# Letter 17: Miss Clarissa Harlowe, to Miss Howe explained — Clarissa

> Chapter companion for Clarissa by Samuel Richardson.

## What happens

Clarissa recounts a tense conversation with her mother, who pressures her to accept Mr. Solmes as a suitor. Clarissa protests her lack of inclination to marry and offers to break off correspondence with Lovelace if allowed to refuse Solmes. Her mother takes Clarissa's letters to Lovelace to read, and the chapter highlights the family's coercive tactics and Clarissa's struggle between duty and personal will.

## Themes in this chapter

### Family Obligation and Rebellion

Clarissa is torn between her duty to obey her parents and her personal aversion to Solmes, leading to a conflict over the limits of filial obedience.

### Deception and Appearance vs. Reality

Clarissa's clandestine correspondence with Lovelace is hidden from her family, and she offers to reveal it to prove her dutiful intentions, yet the family's perception of her compliance is questioned.

## Character check-ins

### Clarissa Harlowe

Clarissa defends her refusal to marry Solmes, offers to end correspondence with Lovelace, and expresses her distress at familial pressure.

### Mrs. Harlowe

Mrs. Harlowe conveys her husband's anger, pressures Clarissa to comply, and takes Clarissa's letters to Lovelace for review.

### Robert Lovelace

Referenced through his letters; he insists on his honour and proposes to meet Clarissa's family, while Clarissa considers breaking off correspondence.

### James Harlowe Jr.

Clarissa blames her brother's 'grasping views' for the family's insistence on Solmes, and he is noted for his rancour and defiance toward Lovelace.

### Mr. Solmes

Solmes is the suitor proposed by Clarissa's family; Clarissa expresses strong dislike for him.

## Key lines

> Parents, proceeded she, when children are young, are pleased with everything they do. You have been a good child upon the whole: but we have hitherto rather complied with you, than you with us. Now that you are grown up to marriageable years, is the test; especially as your grandfather has made you independent, as we may say, in preference to those who had prior expectations upon that estate.

Mrs. Harlowe tells Clarissa that her past good behavior was easy to praise, but now that she is of marriageable age and has an independent fortune from her grandfather, her true obedience is being tested.

_Mrs. Harlowe frames Clarissa's inheritance as a reason for stricter compliance, implying that independence must be balanced with family duty._

> If you mean to show your duty, and your obedience, Clary, you must show it in our way, not in your own.

Mrs. Harlowe insists that true obedience means following the family's decisions, not Clarissa's personal preferences.

_This encapsulates the central conflict of the chapter: Clarissa's sense of duty clashes with the family's demand for absolute submission._

## Links

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