At length, my dearest Miss Howe, I am in London, and in my new lodgings. They are neatly furnished, and the situation, for the town, is pleasant.
But I think you must not ask me how I like the old gentlewoman. Yet she seems courteous and obliging.—Her kinswomen just appeared to welcome me at my alighting. They seemed to be genteel young women. But more of their aunt and them, as I shall see more.
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Here I was broke in upon by Mr. Lovelace; introducing the widow leading in a kinswoman of her’s to attend me, if I approved of her, till my Hannah should come, or till I had provided myself with some other servant. The widow gave her many good qualities; but said, that she had one great defect; which was, that she could not write, nor read writing; that part of her education having been neglected when she was young; but for discretion, fidelity, obligingness, she was not to be out-done by any body. So commented her likewise for her skill at the needle.
As for her defect, I can easily forgive that. She is very likely and genteel—too genteel indeed, I think, for a servant. But what I like least of all in her, she has a strange sly eye. I never saw such an eye; half-confident, I think. But indeed Mrs. Sinclair herself, (for that is the widow’s name,) has an odd winking eye; and her respectfulness seems too much studied, methinks, for the London ease and freedom. But people can’t help their looks, you know; and after all she is extremely civil and obliging,—and as for the young woman, (Dorcas is her name,) she will not be long with me.
At the beginning of Volume IV, we see Clarissa thrust into yet another setting and attempting to make judgments about her surroundings. I have highlighted here a couple of Clarissa's observations and her skepticism about these characters with her frequent references to "seem" or "appear" — what do we make of this moment where we see Clarissa observing and judging her new surroundings and new acquaintances?Also, we have noted recently the frequent references to eyes, which we certainly see here in Clarissa's observations about these women. How might these observations connect to some of the other important references to eyes we've seen thus far?
I noted a lot of "seem" and "appear" verbs. I liked that Clarissa wasn't necessarily just buying everything Lovelace is saying, although I can't quite figure out why she's still going along with him. We are also introduced to another aspect of things that are not as they appear concerning Clarissa. It's in this letter that she tells Anna of Lovelace's scheme for the two of them to appear to be married both to put an end to her "brother's contrivances" (526) and to "convince [Clarissa] of the purity of [his] intentions" (L55). I think it's interesting that Clarissa for all of her desire to see the actual truth rather than what is presented to her, she is also stuck telling falsehoods (though firmly against her wishes!).
I was also struck by intuitive Clarissa is. She immediately picks up on the fact that the "widow's" "kinswoman" (Dorcas) seems "too genteel indeed, I think, for a servant." Also that "she has a strange sly eye" and that Mrs. Sinclair too "has an odd winking eye; and her respectfulness seems too much studied." One wants to say, Clarissa trust your instincts. Think about who brought you here.
I was also struck by intuitive Clarissa is. She immediately picks up on the fact that the "widow's" "kinswoman" (Dorcas) seems "too genteel indeed, I think, for a servant." Also that "she has a strange sly eye" and that Mrs. Sinclair too "has an odd winking eye; and her respectfulness seems too much studied." One wants to say, Clarissa trust your instincts. Think about who brought you here.
I was also struck by what Debra calls Clarissa's intuitiveness, but I'm also thinking that some of her recent life experiences here might be working themselves out in how she's seeing the world. Megan pointed out that Clarissa herself here is going along with "seeming" to be married, and I think that jibes pretty well with some earlier comments Lovelace makes about how we often make judgments based on what we are capable of ourselves.
As all of you suggest here, Clarissa does seem to critically analyze her surroundings a bit more here because of her possible “intuitiveness,” as we see in the language that she uses as she assesses her surroundings. Clarissa trying to determine “truth” versus “appearance” adds an element to her character that we have not really seen too much prior to this experience, and I think that we can see this new-found critical awareness of her surroundings as a type of agency that Clarissa acquires, even though she was essentially “tricked” into leaving her father's house.