Anna’s view on marriage and authority (L93)

I write, because you enjoin me to do so. Love you still!—How can I help it, if I would? You may believe how I stand aghast, your letter communicating the first news—Good God of Heaven and Earth!—But what shall I say?—I am all impatient for particulars.
Lord have mercy upon me!—But can it be?
My mother will indeed be astonished!—How can I tell it her!—It was but last night (upon some jealousies put into her head by your foolish uncle) that I assured her, and this upon the strength of your own assurances, that neither man nor devil would be able to induce you to take a step that was in the least derogatory to the most punctilious honour.
But, once more, can it be? What woman at this rate!—But, God preserve you!
Let nothing escape you in your letters. Direct them for me, however, to Mrs. Knolly’s, till further notice.

Observe, my dear, that I don’t blame you by all this—Your relations only are in fault!—Yet how you came to change your mind is the surprising thing.
How to break it to my mother, I know not. Yet if she hear it first from any other, and find I knew it before, she will believe it to be my connivance!—Yet, as I hope to live, I know not how to break it to her.
But this is teasing you.—I am sure, without intention.
Let me now repeat my former advice—If you are not married by this time, be sure delay not the ceremony. Since things are as they are, I wish it were thought that you were privately married before you went away. If these men plead AUTHORITY to our pain, when we are theirs—Why should we not, in such a case as this, make some good out of the hated word, for our reputation, when we are induced to violate a more natural one?
Your brother and sister [that vexes me almost as much as any thing!] have now their ends. Now, I suppose, will go forward alterations of wills, and such-like spiteful doings.

Miss Lloyd and Miss Biddulph this moment send up their names. They are out of breath, Kitty says, to speak to me—easy to guess their errand;—I must see my mother, before I see them. I have no way but to shew her your letter to clear myself. I shall not be able to say a word, till she has run herself out of her first breath.—Forgive me, my dear—surprise makes me write thus. If your messenger did not wait, and were not those young ladies below, I could write it over again, for fear of afflicting you.
I send what you write for. If there be any thing else you want that is in my power, command without reserve
Your ever affectionate ANNA HOWE.

5 thoughts on “Anna’s view on marriage and authority (L93)

  1. Meghan Hancock

    The section I bolded here is interesting to me because it seems so contrary to something Anna would say (recommending Clarissa marry Lovelace as soon as she possibly can). Also, what do you make of her comments on "AUTHORITY" here…perhaps compared to the uses of "authority" we've seen earlier in the novel?

  2. Debra

    I think Anna is recognizing that women are under a man's authority–either their father's or their husband's. They do not, naturally have authority of their own. Anna, having no father or husband, is able to challenge her mother's authority, but she knows once she marries, the authority will be Mr. Hickman's. Clarissa's father has (had) authority over her. Now she is in an anomalous space, where the father's authority has been denied (she will not marry Solmes) but Lovelace's authority is not set (they aren't married). Here, Anna suggests,Clarissa might claim authority for her reputation. This reputation is a kind of commodity (though of course it is more than that for Clarissa. It ensures her place in the patriarchy–either as daughter or as wife. It is a really interesting passage, because it shows how much Clarissa must turn to her self–the person she is reputed to be and the person she understands herself as being in order to have any agency in a social world in which an unmarried woman who has left her father's house would otherwise lack agency entirely.

  3. Debra

    I also think Anna's response is interesting, because it moves so swiftly among several positions–suggesting she really doesn't know what to make of it. First, her disbelief: "Good God of Heaven and Earth!—But what shall I say?—I am all impatient for particulars." She has no context in which to make sense of this act–showing us how extreme Clarissa's actions are. Second, her immediate blame of Clarissa's family: "Observe, my dear, that I don't blame you by all this—Your relations only are in fault!—Yet how you came to change your mind is the surprising thing." This is Anna's default position, even when she can't understand how or why Clarissa changed her mind. Third, her immediate understanding that her mother (and presumably other people with whom Clarissa is friend–Miss Lloyed, Miss Biddulph) will be outraged: "How to break it to my mother, I know not. Yet if she hear it first from any other, and find I knew it before, she will believe it to be my connivance!—Yet, as I hope to live, I know not how to break it to her." And last, her deep knowledge of the rules of the game: "Let me now repeat my former advice—If you are not married by this time, be sure delay not the ceremony."

  4. Megan

    It seems that perhaps Anna has a better view of the world at large than Clarissa does. Anna was always the one prompting Clarissa to move out of her parent's home and take up residence at her own estate. She always seemed to see the "big picture" that Clarissa was missing in her efforts to please everyone (including herself). Is Anna's newfound desire to see her friend married to Lovelace simply another version of this? Now that Clarissa has run away with Lovelace, the only thing she can do to save her reputation is marry him. Anna realizes this, even if Clarissa does not. So, Anna is once again trying to explain to Clarissa what her options are when Clarissa can only see her optimistic version of how everything is going to work out.

  5. Keri Mathis

    Megan, I really like your response here. I, too, noted several instances throughout Volume III where Anna comments on the “big picture,” as you stated in your comment. For instance, rather than analyzing each individual episode that Clarissa describes in isolation, Anna often references others and tries to track the trajectory of Lovelace’s actions and overall character. Later in Volume III, for example, Anna writes to Clarissa: “I have been looking back on the whole of his conduct, and comparing it with his general character; and find that he is more consistently, more uniformly, mean, revengeful, and proud, than either of us once imagined” (emphasis mine).I find Anna’s willingness to reevaluate the “whole” quite refreshing, especially since we see Clarissa reacting to each encounter with Lovelace differently. Clarissa often remarks that Lovelace acts a certain way on one day and completely differently the next, and she reacts so differently to each response she receives from Lovelace. Anna’s ability to analyze Lovelace’s character retrospectively is, I think, what Clarissa needs and possibly one of the things she desires most from her friend.

Comments are closed.