'How does this damn love unman me!' (Lovelace, Clarissa). How does the Rake figure illuminate the contradictions of masculine desire in Samuel Richardson's 'Clarissa'?

Clarissa emphasises how, in Richardson?s epoch, a wo bit?s honorable motive was defined by sex, and her virginity was constantly under besieging from more than(prenominal) experienced and stronger men. Masculine and feminine qualities were put in intelligible demarcation. The manful judge was to be virile and reigning with par derive mold. ?Desire? is an emotion directed towards attaining or possessing an aim from which fun or satisfaction is expected. in that ratefore ? mannish appetency? contri stille be seen as an instinctive, impulsive craving to possess. The ? cream experience out enter? is the symbol and embodiment of manlike inclination, having self-indulgent behaviour, open by chaste law. He follows his inclinations to victory e genuinelyplace the egg-producing(prenominal) sex, neverthe little(prenominal) keeps find everyplace them. However, the impulsions created by lust and appetite traverse select to a loss of train, to weakness and vul nerability, contradicting the firm bod of ?masculinity.? Love, as an emotion, likewiseshie excite weakness and the ?unmanning? of a bloodline. However, Rakes are non meant to be capable of this true affection, or of ? intelligence? or connecting with women?s minds. Masculine entrust atomic number 50 be seen as strictly physical, and Rakes swan their direct finished this physicality. A Rake may have a bun in the oven emotions hardly he essential cross them due to pride, developing an intragroup splutter of worry and insecurity. This confidential inner struggle is represented by means of Richardson?s use of the epistolary variate and his use of lecture in Clarissa, especi all in ally with the Rake Lovelace. The earn kind is a rum way of exposing the seemingly real numberistic geeghts and conflicts of face. Lovelace needfully control and manipulates and orchestrates the tied(p)ts that lead to the blow of Clarissa Harlowe. However, we are devoted bra inwave into Lovelace?s inner conflict, and t! his shows he has contradictions with his masculinity. The representation of real human beings emotion challenges the subject of an aloof ?Rake figure?. A Rake is non supposed to cheat. Lovelace is intimately aggressive, has prop whizznt over other characters and uses disguises to manipulate. He has a spruce attitude, and quotes from a poem by Edmund Waller; ?Women are born to be controlled? (p.670). He exigencys absolute authority over a woman, pursuing and ?hunting? her d spoil in an buggy propositioned contest. Lovelace says crosscurrents ?seldom meet with the stand of honorablefulness in the women whom they encroachment? (p.426), which is why Clarissa is such(prenominal) a challenge. He is arrogant, saying to his accessory Belford, ?Has it non been a constant maxim with us that the greater the deserve on the woman?s side, the nobler the victory on the man?s?? (p.559). He is intrigued by Clarissa?s ? resolved b maven marrow?, seeing her as ?this charming ici ng meet? (p.145). He sees the ?rewarding end? of controlling Clarissa as ?a triumph over the whole sex? (p.147). genus Samia Ishak recognises that, ?He believes erstwhile a woman is subdued, she pass on forever be subdued,? and this is why he tests whether Clarissa?s justness is strong profuse to prevent him. Their characters are so different, with Lovelace?s representation organism ?a complementary portrait to that of Clarissa? Clarissa stands for spirituality, only if Lovelace stands for sensuality.? To him, she fall outs to have a pure mentality and her honor is an attraction for lechery. At first, he appears non to care for Clarissa?s feelings. When he has first succeeded in tricking her to run away with him, he says ?The sex! The sex is all over! ? Ha, ha, ha, ha! I essential here ? I must here recumb d hold my pen to bear my sides? (p.400). This is a computer graphic image, expressing Lovelace?s maliciousness and the pride he has in his prevarication. He has a making tell apart of plots and disguises, be a ! cussed kind of artist figure and egotist. In solvent to his use of goods and services of Clarissa, Lovelace declares, ?How unequal is a modest woman to the possibility when she throws herself into the agency of a rake!? (p.465). However, she has non ?thr declare herself? into his power, he has tricked her. He has spoken disapprovingly of Clarissa?s family simply won her game by sho decoyg letters from his aunt and cousin. He thusly tricks her into red ink to London, and gets his friend Mr Doleman to write to them about lodgings. Clarissa picks what seems to be the best, Mrs Sinclair?s melodramatic art on capital of Delaware Street, provided Lovelace reveals to Belford the house is not take ined by Mrs Sinclair, or on Dover Street. He has control of the situation, being the manipulator. He goes to great lengths to win bear out her affection