Many authors of this webtext (including myself) have frequently commented on Clarissa’s agency or lack thereof. It is not particularly surprising that a woman in the 18th century would display so little independence in a novel, but I still find it at least a bit odd that the main character of this 1500-page novel is given so little agency, regardless of her sex. Clarissa’s wishes for herself are largely ignored. By the end of Volume III, Clarissa has tried to remain single rather than marrying anyone, but she has been denied this choice by her family. She has asked both Lovelace and Solmes to stop pursuing her, but both have continued on. She has attempted to break ties with Lovelace multiple times via letter and face-to-face conversation, but he has continued to the point of tricking her into leaving her family home with him. Her choices are taken away from her again and again. She does not get to make any of the crucial decisions of her story.

However, she is able to choose the words to write her story. I wonder if perhaps the existence of these 1500 pages is Clarissa’s real agency. Although she writes fewer letters later in the novel, she still writes her own story. She may not have been able to make decisive choices concerning her actions, but she is the writer of her story, and that means something. This agency through the written word increases throughout the novel. Though at the beginning she tries to write her way to having a choice in her life by convincing her parents to let her remain single, it is not until the end, when she is facing her death that she is able to write her way to choices that she wants made. Clarissa chooses how she will die and what will become of herself and her belongings after her death, and she does so through a series of letters.

But how does that fit in with the question of identity? We have discussed multiple times how, for Clarissa, writing is a very transparent tool. She uses her letters to Anna as a place to share her plans, her fears, her guilt, and her perceived triumphs (though they are small and not really triumphs). She writes to her family members in volumes one and two and is so convincing that they stop reading her letters in order not to be persuaded by her. The Clarissa we see in letters is who she really is. Rather than crying in her mother’s lap about a future marriage, she composes line after line that helps her cause. Instead of accepting Lovelace’s stories about her family, she steadfastly stands her ground. The identity Clarissa writes is a much stronger woman than the one whose will is trampled by her family and suitors. The Clarissa whose actions we are told about in the letters may have little direct agency, but later in the novel, Clarissa’s words are able to shape actions. Her writing at the end is equally as strong as the writing in the beginning, but it is only in death that Clarissa can shape her own future and choose the identity by which she wants to be remembered.