# Letter 116: Miss Clarissa Harlowe, to Miss Howe explained — Clarissa > Chapter companion for Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. ## What happens Clarissa recounts a conversation with Lovelace in which he reports that her family has ceased pursuing her, proposes a move to Windsor, and offers to send for her servant Hannah. Lovelace confesses his rakish past and expresses a desire for reformation through Clarissa's example, sharing a story of a past illness that briefly changed his heart. Clarissa responds with cautious hope, urging him to maintain his resolutions, while resolving to remain vigilant and keep him at a distance. She also writes to her aunt Hervey to plead for her clothes, books, and money, and to seek reconciliation with her family on terms that would allow her to live single. ## Themes in this chapter ### Female Agency and Virtue Clarissa asserts her independence by considering her own living arrangements and writing to her aunt to negotiate terms with her family, while also maintaining her moral caution in dealing with Lovelace. ### Deception and Appearance vs. Reality Clarissa is wary of Lovelace's motives and resolves to be cautious, acknowledging the possibility that his promises of reformation may be dissimulation. ### Suffering and Redemption Lovelace's account of his illness and temporary reformation, along with Clarissa's hope for his lasting change, explores themes of suffering leading to moral transformation. ## Character check-ins ### Clarissa Harlowe Narrates the conversation with Lovelace, expresses cautious hope for his reformation, and writes to her aunt Hervey seeking family reconciliation. ### Robert Lovelace Reports that Clarissa's family has stopped pursuing her, proposes a move to Windsor, confesses his rakish past, and expresses a desire to reform through Clarissa's example. ### Anna Howe The recipient of Clarissa's letter; Clarissa shares her hopes and concerns about Lovelace's reformation with her. ### Hannah Burton Lovelace suggests sending for Hannah to attend Clarissa once she is settled; Clarissa had already thought of doing so. ### Mrs. Hervey Clarissa writes to her aunt Hervey to plead for her clothes, books, and money, and to seek family reconciliation. ## Key lines > I will now give you the particulars of a conversation that has just passed between Mr. Lovelace and me, which I must call agreeable. Clarissa tells Anna she will describe a recent pleasant conversation with Lovelace. _Clarissa sets the stage for recounting the dialogue._ > I told him, that I would have him leave me directly; and that, when it was known to everybody that I was absolutely independent of him, it would pass, that I had left my father’s house because of my brother’s ill usage of me: which was a plea that I might make with justice, and to the excuse of my father, as well as of myself. Clarissa tells Lovelace she wants him to leave her so she can claim she left home due to her brother's mistreatment, which would justify her actions to others. _Clarissa seeks to establish her independence and justify her elopement._ > He mildly replied, that if we could be certain that my relations would adhere to this their new resolution, he could have no objection, since such was my pleasure; but, as he was well assured that they had taken it only from apprehensions, that a more active one might involve my brother (who had breathed nothing but revenge) in some fatal misfortune, there was too much reason to believe that they would resume their former purpose the moment they should think they safely might. Lovelace warns that her family's apparent decision to stop pursuing her is likely temporary, motivated by fear for her brother's safety, and they will resume their efforts when they can. _Lovelace uses this reasoning to keep Clarissa from leaving him._ > I told him, that, although I was somewhat concerned at his expression, and surprised at so much darkness, as (for want of another word) I would call it, in a man of his talents and learning, yet I was pleased with his ingenuousness. Clarissa says she is troubled by Lovelace's lack of understanding of grace but appreciates his honesty. _Clarissa responds to Lovelace's confession about his spiritual confusion._ > He was once, he said, dangerously wounded in a duel, in the left arm, baring it, to show me the scar: that this (notwithstanding a great effusion of blood, it being upon an artery) was followed by a violent fever, which at last fixed upon his spirits; and that so obstinately, that neither did he desire life, nor his friends expect it: that, for a month together, his heart, as he thought, was so totally changed, that he despised his former courses, and particularly that rashness which had brought him to the state he was in, and his antagonist (who, however, was the aggressor) into a much worse: that in this space he had thought which at times still gave him pleasure to reflect upon: and although these promising prospects changed, as he recovered health and spirits, yet he parted with them with so much reluctance, that he could not help showing it in a copy of verses, truly blank ones, he said; some of which he repeated, and (advantaged by the grace which he gives to everything he repeats) I thought them very tolerable ones; the sentiments, however, much graver than I expected from him. Lovelace tells Clarissa about a time he was wounded in a duel and fell ill, leading to a temporary change of heart and a set of serious verses he wrote, which he recites to her. _Lovelace uses this story to demonstrate his capacity for reformation._ > I will not throw cold water, Mr. Lovelace, said I, on a rising flame: but look to it! for I shall endeavour to keep you up to this spirit. I shall measure your value of me by this test: and I would have you bear those charming lines of Mr. Rowe forever in your mind; you, who have, by your own confession, so much to repent of; and as the scar, indeed, you showed me, will, in one instance, remind you to your dying day. Clarissa encourages Lovelace's reforming spirit but warns him that she will judge his worth by his perseverance, and urges him to remember Mr. Rowe's lines and his scar as reminders. _Clarissa sets a moral test for Lovelace's reformation._ > Nevertheless, you may depend upon it, my dear, that these agreeable assurances, and hopes of his begun reformation, shall not make me forget my caution. Not that I think, at worst, any more than you, that he dare to harbour a thought injurious to my honour: but he is very various, and there is an apparent, and even an acknowledged unfixedness in his temper, which at times gives me uneasiness. Clarissa assures Anna that despite her hopes, she will remain cautious because Lovelace is changeable and unpredictable. _Clarissa resolves to maintain her vigilance._ > I have written to my aunt Hervey, to supplicate her interest in my behalf, for my clothes, books, and money; signifying to her, 'That, if I may be restored to the favour of my family, and allowed a negative only, as to any man who may be proposed to me, and be used like a daughter, a niece, and a sister, I will stand by my offer to live single, and submit, as I ought, to a negative from my father.' Clarissa writes to her aunt Hervey asking for her belongings and proposing terms for reconciliation: she will remain single and obey her father's veto on suitors if she is treated as a family member. _Clarissa seeks to negotiate a return to her family on her own terms._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/clarissa_se/chapters/letter-116-miss-clarissa-harlowe-to-miss-howe - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/clarissa_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/clarissa_se/chapters