Questions for discussion

(1)

 In what ways could Pamela be considered a realistic novel?

 Why do you think Richardson in the preface to the novel felt safer using the word “Editor”

rather than “writer”? How would you relate this to Defoe’s writing?

 What reason might lie behind the novel’s popularity at the time it was published?

 What is the epistolary form?

 What is the function of the epistolary form?

 How truthful is Pamela’s preoccupation with chastity?

 How does the novel depict prescriptive gender roles?

 What do Mr B.’s rules indicate?

 How is the class distinction portrayed?

 In what ways does the novel engage with the notion of power?

 What is Pamela’s “reward” at the end of the novel?

 How didactic is the ending of the novel?

Link to the preface of the first edition of the novel:

https://books.google.com.tr/books?

id=FCMGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR3&lpg=PR3&dq=pamela+preface&source=bl&ots=qCVwflWArO&sig=u65 Q4J_MbtWqHafe1WswZaD6MkI&hl=tr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjf55qrqePVAhWFNpoKHfO3BAkQ6AEIW TAL#v=onepage&q=pamela%20preface&f=false

Link to the novel:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6124/6124.txt