Both Clarissa and Lovelace claim to be driven to write, and both turn to writing as an outlet for their intellectual energy. Lovelace, though, uses writing for an additional purpose. He writes letters because he enjoys being a character in the narrative of his own making. In the stories he tells Belford, his primary audience, he constructs himself as a passionate, relentless lover. Because Lovelace goes to great lengths in his attempts to earn Clarissa’s affection, an ultimately fatal pursuit for both characters, his stories are filled with elaborate plans, confrontations, frustrations, momentary joys, and disappointments.

Since the ongoing story of his pursuit of Clarissa is prone to drastic changes in plot, Lovelace also relies on writing as a platform for re-affirming his sense of masculinity, especially in relation to women. When he frequently compares women to animals (e.g. women and birds), he reassures himself that he can objectively comprehend women and their nature. Granted, the received wisdom of the time would suggest that the nature of women is as predictable and known as other objects of study to which men have claimed knowledge. However, because Clarissa is exceptional, which Lovelace repeatedly argues, she presents several obstacles for him. He frequently suggests that other women would have submitted to his advances. In this sense, Lovelace’s letters represent his persistent attempts to comprehend Clarissa on an epistemological level.

As inquiry, letter writing demonstrates Lovelace’s methods of thinking and drawing conclusions. As part of constructing a narrative that he enjoys re-enacting for Belford, his letters provide explanations for his often bizarre methods to comprehend as well as to persuade Clarissa. Within his first several letters in the novel, Lovelace is beyond crucial questions such as, “Is what I want good for Clarissa? Should I be held responsible for the negative consequences my actions have on her life?” Being past these, he fails to consider whether his way of life is unconscionable.

Since he is irrationally determined to have Clarissa, his narratives must serve some other purpose. By reciting the events of the novel, as if he cannot help doing so, he strengthens the shield he has built to protect himself from knowing what it feels like to Clarissa and other women when they are objects of his desire. Consequently, writing is not only a method for reaffirming and protecting himself. Writing also emboldens him.