Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the ways in which the epistolary form is used to spark the reader's curiosity in Samuel Richardson's "Pamela" by appealing to an amoral, voyeuristic desire that runs counter to the book's ostensible morality. It concludes with a discussion of the ways in which Pamela's authority as narrator is called into question.

From the Paper:

"One of the primary purposes of using the epistolary form to narrate Pamela is, it seems, to ensure the reader's sympathy with Pamela herself. In the first letter, the reader is given a sense of Pamela's unrelenting "virtue". The letter is from a "dutiful daughter" to her "dear father and mother", and duty is its primary concern: Pamela claims that she is relieved to be under Mr B.'s protection solely because she does not wish "to be a burden to my dear parents", she is aware of her obligation to be "a good girl, and faithful and diligent" in his service, and her final word on her old mistress's death is Well, but "God's will must be done!" She is, in other words, presented as the ideal servant, and perhaps the ideal woman, being unquestioningly obedient to her superiors under God, and willing to put others interests before her own. "

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