Clarissa · Chapter
Letter 314: Miss Clarissa Harlowe, to Miss Howe explained
Clarissa recounts being tricked by Lovelace and two women pretending to be Lady Betty and her niece into visiting Mrs.
What happens
Clarissa recounts being tricked by Lovelace and two women pretending to be Lady Betty and her niece into visiting Mrs. Sinclair's brothel. She is drugged, her suspicions are dismissed, and she is left trapped as the impostors depart, realizing too late the treachery.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
Lovelace and the women impersonate Lady Betty and her niece to lure Clarissa, exploiting her trust in appearances.
Power and Manipulation
Lovelace exerts total control over the situation, drugging Clarissa and manipulating her through false kindness.
Suffering and Redemption
Clarissa's physical and psychological torment intensifies as she is trapped and drugged, prefiguring her eventual decline.
Characters to notice
- Clarissa Harlowe
Narrates her own deception and drugging; grows increasingly frantic as she realizes she has been betrayed.
- Robert Lovelace
Orchestrates the plot, feigning concern while displaying suppressed triumph and violent emotions.
- Mrs. Sinclair
The brothel keeper, referred to as 'the dreadfullest woman,' who hosts the trap.
- Dorcas Wykes
Servant at the brothel who assists in the deception and provides snuff to Clarissa.
- Lady Betty Lawrance
Impersonated by a woman who lures Clarissa into the coach and into the brothel.
- Miss Charlotte Montague
Impersonated by a woman who accompanies the false Lady Betty in the plot.
Key passages
“My feet complied against my speech and my mind: and being, in a manner, led to the coach by her, and made to step in first, she followed me: and her pretended niece, and the wretch, followed her: and away it drove.”
Despite my verbal protests and inner reluctance, I was physically guided into the coach by the false Lady Betty, and then she, the fake niece, and Lovelace joined me as we drove off.
Clarissa emphasizes her lack of agency, being coerced into the coach against her will.
“I have no doubt that my two dishes, and perhaps my hartshorn, were prepared for me; in which case it was more proper for their purpose, that they should help me, than that I should help myself.”
I am certain that both cups of tea and possibly the hartshorn were drugged, which is why the women insisted on serving me rather than letting me pour my own.
Clarissa retrospectively realizes the method of her drugging.