doesn’t want her parents to worry, she still assumes the best about Mr. B, and Mrs. Jervis seems to do the same, perhaps reflecting her respect for an upper-class man like Mr. B.
Themes
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