Pamela In "Captivity":Women’s Predicament In The Eighteenth Century

The eighteenth century in England witnessed the rise of modern novel with the representative works written by Defoe,Richardson and Fielding.Pamela;or,Virtue Rewarded,the famous epistolary novel written by Samuel Richardson in 1740,has successfully depicted Pamela the paragon of virtue and inspired many novelists afterwards.Upon its publication,the novel became immensely popular especially among female readers,but it also underwent severe attack by contemporary Antipamelists such as Henry Fielding.Although the 18th century witnessed the great success of Pamela,scholars in the next century did not pay much attention to Richardson’s works.From the turn of the 20th century,however,more comments have been made about Richardson and his novels,especially after the publication of The Rise of Novel by Ian Watt in the middle of the century.Many critics have discussed Pamela from the perspective of its narrative techniques,social and historical implications,virtuous female figure and general feminist issues,but few scholars focus on the imprisonment of Pamela in the novel and digs further into this theme.Based on a close reading of the novel itself,adopting perspectives of feminism,Michel Foucault’s theory on power and discourse as well as psychoanalytic criticism,this dissertation tries to explore the confinement of the heroine in Pamela so as to reveal the universal predicament of women not only in the 18th century but also in the modern world.This dissertation is divided into five parts.The introduction mainly summarizes the research about Richardson and the novel Pamela,and introduces the research topic of"female imprisonment" and its connections to relevant critical theories.Chapter One explores the power mechanism behind the physical imprisonment Pamela has suffered,such as the physical abuse and writing restrictions she undergoes in the summer-house,as well as the imprisonment and surveillance she receives in Lincolnshire,though she wins the freedom of her body through writing.Chapter Two deals with the invisible imprisonment of women in the male-dominated society,specifically analyzing Richardson’s writing intentions,the "virtue education" from Pamela’s father and all kinds of restrictions after marriage,so as to expose the mental imprisonment imposed upon women by the male-dominated society in the 18th century.The third chapter analyzes the repression of Pamela by Lady Davis,the absence of Sally who plays the role of unspoken warning,and Pamela’s internalization of "spiritual imprisonment",all of which demonstrate the psychological imprisonment set upon females by their same gender.The last chapter is the conclusion of the dissertation.Although Pamela succeeds in breaking away from physical imprisonment and even winning the great improvement of social status,it is still difficult for women in the eighteenth century to get rid of shackles of spiritual captivity imposed by the male-dominated society,and the psychological confinement from the same gender,ending up internalizing the social disciplines.