E106, Clarissa and Criticism || Study Questions #2
Study Questions SQ - #2 Clarissa
NB: Keep SQ #1 in mind. Many of them apply the first section of Clarissa.
1. How would you describe the relation between Anna Howe and Clarissa?
-- the first letter of the novel, Anna Howe, perhaps alluding to the friendship between David and Jonathan [in the Old or Hebrew Testament], writes emphatically, "When I love you, as never woman loved another?"
--Clarissa asks AH for advice, and AH gives it (e.g., "resume" your estate).
-- AH quizzes Clarissa about her "conditional liking" for Lovelace.
-- What else would you add here?How does their relationship function in the novel?
-- Consider Anna's reflection on Hickman: "Strange! that these sober fellows cannot have a decent sprightliness . . . ." If you used this reflection as a starting point for interpreting the novel, where would it take you? And what do you make of Hickman's conversation with Lovelace's companions, as reported to Clarissa by AH?
-- What about Clarissa's advice to AH about Hickman and her comment about AH and Lovelace?
-- And, after finishing the novel, come back to read some of AH's sprightly letters.
-- What can Clarissa do with Anna Howe's advice (276-7 ff.)?2. Clarissa writes to Anna Howe, "What patient shall be afraid of a probe in so delicate a hand?" Could you use this medical language as a starting point for interpretation?
3. The characters in Clarissa are fictional constructions.
What does this statement mean?
-- To what extent do they appear to be actual agents who lived and left a record of themselves?
-- What accounts for that impression?
-- How do you "know" these characters?
-- Do you know them better or less well than you know actual historical figures? Your friends? President Obama? Yourself?
--Let's imagine just for awhile that Clarissa and all the other characters were actual historical figures. And that the record they left of themselves was really a record left by people who had lived this experience. Can you imagine that? What makes it possible to imagine? What hinders imagining it?4. Fear is a better security than love for a woman's good behavior to her husband: Adopt temporarily the point of view suggested by this principle. What does it take to believe in it? What kind of world does it create? What other pieces of proverbial wisdom fit with it?
5. Clarissa has some fairly strong interchanges with her sister and brother : "if humanity were a branch of your studies at the university, it has not found a genius in you for mastering it." Clarissa reports to Anna her brother's triumphant conversation with Solmes and his saying that their method must be made to work before cousin Morden returns, "or she'll be made independent of us all." What does he mean?
How do these antagonisms affect your interpretation of the novel? What do you think of Clarissa's offers to live single and to resign her estate?
6. Notice the frequent use of the words "art," "artful," and related terms. You might even want to search ECCO for these terms. Why are they central to the novel's interpretation?
7. Richardson has his characters talk quite frequently about the "heart." What seems to be going on with the language of the heart?
"Bella has not a feeling heart";
"But I will be bold to say, that neither she, nor my brother, nor even my father himself, knows what a heart they have set a bleeding";
"hard-heartedness"8. The issues of misinterpretation and misrepresentation occur throughout the novel.
--Who misinterprets or misrepresents whom?
-- Is the misinterpretation or misrepresentation deliberate? or unavoidable? What would it take to clear it up?
-- In how many spheres of understanding are interpretation and representation an issue? Look the words up in the OED. Notice also the use of the word "constructions."9. , Clarissa begs not to be taken to the moated house and given over to a man her "very soul is averse to." Pay close attention to this section. What genre does it seem to belong to? See also "To be carried away on Thursday--to the moated house--to the chapel--to Solmes! How can I think of this! -- They will make me desperate!"
10. The words "provoke" and "provocation" are important in describing transactions in the novel. Notice and think about these terms.
11. Follow the word "delicacy" as well. What does it seem to mean? What other words is it connected with?
12. Consider closely Clarissa's letter to Anna Howe about her resistance to Solmes and his confidence (as well as Betty Barnes's confidence in reporting to Clarissa). What details would you give particular attention?
13. What do you make of the family's continual effort to guard against being moved by Clarissa's "moving powers"?
14. I asked you in the earlier set of SQs to consider statements that sounded like general reflections, general moral statements. At one point, Clarissa and Betty Barnes trade proverbs: "Poverty is the mother of health"; "There's no inconvenience but has its convenience"; "The pleasures of the mighty are obtained by the tears of the poor."
What is the status of proverbial wisdom in Clarissa?
15. Richardson viewed his method of "writing to the moment" as original and as creating a new kind of writing. You can find numerous examples, e.g., "What is now to become of me? . . ." Collect examples of this style and comment on it.
16. As the pressure on Clarissa intensifies, what do you think of her chances of getting rid of Solmes are?
--What language stands out? demands analysis?
-- Could this "scenes" be in a play? What kind of play would it be?
-- For example, what do you think of the line "For God's sake, what, sir?-- How came God's sake and your sake, I pray you, to be the same?" --If these lines were in a play, what would happen next?17. Qll SQ from here should come from you. What would you ask if you were teaching this novel?