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Style
Definition of Tone
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Letter 3
Explanation and Analysis:
The majority of the novel is made up of letters and journal entries Pamela addresses to her parents, and the tone she takes in these entries is very earnest and open. One early example occurs in Letter 3, when Pamela describes a conversation Mrs. Jervis reported having with Mr. B. about her:
Mrs. Jervis says, he ask’d her, If I kept the Men at a Distance; for he said, I was very pretty, and to be drawn in to have any of them, might be my Ruin, and make me poor and miserable betimes. She never is wanting to give me a good Word, and took Occasion to launch out in my Praise, she says. But I hope she said no more than I shall try to deserve, tho’ I mayn’t at present.
Pamela comes across as naively modest here. She is open with her parents about the fact that Mr. B. has noticed her, but she does not seem to realize that he is taking an interest in her for himself. She appears to believe, at face value, that he has asked Mrs. Jervis about her behavior toward men out of genuine concern for her reputation and well-being. Instead of lingering on Mr. B., she goes on to hope that she can live up to Mrs. Jervis's praise. She comes across as honest and deeply respectful. She wants her parents' advice, but mostly she wants to share with them the events of her life.
Surprisingly, Pamela never seems to lose the urge to share everything with her parents, even the salacious details of her relationship with Mr. B. As the novel goes on, both Pamela's tone and the overall tone of the novel become increasingly desperate: through Pamela, Richardson impresses on the reader the dire stakes to a woman of finding herself pursued by a man like Mr. B., who is both wealthy and ill-behaved.
Because the stakes are so high, there is some question as to whether Pamela's earnestness might be at all feigned. She ultimately gets everything she wants, which may be due to her virtue. But it could also be due to cleverness. However Pamela is actually feeling about her relationship with Mr. B., though, the purity culture she lives in means that there is a strong social incentive for her to express horror at his attention prior to their marriage. It is possible that Pamela's letters are at least in part performances of virtue so that she can have the happy ending she wants.
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