Clarissa · Chapter
Letter 16: Miss Clarissa Harlowe, to Miss Howe explained
Clarissa recounts a painful day of family pressure to accept Mr.
What happens
Clarissa recounts a painful day of family pressure to accept Mr. Solmes as a suitor. She describes a tense breakfast where Solmes's advances offend her, followed by a series of confrontations with her mother, who insists she must comply with her father's wishes. Clarissa pleads for her freedom, declaring her heart free but abhorring Solmes, while her mother warns of defiance and loss of family blessing.
Themes in this chapter
Female Agency and Virtue
Clarissa asserts her right to refuse a suitor she abhors, framing her resistance as a matter of conscience and personal integrity.
Family Obligation and Rebellion
The chapter dramatizes the conflict between Clarissa's duty to obey her parents and her rebellion against a forced marriage to Solmes.
Power and Manipulation
Mrs. Harlowe uses emotional appeals and threats of disfavor to manipulate Clarissa into compliance, while James and Arabella exert social pressure.
Characters to notice
- Clarissa Harlowe
Narrates her distress and conflict over being forced to marry Solmes; pleads with her mother for understanding.
- Mrs. Harlowe
Acts as the family's agent, urging Clarissa to comply with the marriage to Solmes, though with visible reluctance and tenderness.
- Mr. Solmes
Described as confident, bold, and physically disagreeable; his presence at breakfast provokes Clarissa's aversion.
- James Harlowe Jr.
Displays insulting airs and orchestrates the family pressure by leaving Clarissa alone with Solmes.
- Arabella Harlowe
Whispers scornfully to Clarissa during breakfast, taking advantage of her discomfort.
- Hannah Burton
Assists Clarissa after she faints from the shock of her mother's command.
Key passages
“what law, what ceremony, can give a man a right to a heart which abhors him more than it does any living creature?”
No legal or religious ritual can justify forcing someone to marry a person they detest.
Clarissa questions the moral validity of compelled marriage, asserting her emotional autonomy.
“I removed it to a distance, as if to make way to my own: and down I sat, abruptly I believe; what I had heard all in my head.”
She moved the chair away and sat down hastily, distracted by the news she had learned earlier.
Clarissa's physical actions betray her inner turmoil and defiance of Solmes's proximity.
“There went the dagger to my heart, and down I sunk”
Her mother's command to think of being Mrs. Solmes struck her like a fatal blow, causing her to faint.
The metaphor emphasizes the emotional violence of the parental demand.