Analyzing Pamela as an Epistolary Novel
The novel comprises seven volumes of letters of
conversations Pamela has with her parents and others.
This makes Pamela a purely epistolary novel, and in fact,
it is the first original English novel belonging to this type
of writing. In her initial letters written to her parents, she
describes her state working for the mistress, the knight’s
mother, and describes that she is quite happy. When the
mistress passes away, Pamela shows her concerns in the
subsequent letters, as she would have to go back to her
parent’s village and live life in poverty again. When the
knight informs the servants that he won’t terminate any of
them, she expresses her joy and relief.
Progressively Intense
As the story progresses, her letters become more and
more intense. With each letter, one comes to know more
and more about the characters, especially Pamela. Her
feelings, her dilemma, her desire for a financially stable
life, her determination to protect her modesty, etc., all her
feelings grip the reader, and being letters it come straight
out of the horse’s mouth.
The novel also shows multiple conversations Pamela has,
like with her parents, and with the man in the unknown
town. In fact, with the latter, Pamela exchanged letters by
hiding them in sunflower fields, as the meeting wasn’t a
possibility. Each conversation gives an insight into her
character from a different perspective, which is essentially
an important characteristic of an epistolary novel.
Even when Pamela suffers through her worst times in the
unknown town, she continues to write letters to her
parents, though they never reach them. Somewhere deep
inside, by the end of the novel, one realizes the hidden
desire she had for the knight, and the only thing that kept
her from submitting to his demands was her wish to
become a wife rather than a mistress. Subtly hidden
throughout the letters, her desire to break from the lower
class, and rise up to the higher ones was always there,
though not intentionally.
The length of the text is too large, and the premise of the
story is too common and predictable. However, that’s my
analysis from a 21st Century perspective. Back in the day,
Pamela was ground-breaking stylistically. It paved the
way for a number of epistolary novels that followed, and
continue to do so even today.
Conclusion
Pamela is not a perfect novel for various reasons. For one,
it’s too big to keep the reader engaged. Secondly, the
story is too plain. However, in being the first English
novel and the first epistolary novel originally written in
English, the novel succeeds with flying colours. It has
every characteristic of an epistolary and portrays each one
sufficiently. With strong characterization, deep
conversations, a portrayal of strong emotions, and hidden
intentions sprinkled throughout, Pamela is a book that
suitably sits among the classics of the early days of the
English novel.
What it did, is open the door for future authors to present
their masterpieces, and enrich the English literature.
The Dracula by Bram Stoker is a cult classic, which was
published over 150 years after Pamela. Likewise, Jane
Austen’s juvenile novel “Lady Susan”, and her magnum
opus, “Pride and Prejudice”, take inspiration from the
epistolary style of the novel.
Therefore, one should analyse Pamela as a stylistic text
which created a new direction, rather than for its content
and story-line.
