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Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

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<strong>Clarissa</strong> knows well that Lovelace has outdone her<br />

brother, both socially and legally. Lovelace's family is<br />

already titled and known among the peerage, and Lovelace<br />

won the duel with her brother. Lovelace now has the<br />

legal right to extract apology or other payment from<br />

James for the inconvenience that the duel has caused him.<br />

The duel settled the superficial charges James, Jr.,<br />

accused him of, but the loser still has to pay a debt.<br />

<strong>Clarissa</strong> will be part of the debt Lovelace wants James to<br />

pay. He tells Belford: " . . . I am playing him off as I<br />

please; cooling, or inflaming, his violent passions, as<br />

may best suit my purposes . . ." (L31 144). Lovelace<br />

uses legal language, including settlement and inheritance<br />

language, better than any male member of the Harlowe<br />

family. He is quicker and shrewder than James, Jr., can<br />

imagine. <strong>In</strong> the opening letters retelling the duel<br />

between the two, it is obvious that Lovelace is the easy<br />

winner.<br />

The irony of <strong>Clarissa</strong>'s sturdy individual will is<br />

that it leads to her impending social ruin, the loss of<br />

her innocence, and her death before she can share her<br />

virtue and talents with the world (Suarez 79). James<br />

uses the power of his inheritance to silence his father<br />

and mother and to attempt to subdue <strong>Clarissa</strong>. He does

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