Dearest, dearest creature! snatching my hand with fierceness, let me beseech you to be uniformly noble! Civil regards, Madam!—Civil regards! —Can you so expect to narrow and confine such a passion as mine?
Such a passion as yours, Mr. Lovelace, deserves to be narrowed and confined. It is either the passion you do not think it, or I do not. I question whether your mind is capable of being so narrowed and so widened, as is necessary to make it be what I wish it to be. Lift up your hands and your eyes, Sir, in silent wonder, if you please; but what does that wonder express, what does it convince me of, but that we are not born for one another.
By my soul, said he, and grasped my hand with an eagerness that hurt it, we were born for one another: you must be mine—you shall be mine [and put his other hand round me] although my damnation were to be the purchase!
I was still more terrified—let me leave you, Mr. Lovelace, said I; or do you be gone from me. Is the passion you boast of to be thus shockingly demonstrated?
You must not go, Madam!—You must not leave me in anger—
I will return—I will return—when you can be less violent—less shocking.
And he let me go.
The man quite frighted me; insomuch, that when I got into my chamber, I found a sudden flow of tears a great relief to me.
In half an hour, he sent a little billet, expressing his concern for the vehemence of his behaviour, and prayed to see me.
I went. Because I could not help myself, I went.
Throughout Volume IV, we see Clarissa and Lovelace constantly engaged in some kind of quarrel. I posted an excerpt from this letter because once again we see Lovelace acting violently towards Clarissa. What I would like to discuss with this excerpt is Clarissa's agency. In some ways she exercises authority (for instance, in this letter on the whole, we see Clarissa starting to interrupt Lovelace more often, and so forth), but in other ways, she is very much a victim here, as the last line I've highlighted here demonstrates.So, in what ways do we see Clarissa exercising (an) agency here or in other similar situations? What kind of authority does she have, if any? Does her fear make her react with more agency? Or rather does her fear showcase her role as a victim?
Clarissa's virtue and morality lend her some agency or strength when it comes to dealing with Lovelace but never for very long. She seems to draw power from both to interrupt Lovelace and speak her mind, giving her a false bravado. But Lovelace's violence and cunning always seems to win and Clarissa's fear takes place showcasing her as a victim rather than having any agency. Her fear makes her go to Lovelace despite the fact she does not want to, saying "I went. Because I could not help myself, I went." She is just like a modern day abuse victim. When she is with Lovelace she becomes wary of him an despite seeing how he is, becoming aware of his immoral nature, and yet she does not try to leave or escape. Anna is the one that comes up with the plans for Clarissa to escape — not Clarissa. She has even less agency with Lovelace than she did when she was confined by her family. While its an anachronism, I wonder how much of Clarissa's feelings toward Lovelace are partly due to Stockholm syndrome? While she's not necessarily viewing him in warm terms she still indulges him and does what he wants her to in spite of herself.
I think, though, that we should also take note of the end of the letter, when she says to Anna "I will not be treated by him with indiginity while I have any power to help myself." In this letter, she has suggested that "we resolve to quit every regard for each other" She leaves but promises she will return when he has recovered his temper (why she has to go back), She ends by saying "Be pleased to allow me to think that my motives on this occasion rise not altogether from maidenly niceness; nor yet from the apprehension of what my present tormenter, and future husband, may think of a precipitate compliance, on such a disagreeable behaviour as his: but they arise principally from what offers to my own heart; respecting, as I may say, its own rectitude, its own judgment of the fit and the unfit; as I would, without study, answer for myself to myself, in the first place; to him, and to the world, in the second only. Principles that are in my mind; that I found there; implanted, no doubt, by the first gracious Planter: which therefore impel me, as I may say, to act up to them, that thereby I may, to the best of my judgment, be enabled to comport myself worthily in both states, (the single and the married), let others act as they will by me."I think she shows a lot of agency in this letter. She stands by principles that she believes have been implanted in her by God (the first gracious Planter).
Kendra's and Debra's responses suggest the full spectrum of the letter nicely (Clarissa's physical helplessness / her psychological strength). Her final assertion about principles "implanted" within her well expresses her essentialist self-awareness; but her sense of helplessness, of trappedness–and that in a world so new to her–show her developing uncertainty about the power and nature of that essentialist self. Creates a wonderful tension as the novel continues.
More great responses. I would just like to add that I think this letter really illustrates the vulnerability of the letter-writer that Kvande stresses in the comparison of the manuscript and print cultures. In many ways, Clarissa seems to see the letters as a part of her and her body, and Lovelace's willingness to transgress the lines she has established certainly frighten her and make her feel vulnerable to his advances.