Clarissa · Chapter
Letter 359: Miss Clarissa Harlowe, to Miss Howe explained
Clarissa writes to Anna Howe, expressing her unwavering refusal to marry Lovelace despite the arguments and proposals from his family.
What happens
Clarissa writes to Anna Howe, expressing her unwavering refusal to marry Lovelace despite the arguments and proposals from his family. She justifies her decision by citing his premeditated barbarity, her own pride, and the impossibility of marrying a man she despises. Clarissa contemplates death as a release from her sufferings, but resolves not to harm herself, instead accepting her punishment as a consequence of her fault and committing to prolong her life until God calls for it.
Themes in this chapter
Female Agency and Virtue
Clarissa asserts her agency by refusing to marry Lovelace, prioritizing her moral integrity over social reputation.
Suffering and Redemption
Clarissa views her suffering as a consequence of her fault and seeks redemption through penitence and acceptance of death.
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
Clarissa rejects the appearance of a repaired reputation through marriage, insisting on the reality of Lovelace's villainy.
Characters to notice
- Clarissa Harlowe
Writes to Anna Howe, reaffirming her refusal to marry Lovelace and expressing her desire for death as a release.
- Anna Howe
The recipient of Clarissa's letter, whose kind solicitude and arguments for marrying Lovelace are addressed and rejected.
- Robert Lovelace
The violator whom Clarissa despises and refuses to marry, despite his family's proposals and his supposed willingness to marry her.
- John Belford
Mentioned as a good-natured and humane man who censures Lovelace and assures Clarissa of his innocence regarding the arrest.
- Miss Charlotte Montague
One of the Misses Montague who visited Clarissa with proposals from the Lovelace family.
- Miss Patty Montague
The other Miss Montague involved in the family's interposition on Lovelace's behalf.
Key passages
“What pain, my dearest friend, does your kind solicitude for my welfare give me! How much more binding and tender are the ties of pure friendship, and the union of like minds, than the ties of nature!”
Your caring concern for me causes me pain, dear friend, because true friendship is stronger and more affectionate than family bonds.
Clarissa emphasizes the depth of her friendship with Anna, valuing it above familial ties.
“I have much more pleasure in thinking of death, than of such a husband.”
I find greater comfort in the thought of dying than in the idea of marrying Lovelace.
Clarissa expresses her strong aversion to marrying Lovelace, preferring death.
“I truly despise this man! If I know my own heart, indeed I do!—I pity him! beneath my very pity as he is, I nevertheless pity him!—But this I could not do, if I still loved him”
I genuinely hate him; I know my own feelings. I even feel sorry for him, though he is beneath pity, but I couldn't feel that if I still loved him.
Clarissa clarifies that her pity for Lovelace proves she no longer loves him.
“What then, my dear and only friend, can I wish for but death?—And what, after all, is death? ’Tis but a cessation from mortal life: ’tis but the finishing of an appointed course: the refreshing inn after a fatiguing journey; the end of a life of cares and troubles; and, if happy, the beginning of a life of immortal happiness.”
So what else can I desire but death? Death is just the end of earthly life, the completion of a set path, a rest after a hard journey, and, if I am fortunate, the start of eternal joy.
Clarissa views death as a peaceful release and a transition to eternal happiness.
