This Blog-post is a response of thinking activity task on Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, which given by our professor Ma'am Vaidehi Hariyani. To know more about this task just CLICK HERE.
Pamela or Virtue Rewarded is an Epistolary novel by English Writer Samuel Richardson. It was first published in 1740. The story setting was in 18th century. Among this all, Richardson was a pioneer of this kind of novels. He produced the idea of Epistolary novel.His another very famous novel is'Clarissa: Or, The History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life'. Here, I would like to share one video about Samuel Richardson:
The Question is given as a task:Is Pamela a reliable narrator? If Yes, then Why? If No, then Why?
Robert A. Donovan mentions in his "The Problem of Pamela or Virtue Rewarded"Article that,Joseph Wood Krutch assails Pamela in a tone that can only be described as savage. The character of Pamela is one so devoid of any delicacy of feeling as to be inevitably indecent. She seems to have no sense of either her own or any possible human dignity and she can be admired only if a dogged determination to resist violation is con sidered to be, by itself, enough to make her admirable. Despite the language of pious cant which she speaks with such fluency there is no evidence that she has the faintest conception of that disinterestedness which alone can give piety a meaning." Here, Krutch's extreme attack to Pamela's behavior towards her virtue and purity which is not appropriate from her side to the another people.
The another Article is about Narrative Techniques by author to the characters of the Novel.'Of Readers and Narratees: The Experience of "Pamela" by Susan Rubin Suleiman, he questioned that, Would Pamela's resistance to B.'s advances be as dogged as it is if she did not have before her the image-and occasionally the worried letters-of her "poor but honest" parents? Indeed, might not Pamela herself be a quite different character with different narratees?While further he mentions about narratee that,The editor even interrupts the letters at one point to engage in direct narration to his readers. At the end of the book he steps in again to wind up Pamela's story and to draw a series of morals from it. each one addressed to a specific type of reader.
According to my evaluation,we can see that in this EPISTOLARY NOVEL(click the capitalized words) is quite different narrative techniques. There is human being alive, but the main role played by Written Words,Characters own writing. That's is the thing that how we believe in words? Here, no any kind of incidence which played by human without played by in written letters. Pamela wrote all letters to her parents about her sexual harassment but how far we know that Pamela whatever wrote is right?While the another argument is that about Genre. This Epistolary Novel is a type of Genre in which only letters,documents or other written materials are included. Even if, this is also an old Genre which is not used in Modern Literature.Despite of this Genre, Pamela is not reliable narrator. Because as a reader when we studied this character, she is not too worthy to be narrator.She had many chances to escape but she can't.
Unreliable Narrator:
This term is first used by Wayne C. Booth in "The Rhetoric of Fiction" in 1961.According to Oxford References, "A narrator whose account of events appears to be faulty, misleadingly biased, or otherwise distorted..." Simply we can say that if one person who know that he or she whatever telling that is nothing to tell that there is nothing to trustworthy. A very simple example I would like to put here that one child is crying just before telling about his/her hungriness.While the child is setting in front of dinner table during dinner.The mother perhaps not trusts to her child because he/she ignoring the healthy food and try to convince to give some snack. So this is the concept of this term that hoe one narrator try to convince her reader that what she want. While as a reader we come to know that she has nothing truth-worthy or reliable things. This type of term shows the mentality of narrator that what kind of the flaw she has.
Pamela as an Unreliable Narrator:
In this Narrative Technique,Pamela has the freedom from this narrative technique. She is only who tell the reader that how Mr.B. abused her and attempt the rape on her also. We as a reader just only see what Pamela wants to show us. This term is basically used in mostly, films and television.
This term mostly shows the ill mentality of the narrator. Pamela is very confused character, we can also say that she haven't developed her sense regarding what a women to do after amusing her. Yet, this is right that her Economical condition is not well but still as a women, or in feminist perspective, she must to escape from the town.
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