In Volume VII, Letter 333, we see Clarissa unable to tell her own story, thus making it necessary for Belford to construct the narrative of Clarissa’s recent life. Rachel was particularly interested in the way “Richardson seems to push us even farther from the direct experience of Clarissa telling her own story in her letters” by putting the narrative in Belford’s hands and considered how “a narrative web” is created in this section where “everyone is implicated in some way.” This new narrator of Clarissa’s story is important, especially because in the previous volume, we only heard about Clarissa’s life through Lovelace. Belford gives us a far more sympathetic and accurate depiction of the events unfolding in Clarissa’s life. Keri pointed out that Belford is “protecting Clarissa and advocating for her since she cannot do so herself.” Belford does so by relaying her story in a way that is closer to how Clarissa herself would have told the story, a practice not taken up by Lovelace in previous volumes. Although Clarissa still lacks the ability to write her own story, the move from Lovelace to Belford as her storyteller is positive one in that Belford is more faithful to Clarissa’s thoughts and feelings about the events of her life.

Meanwhile, Lovelace is still constructing his own narrative. We see various re-constructions of his situation throughout this volume but particularly in Letter 346, where he presents an altered version of recent events to Mr. Hickman, and Letter 370, where he compares his tragedy to those suffered by Queen Dido and Mary Queen of Scots. In his encounter with Hickman, Rachel noted how Lovelace “establish[es] a counter-narrative” for Clarissa’s rape when he explains to Hickman that Clarissa was asleep (rather than drugged, her actual state at the time), and Kendra focused on Lovelace’s love for himself and for “avenging slights on his character” (real or imagined)” by constructing a different narrative of events. Lovelace rewrites history to make himself appear to be the victim rather than the aggressor, as in Letter 370, where he pictures himself as a tragic hero. As Kendra suggested, he “sees himself as some sort of hero, who through no fault of his own has abducted Clarissa for some greater good and he merely seeks her forgiveness for things outside of his control.”