Clarissa · Chapter
Letter 29: Miss Clarissa Harlowe, to Miss Howe explained
Clarissa writes to Anna Howe explaining her decision to change her tone with her family.
What happens
Clarissa writes to Anna Howe explaining her decision to change her tone with her family. She decides to let them believe she prefers Lovelace, hoping to alarm them into reconsidering their pressure to marry Solmes. She includes copies of her letters to her brother James and sister Arabella, along with their harsh replies, which accuse her of being in love with Lovelace and threaten further opposition.
Themes in this chapter
Female Agency and Virtue
Clarissa asserts her right to refuse Solmes and uses her letters to negotiate her own fate, despite family opposition.
Family Obligation and Rebellion
Clarissa struggles between her duty to obey her parents and her refusal to marry a man she cannot endure, leading to open conflict with her brother and sister.
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
Clarissa deliberately lets her family believe she prefers Lovelace as a strategic move, blurring the line between her true feelings and the appearance she projects.
Characters to notice
- Clarissa Harlowe
Writes to Miss Howe explaining her strategic shift in tone, and includes her letters to her brother and sister.
- Anna Howe
Recipient of Clarissa's letter; Clarissa references her friend's spirit and accuses her of thinking Clarissa is 'far gone in love.'
- James Harlowe Jr.
Clarissa writes him a letter of expostulation; he replies harshly, accusing her of being in love with Lovelace and threatening to be neither friend nor brother.
- Arabella Harlowe
Clarissa writes her a letter pleading for sympathy; Arabella replies with scorn, calling Clarissa a 'fond foolish girl' and refusing further correspondence.
- Robert Lovelace
Mentioned as the man Clarissa's family accuses her of preferring; Clarissa defends him slightly, noting his birth, education, and person.
- Mr. Solmes
The man Clarissa is being forced to marry; she expresses strong antipathy toward him.
Key passages
“I have thought proper to give them their own way: and, since they will have it, that I have a preferable regard for Mr. Lovelace, I give them cause rather to confirm their opinion than doubt it.”
Clarissa decides to let her family believe she prefers Lovelace, since they already think so, rather than continue to deny it.
Clarissa explains her strategic change in tone to Miss Howe.
“Put the case, that I were to marry the man you dislike: and that he were not to make a polite or tender husband, Is that a reason for you to be an unpolite and disobliging brother?”
Even if Clarissa married someone James dislikes, that doesn't justify his rude and unkind behavior toward her.
From Clarissa's letter to her brother James.
“Make but my case your own, my dear Bella; and suppose you were commanded to marry Mr. Lovelace, (to whom you are believed to have such an antipathy), would you not think it a very grievous injunction?”
Clarissa asks Arabella to imagine being forced to marry someone she detests, just as Clarissa is being forced to marry Solmes.
From Clarissa's letter to her sister Arabella.