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IL Genre: Tragedy Versus Comedy

Clarissa is a tragedy that might have been made a comedy. There is of course a great deal of wit and humour in the novel, and the situation and tone are not so very different, at least in its earlier stages, from Richardson's earlier novel Pamela where the heroine resists the seductive wiles of Mr Β and the novel moves to the comic conclusion of marriage. Some contemporary readers of the earlier parts of Clarissa expressed to Richardson their hopes that the novel would end happily. Richardson's most energetic correspondent, Lady Bradshaig, wrote with earnest entreaties that he would not be so hard-hearted as to let Clarissa die. Richardson replied: 'I would not think of leaving my heroine short of Heaven.'⁶ The reply reinforces the idea that Richardson's religious and didactic intention was a large part of the pressure that led the novel towards tragedy. He clearly developed a conception in which...

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1. Introduction
2. I. Universality and Difference
3. IL Genre: Tragedy Versus Comedy
4. III. The Uses of Quotation
5. IV. Letters and Sexuality
6. V. Rape, Writing and Morality
7. VI. Conclusions
8. Copyright