Clarissa Harlowe; or the History of a Young Lady — Volume 7
1747
Clarissa Harlowe; or the History of a Young Lady — Volume 7
1747
Volume 7 of Richardson's monumental epistolary masterpiece finds Clarissa Harlowe in her darkest hour. Surrounded by enemies both without and within, she clings to her virtue as the only shield against a world that demands her surrender. Through letters exchanged with her fierce friend Miss Howe and the dangerously charismatic Lovelace, we witness a woman refusing to compromise her dignity even as every institution and relationship closes around her. Richardson's genius lies in the psychological intimacy of his form: we live inside Clarissa's mind, feeling her despair, her flashes of hope, her righteous anger. This is a novel about what it costs to remain oneself when every force, from tyrannical family to seductive rake to corrupt society, conspires to break you. The tension builds toward a conclusion that has haunted readers for centuries. Clarissa Harlowe is not merely a victim narrative; it is a fierce, devastating portrait of moral resistance, and Volume 7 brings that portrait to its heart-wrenching crescendo. For readers who trust in psychological depth and emotional honesty, this is literature that rewards every moment of its considerable length.
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“For love must be a very foolish thing to look back upon, when it has brought persons born to affluence into indigence, and laid a generous mind under obligation and dependence.””
— Samuel Richardson
“to be courted as princesses for a few weeks, in order to be treated as slaves for the rest of our lives.””
— Samuel Richardson
“I was exceedingly affected, says he, upon the occasion. But was ashamed to be surprised by her into such a fit of unmanly weakness-so ashamed that I was resolved to subdue it at the instant, and guard against the like for the future. Yet, at that moment, I more than half regretted that I could not permit her to enjoy a triumph which she so well deserved to glory in-her youth, her beauty, her artless innocence, and her manner, equally beyond comparison or description. But her indifference, Belford!-That she could resolve to sacrifice me to the malice of my enemies; and carry on the design in so clandestine a manner-yet love her, as I do, to frenzy!-revere her, as I do, to adoration!-These were the recollections with which I fortified my recreant heart against her-Yet, after all, if she persevere, she must conquer!-Coward, as she has made me, that never was a coward before!””
— Samuel Richardson
“I had rather all the world should be angry with me than my mamma!””
— Samuel Richardson
“Affected by my mother's goodness to me, and by that part of her argument which related to her own peace, and to the suspicions they had of her secretly inclining to prefer the man so hated by them,””
— Samuel Richardson
“She paused, with a look of expectation, as if she waited for my consenting answer. I was still silent; looking down; the tears in my eyes.””
— Samuel Richardson
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Richardson, Samuel. Clarissa Harlowe; or the History of a Young Lady — Volume 7. Lex, lex-books.com/book/clarissa-harlowe-or-the-history-of-a-young-lady-volume-7-04290ad8-52eb-4cd7-b081-81744296467d.Richardson, S. (1747). Clarissa Harlowe; or the History of a Young Lady — Volume 7. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/clarissa-harlowe-or-the-history-of-a-young-lady-volume-7-04290ad8-52eb-4cd7-b081-81744296467dRichardson, Samuel. Clarissa Harlowe; or the History of a Young Lady — Volume 7. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/clarissa-harlowe-or-the-history-of-a-young-lady-volume-7-04290ad8-52eb-4cd7-b081-81744296467d.
