Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

The comic relief Richardson brings to Clarissa
through the relationship of Anna Howe and her mother
certainly amused the contemporary reading public.
However, the subtle irony of their situation serves to
enhance the deplorable situation in which Clarissa's
parents have placed her, and in which they themselves
live. While Anna has no father, Clarissa's father has
given over his power and voice to his son, leaving
Clarissa also, in a sense, without a father. While
Anna's mother is constantly butting in, giving advice and
arguing, Clarissa's mother is mute, silenced by the
family "will" to achieve greatness. In a letter to Lady
Bradshaigh, Richardson hopes there were many mothers,
who, faced with trials and hardships, would still do
right by their families, citing that Clarissa, by doing
the duties expected of her as a daughter, brought to
light what a parent's duty ought to be (Correspondence
92-93).
Clarissa as Inheritor
Rita Goldberg sums up Clarissa's position at the
beginning of her story succinctly, relating that in
"marriage cases lineage and wealth are guaranteed by