Pamela

The relationship between Pamela and Mrs. Jewkes grows increasingly tense.

Pamela notices that the servants are busy cleaning the house; she becomes alarmed that Mr. B will arrive soon. She recalls Mr. B’s promise not to come without her permission, but concludes that, “he hates me perfectly” (220), and therefore will ignore any promises.

Pamela goes for a walk with no intention of trying to escape, but Mrs. Jewkes and Mr. Colbrand react with anger and force her back inside. The next day (Friday) Mrs. Jewkes brings Pamela her fine clothes and tells her to put them on, as a wealthy woman from the neighborhood is going to visit. Pamela gets dressed and waits. When she hears a coach outside, she goes to look, and realizes that the visitor is actually Mr. B. She is very fearful and wonders if she can hide, but after few hours pass, Pamela wonders why Mr. B has not yet come to her.

Mr. B eventually comes upstairs to see her. He immediately taunts her, telling her that, “once I thought her as innocent as an angel of light; but now I have no patience with her” (222). He later asks Pamela to wait on him while he eats dinner, during which Mr. B complains about Pamela conspiring with Mr. Williams, and trying to escape. He eventually begins fondling Pamela, and Mrs. Jewkes encourages him to have sex with her. Mr. B won’t go that far, and sends Pamela off to bed. She has a very uneasy night, worried he will try to come into her room, but nothing happens.

Mr. B sends Pamela a detailed proposal asking her to become his mistress; readers see Mr. B’s letter and her response side by side. He offers to give her 500 guineas (a very large sum of money), an estate, and money for her parents. He offers Pamela fine clothes and expensive jewels. Then he points out that he could take what he wants without offering her anything, so she should accept his terms and become his mistress out of self-interest. He offers her access to his fortune and the run of his household. Finally, he proposes that if, after a year, things are going well, he may even marry her. If she doesn’t accept, he will take her by force.

Pamela says no to each point of the proposal; she “reject[s] it with all my soul” (228). She argues that “to lose the best jewel, my virtue, would be poorly recompensed by the jewels you propose to give me” (229): If she willingly became Mr. B’s mistress, she would be unworthy of becoming his wife. She begs him to leave her alone. When Mr. B reads her response, he becomes enraged. Pamela runs off, and overhears Mrs. Jewkes urging him to rape her.

Mr. B tells Pamela to come to his room, but she refuses to go. Mrs. Jewkes tells her to get ready for bed, but Pamela is afraid to undress. Mrs. Jewkes forces her to go to bed, and Pamela passes an uneasy night.

From her window, Pamela watches Mr. B get ready to go to church; she reflects that, “he is a handsome, fine gentleman; what pity his heart is not so good as his appearance!” (235). Pamela writes two requests for prayer: prayers on behalf of a man who is being tempted into sinfulness and wickedness, and prayers on behalf of a young woman striving to protect her virtue. Mr. B looks at these, but refuses to take them to church.

Mr. B does not come home after church and sends a note to Mrs. Jewkes. Pamela seizes an opportunity to read the note: Mr. B has gone to see Mr. Williams to question him about what has gone on with Pamela. Mr. B threatens that, “all [Pamela’s] ensnaring speciousness shall not save her from the fate that awaits her” (236). Since he will not be returning until the next day, Pamela knows that she will have one more night of safety.

On Sunday night, knowing that Mr. B is away meeting with Mr. Williams, Pamela is at ease. When Pamela and Mrs. Jewkes go to bed, Pamela notices a figure sitting in the corner of the room, and assumes it to be Nan, one of the other maids. She and Mrs. Jewkes get into bed; as the third figure stirs to join them, Pamela realizes that it is actually Mr. B. Mrs. Jewkes holds Pamela down, and encourages Mr. B to rape her. Mr. B hesitates, telling Pamela that what he really wants is for her to willingly consent to his written proposal: “If you do, I will yet leave you. I abhor violence” (242). Pamela is unsure how to answer, and when Mr. B fondles her breasts, she faints in horror. When Pamela comes to, she worries that Mr. B may have assaulted while she was unconscious, but he assures her that he didn’t. When Mrs. Jewkes suggests that Mr. B has an ideal opportunity to finally have sex with Pamela, she faints again. When she wakes up a second time, Mr. B tells her that he has sent Mrs. Jewkes away so that Pamela can rest peacefully. He treats her quite gently, and reassures her that she is safe.

Pamela spends several days resting, while Mr. B continues to assure her that he will not threaten her again. On Tuesday, Mr. B tells Pamela that he loves her, and that he will not treat her forcefully in the future. He asks her to stay at the estate for two more weeks, and to forgive Mrs. Jewkes for her role in what happened. Pamela agrees, although she is still confused and doubtful of his intentions.

Mr. B again forcefully kisses and fondles Pamela while they are walking in the garden; she chastises him, and they argue. Pamela asserts that, “I cannot be patient, I cannot be passive, when my virtue is in danger” (249).

