Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Fielding and Haywood Hate Pamela


Well, what horrible people Eliza Haywood and Henry Fielding have lampooned of poor Pamela. I mean really, I never would have expected such behavior in titles such as Anti-Pamela and Shamela. It does seem quite terrible that a mother and daughter would go to such great lengths to ensure an easy living, and yet for some reason all the more entertaining. With Pamela I found myself rooting that she might get away from Mr. B and getting back to her parents, if only because there was never any indication that she had intended to manipulate Mr. B into any sort of arrangement. She seemed to be truly the victim and helpless to the point of despairing of ever receiving her freedom before relinquishing her 'vartue.'
And yet, in the end how much of a stretch is it to assume she had planned it from the start, and had every intention of ensnaring Mr. B into a long term commitment based on mutual affection and respect? The hussy! Also, sawcy chops. (Which I will hopefully be able to enjoy as a phrase for a long time.) The seething reactionary writing of Haywood and Fielding seems to be saying in a phrase: No virtuous women would hold out for marriage above her station. What stands out as a major diversion from Richardson's work is the larger role that the mother plays in the narrative. In Pamela, the is little back and forth between the parents, and what there is seems strictly cautionary. Then we have in Anti-Pamela, a character in the mother that goes so far as to have her daughter abuse herself in order, not to win over Mr. L, but to trap him in a situation where his confusion would only serve to deepen his appearance of guilt. How horrifically does Eliza Haywood portray the women in her writings?
Haywood's language between how women and men pursue the opposite sex shows a great rift, if not necessarily in itself privileging one or the other, between the sexes.  on Page 76, Haywood is describing the scene where Vardine is attempting to force Syrena to drink enough wine to make some poor decisions. Granted she only sees it as a poor decision as Vardine is not rich enough to warrant the later fake rape gifted toward Mr. L. Haywood describes a battle, "the young Officer perceiving the Ground he gain'd, did not fail pursuing the Attack, and bombarded her... with speeches... pressures, kisses... and the Juice of the Grape, that at length the Town was wholly his." While the plans of Syrena and her mother are referred to as 'plots' or 'tricks' and 'stratagems' as if playing a game rather than fighting a war to achieve the most favorable terms.
Haywood seems to have a dimmer view of women even than Fielding, given that Fielding was attempting a satire of Richardson, while Haywood's work, while still critical of Richardson, seems to be more serious. There is less of the scandalous language involved in Anti-Pamela that makes Shamela more entertaining to read, and yet a great deal more detail involved describing how cunning and deceitful the main character and her mother are.

1 comment:

  1. I think Haywood's dislike of Pamela seems a bit extreme. There's barely any textual evidence that Pamela is actually a conniving girl trying to manipulate Mr. B into marrying her. Technically, from the evidence we do have, she wants to get away. If Haywood's Syrena is supposed expose Pamela's "true" self, then I think it's a far stretch. This is why I think Fielding's reaction to Pamela is a better read. It mocks Pamela in a way that is funny but also clever. I also think Haywood was catering to an audience that expected scandalous material from her.

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