Clarissa · Chapter
Letter 64: Miss Clarissa Harlowe, to Miss Howe explained
Clarissa writes to Anna Howe recounting her distress after receiving an angry, impassioned letter from Lovelace, who accuses her of breaking a promise to meet him.
What happens
Clarissa writes to Anna Howe recounting her distress after receiving an angry, impassioned letter from Lovelace, who accuses her of breaking a promise to meet him. She defends her decision to change her mind, rebukes his presumption and impatience, and resolves to maintain her distance from him. She also reflects on her difficult family situation, her aversion to Solmes, and her hope that breaking with Lovelace might restore her family's favor or at least buy time until her cousin Morden arrives.
Themes in this chapter
Female Agency and Virtue
Clarissa asserts her right to change her mind and resist Lovelace's demands, defending her prudence and moral autonomy against his accusations.
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
Clarissa perceives Lovelace's earlier gentleness as artful deception, now revealing his true impatient and presumptuous nature.
Family Obligation and Rebellion
Clarissa struggles between her duty to her parents and her refusal to marry Solmes, lamenting the 'dreadful contention' between parent and child.
Characters to notice
- Clarissa Harlowe
Writes to Anna Howe, expressing vexation at Lovelace's reproaches and reaffirming her resolve to stand firm against both his demands and her family's pressure.
- Robert Lovelace
Sends a dramatic, accusatory letter from the coppice, reproaching Clarissa for postponing their meeting and displaying impatience and presumption.
- Anna Howe
The recipient of Clarissa's letter; Clarissa seeks her advice and support in her difficult situation.
- Mr. Solmes
Mentioned as the suitor Clarissa's family is forcing upon her, whom she continues to abhor.
- James Harlowe Jr.
Blamed by Clarissa for the family conflict, described as ambitious and violent.
- Colonel Morden
Clarissa considers writing to him, hoping his arrival might improve her situation.
Key passages
“An undesigning open heart, where it is loth to disoblige, is easily drawn in, I see, to oblige more than ever it designed.”
A sincere and generous person, reluctant to refuse, can be manipulated into doing more than they originally intended.
Clarissa reflects on how her own good nature has led her into compromising situations.
“I see his gentleness was art: fierceness, and a temper like what I have been too much used to at home, are Nature in him.”
I now realize his kindness was a pretense; his true character is harsh and impatient, just like my family's.
Clarissa recognizes Lovelace's earlier behavior as deceptive, aligning him with the oppressive temper she endures at home.
“A promise once given (upon deliberation given), the promised only can dispense with; except in cases of a very apparent necessity imposed upon the promiser, which leaves no power to perform it.”
Only the person to whom a promise is made can release the promiser, unless circumstances beyond the promiser's control prevent fulfillment.
Lovelace argues that Clarissa's promise to meet him is binding and that only he can release her from it.
“What can I do? Advise me, my dear. Something is strangely wrong somewhere! to make parents, the most indulgent till now, seem cruel in a child's eye; and a daughter, till within these few weeks, thought unexceptionably dutiful, appear, in their judgment, a rebel!”
I am at a loss; something has gone terribly wrong when loving parents now seem cruel to me, and I, once a model daughter, am seen as a rebel.
Clarissa expresses bewilderment at the sudden reversal in her family relationships.
