Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

you believe it?-And they are all determined too; my
mamma with the rest!" (L7 58).
While Mrs. Harlowe sinks deeper and deeper into
silence, Mrs. Howe continues to be well able to speak, in
part due to the absence of a dominant male voice in her
household. Although her marriage had been the product of
the same system that married Mrs. Harlowe, Mrs. Howe's
husband died young. She, like Charlotte Harlowe,
suffered from the ill temper of her husband, for Anna
tells Clarissa that Mrs. Howe "was very sensible . . . of
the violence of my poor Papa's temper, that she can so
long remember that, when acts of tenderness and affection
seem quite forgotten" (L132 475). Anna speculates that
her mother exerts a heavy hand with her because she was
under the same heavy hand when her husband was living
(L132 475). Mrs. Howe experienced the trials of
marriage, as did Charlotte Harlowe; but, while Charlotte
must endure them still, Mrs. Howe experiences independent
success after the death of her husband, becoming a
"notable wife," one who could put to use her considerable
talents that were wasted during marriage (L132 475).
Mrs. Howe's jointure was enough after the death of her
husband to allow her to continue to live in her home and