Mr. B tells Pamela that he admires all of her attempts to preserve her virtue; these actions actually make him love her more. Despite his affection and respect for her, however, Mr. B explains that, “I cannot endure the thought of marriage, even with a person of equal or superior degree to myself; […] how then, with the distance between us, in the world’s judgment, can I think of making you my wife?” (251). Mr. B presses Pamela to advise him as to what he should do, and also repeatedly urges her to tell him that she does not love any other man.

Pamela is flustered, and continues to ask to be allowed to go home to her parents. She readily admits that she doesn’t love anyone else, but argues that she was justified in her secretive plotting with Mr. Williams because she was desperate. Pamela tells Mr. B that she appreciates his gentler treatment of her, but remains skeptical because she has overheard him telling Mrs. Jewkes that he will now try a new strategy of seducing Pamela with kindness rather than force.

Mr. B tells Pamela that he is going away for several days to attend a wedding; he urges Mrs. Jewkes to watch Pamela closely, suspicious that she is going to try to run away. Mr. B also tells Pamela that he has fired Mrs. Jervis, Mr. Longman, and Mr. Jonathan (the butler), due to their support of Pamela.

Pamela retrieves the papers she buried in the garden on the night she tried to escape. An itinerant fortune teller comes to the house, and offers to tell the fortunes of Mrs. Jewkes and Pamela; she predicts that Pamela will never marry, and die in childbirth. Mrs. Jewkes becomes annoyed and sends the woman away, but Pamela begins to wonder if the woman could be a covert messenger. She finds a small slip of paper with an anonymous message: Mr. B is going to try to lure her into a “sham marriage,” so Pamela should be wary of anyone claiming to be a clergyman and intending to perform the ceremony. Pamela is very upset by this news since, “I have as good as confessed that I love him! But I will break this forward heart of mine, if it will not be taught to hate him” (262).

Mr. B returns to the estate. Mrs. Jewkes catches Pamela with the papers that she retrieved from the garden, and takes them away from her. These papers are everything Pamela has written between the 17th and 27th days of her imprisonment. Pamela is very upset because she knows that Mrs. Jewkes will show the papers to Mr. B, and “now he will see all my private thoughts of him, and all the secrets of my heart” (263).

Mr. B summons Pamela and tells her that he has not yet read the papers; she begs him not, but he insists that he has the right to read what she has written. A few hours later, he calls her back again; Mr. B is angry, because he perceives Pamela’s letters to Mr. Williams as evidence of her love for him. He also wants to know the whereabouts of Pamela’s writings from the earliest days of her imprisonment. Pamela explains that she sent them as letters to her parents.

Mr. B also wants to know if Pamela has continued writing since the 27th day (when the papers he has end), and when she admits that she has, he demands to see those as well. When she hesitates, he threatens to strip-search her, suspecting that she has her writing hidden in her clothing. Pamela agrees to get the papers. Once she is alone, Pamela writes a note to Mr. B, asking him to let her have the night to look her writing over. She promises to send it to him first thing in the morning. Mr. B agrees. Pamela is resigned to letting Mr. B read her documents, and concludes that, “I have only writ the truth; and I wish he had deserved a better character at my hands, as well for his own sake, as mine” (273).

Pamela meets Mr. B in the garden, and gives him the papers that he requested. While Pamela looks on, Mr. B reads them. He is very moved when he reads about her attempt to escape, and how she gave serious consideration to killing herself: “O my dear girl! You have touched me sensibly with your mournful tale” (276). He vows to “make my Pamela amends for all the hardships she has undergone by my means” (277). However, Pamela is wary of the possibility of him tricking her into a sham marriage, and tells him that she wants to go home to her parents. Mr. B gets angry, and tells her that she will leave. Only a few hours later, Mrs. Jewkes tells Pamela that she will be leaving immediately; Pamela is very surprised and confused to find that the carriage is indeed ready for her.

Pamela writes to her parents from an inn, where she has stopped for the night. It seems to genuinely be the case that Robin the coachman is driving her (accompanied by Monsieur Colbrand) home. A few hours earlier, as she prepared to leave, she wondered if Mr. B would speak to her, but he refused to do so. Pamela was shocked to realize that, “I was loth to leave the house” (280). Once they arrive at the inn, Robin gives Pamela a note from Mr. B confessing that he was on the verge of proposing marriage when he sent her away. Pamela is convinced of his sincerity, and admits that she is falling in love with him too.

Pamela continues her journey. At another inn, a messenger meets them with letters from Mr. B: Mr. B has continued to read Pamela’s papers, and has been deeply moved by the affection and care she expressed for him. He asks her to come back to the estate, as he cannot live without her. He also asks her to send him the papers currently at her father’s house (comprising Pamela’s records of the earliest part of her imprisonment), so that he can have full knowledge of her experiences.

Pamela debates, but ultimately decides that, “I will return. I will obey him” (288). She writes to her parents, asking them to forward her letters to Mr. B. Then she tells Robin and Monsieur Colbrand that she wants to return to the estate, and they drive back to Lincolnshire as fast as they can. They arrive late on Monday night, and learn that Mr. B has fallen ill. Mrs. Jewkes sends Pamela to bed immediately.