Curse upon thy hard heart, thou vile caitiff! How hast thou tortured me, by thy designed abruption! ’tis impossible that Miss Harlowe should have ever suffered as thou hast made me suffer, and as I now suffer!
That sex is made to bear pain. It is a curse that the first of it entailed upon all her daughters, when she brought the curse upon us all. And they love those best, whether man or child, who give them most—But to stretch upon thy d——d tenter-hooks such a spirit as mine—No rack, no torture, can equal my torture!
And must I still wait the return of another messenger?
Confound thee for a malicious devil! I wish thou wert a post-horse, and I upon the back of thee! how would I whip and spur, and harrow up thy clumsy sides, till I make thee a ready-roasted, ready-flayed, mess of dog’s meat; all the hounds in the country howling after thee, as I drove thee, to wait my dismounting, in order to devour thee piece-meal; life still throbbing in each churned mouthful!
Give this fellow the sequel of thy tormenting scribble.
Dispatch him away with it. Thou hast promised it shall be ready. Every cushion or chair I shall sit upon, the bed I shall lie down upon (if I go to bed) till he return, will be stuffed with bolt-upright awls, bodkins, corking-pins, and packing needles: already I can fancy that, to pink my body like my mind, I need only to be put into a hogshead stuck full of steel-pointed spikes, and rolled down a hill three times as high as the Monument.
But I lose time; yet know not how to employ it till this fellow returns with the sequel of thy soul-harrowing intelligence!
Since this is a short letter, I went ahead and posted it in its entirety. After several long letters explaining Clarissa's precarious situation, this is the response Lovelace sends to Belford. What do you think of Lovelace's current state of mind, his thoughts about what he has done to Clarissa, and how this letter relates back to the scene between Lovelace and his family?
Lovelace's state of mind seems to be crumbling. He's consumed by anger and rage, but he is only concerned with his own suffering. He has lost Clarissa again and his best friend is no longer amused by his antics and plots — Belford's reformed and Lovelace defends his actions. What he has done to Clarissa is nothing compared to what he imagines she has done to him — he deliriously claims “'tis impossible that Miss Harlowe should have ever suffered as thou hast made me suffer, and as I now suffer!” He seems to be jealous of Belford because Clarissa has named him executor of her will and denied Lovelace the possibility of righting any of the wrongs that he has done to her. While I want to say that Lovelace feels some guilt about what he has done, I think he is more angry at the fact that he is not going to be in control of any aspect of Clarissa's life/last moments. Again, the whole situation has been turned around to be about Lovelace rather than Clarissa or her suffering.
Thas given Lovelace a version of narrative torture. There is something almost sadistic and controlling here, as was the case when Lovelace kept Belford dangling.
Of course there is the disgusting analogy between “the sex who is made to bear pain” (in childbirth) and the pain he will go through waiting for the “birth” of the narrative.
And then:
“Every cushion or chair I shall sit upon, the bed I shall lie down upon (if I go to bed) till he return [with the next installment], will be stuffed with bolt-upright awls, bodkins, corking-pins, and packing needles: already I can fancy that, to pink my body like my mind, I need only to be put into a hogshead stuck full of steel-pointed spikes, and rolled down a hill three times as high as the Monument.” Masochism as well?
Lovelace seems like a total wreck. But even from this vulnerable position, he's writing in support and defense of himself. I hear him saying something like this: “Belford, what are you doing picking on me? Women are the ones made to bear pain. Men are not. It's cowardly for you to make me suffer.” This echoes what Turner and Eagleton have said about Lovelace's writing practices and the positions he occupies as being “feminine” according to what counts as “feminine” across time. I suppose in the “women are made to bear pain” argument, men are the ones who deliver the pain (ie., in beatings or in the violence of rape, impregnation, or labor).
So I'm not sure what to make of what he's saying about himself in this letter. I used to think Lovelace saw himself as an ideal of masculinity (mostly because his sense of entitlement to the women he wants seems so complete). But now I'm not so sure. It occurs to me that Lovelace seems comfortable casting himself as a victim first of Clarissa and now Belford. I can see how people might respond to men occupying this position, across time periods, as “weak” (as problematic as that is). Very conflicted here.
I find it interesting that even as he claims to be suffering (and, as Kendra notes, more that Clarissa herself has), it's really just a performance. Yes, he's in suspense about Clarissa, but not from any real concern for her–only because if she is truly ill and might die, he can no longer appease his pride by the marriage he is certain he will force upon her. He has no trouble constructing the elaborate metaphor of paragraph three, nor the ridiculous but creative list of objects that will prick him (well, it had to be the right verb) as he waits in suspense. Writing remains his most important area of libertine creativity–and that he can manage it so well demonstrates, I think, that his suffering is one more mask to parade.
It's also interesting to think about the cause of the pain he's comparing between himself and Clarissa. Clarissa has been physically harmed, but it is a lack of information that Lovelace is comparing and finding more difficult. I wonder if this comes down to Clarissa being a woman and therefore less of a person and unable to feel the same kind of pain that he does, OR is it that he believes intellectual/emotional pain to be more difficult to handle?
You guys bring up some interesting points here. Gone is the confident Lovelace seen in the interactions with his family. This Lovelace is “a wreck,” succumbing to sado-masochistic pain, and presenting himself in a more feminine light than when he is acting in his role as confident libertine. Of course, this is a performance as well, simply a different type for different reasons.