By making Shamela purely trashy, manipulative, and morally deficient, Fielding succeeded only in creating the same character in the reverse. Just as the exaggeration of Pamela's virtue made her less credible, the exaggeration of Shamela's immorality did the same for her character.
Fielding insults the lower class by insinuating that they aren't capable of a life of virtue, and that they are really no better than Shamela. Can't there be a realistic character somewhere in between these two? A Realamela perhaps?
What Fielding does with Parson Williams is hilarious. His mini-sermons to Shamela were as base as they could get! Was Fielding implying that the clergy were a bunch of fakes who take to things like drinking ale in their spare time?
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2 comments:
Realamela. :o) I love the title. When is the book coming out?
I think that if Shamela or Pamela were made to have more realistic values they would be that less appealing to readers. I also find that in order to effectively counter Pamela, Shamela had to be just as exaggerated if not more.
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