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Letter 19
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Pamela, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Value of Virtue
Class and Morality
Religion and Marriage
Sexual Politics
Summary
Analysis
Pamela writes to her father and mother, letting them know that the recent delay in her letters is because Mr. B has sent the footman John to Lady Davers’s house. She continues her story from her last conversation with Mrs. Jervis. After that talk, Pamela got the idea for a “project.” She wants to make herself suitable clothes for when she returns home that will be nice but not too extravagant, so she went around to get some supplies. She ends the letter by reassuring her parents not to worry about repaying the four guineas.
Pamela’s behavior gets stranger still, as she puts off returning home again and again. This could raise the question of whether the version of the story that Pamela is writing for her parents is in fact the “true” version, or if Pamela is actually presenting things in a way that she feels her parents will approve of. Pamela’s clothes continue to be an important symbol of her current status in the story.
Themes
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