and sympathy, at one point even dissimulation illness by victimization pig?s blood. To control Clarissa, he pretends to be virt uous, tho does not truly reform, eating away ?the guise of a merit-doubting hypocrisy? (p.145). ?Play-acting? is at the affection of his deception. When he predominates Clarissa in Mrs Morden?s house, after she has become umbrageous of his trickery and fled from Mrs Sinclair?s, they row in front of Mrs Moore, Miss Rawlins and leave shag Bevis. She says ?Am I not my own mistress! - Am I not -?and he interrupts her, raising ?his voice to overcome hers.? He describes his appearance; ?I lowered my voice on her silence. All gentle, all entreative, my accent; my head bowed; one hand held out; the other on my honest amount of money? (How considerable this do me look to the women!)? (p.777). He has manipulated the women into believe his lies, touching control over them and therefore over Clarissa. He enjoys manipulating Clarissa but at the same time he admires her. He tests her virtue, but he is also tested as he allows himself to respect her. Lovelace writes to Belford, ?The ir regular I beheld her, my heart was dastardized, dampe! d, and reverenced-over. Surely this is an angel, Jack!? (p.642). His temperament is rootage to show a fracture, as he is enamor by the very purity he loathes. The Rake figure is meant to be careless, having a casual approach, but there is a ? ill-considered prudence? to the Rake?s career. His manipulation is too total of curtilageght, suggesting its object, Clarissa, is meaningful. Lovelace says he is to be ?inevitably manacled? in his own ? meshing?, even in the first part of the double-dealing (p.517). Clarissa?s illness at the news of her father?s condemnation frightened Lovelace into a genuine proposal. As he prepares for London, he describes a battle with his roguish heart, questioning himself when contemplating spousal relationship; ?What makes my heart beat so strong?? (p.520). He sees himself as his ?own enemy? as he appears to warm to marriage, but continues to converse his plots. He k right aways James Harlowe and his friend Captain Singleton have given up their plot to kidnap Clarissa, but he pass on continue to pretend it is a threat, because ?the greater her disappointment, from them, the greater must be her dependence on [him]? (p.520). He manipulates Clarissa?s shackle to her family, one of her most admirable qualities, to gain even more power over her. Later, when he is talking of reuniting her with her family, he ?audibly sobbed? in response to her gratitude, being genuinely affected by this ?odd sensation? (p.695). We do scratch to see Lovelace?s confusion over his uncontrollable emotions, but he the Great Compromiser a manipulator. He always has a loophole, exposing his lack of ?real beloved? for her. Clarissa later recognises his complexities, saying, ?he is so much of the operator that he seems able to enter into any(prenominal) character; and his muscles and features appear entirely under obedience to his mischievous get out? (p.1003). His royal poinciana use of manner of speaking and monstrous words planetary hou seify his rakish record, reflecting his complex psyc! hological portrait. Richardson?s use of the epistolary form gives insight into how Lovelace reckons and feels, as terry cloth Eagleton says ? indite shares the fluidity of the consciousness.? However, the letter is also ?alienable, flushed with the desire of the subject yet always ripe for twisting and dishonour.? This ?distortion? reflects Lovelace?s character. We see the ? put-on? of Lovelace the person and Lovelace the rake, and his instantary care that he is not as consistent a rake as he would worry to be. in that respect are conflicts in how he represents himself to others, and how he understands himself and his own motives. This confusion leads to his ?unmanning?. Ishak has written a rhetorical study of the language of Clarissa. She says more or less letters are punctuated with ? arrestings and distresses of their source? and ?are extremely declarative of their originator?s feelings, super acidghts and intense emotional tension.? When theme to Belford, Lovelac e poses umteen questions to him. Ishak says some of these are ?ruminative questions? check intoing the questioner?s own thoughts, and at generation communicate a perceive of ? self-contemplation or self-reproach?. This undermines the confidence and arrogance Lovelace is meant to have, exposing some of his anxiety. He uses direct, ?self-justificatory questions? aimed at Belford, in attempt to soothe his sense of right and wrong and justify his actions. For example, early in the novel Lovelace tries to get Belford to equalise with his reasons for his plots; ?Why, why will the dear creature take such pains to appear all ice to me? [...] Hast thou not seen, in the above, how contemptibly she treats me?? (p.413). He also asks himself ? autonomous questions?, when writing to Belford, where he reveals his puzzlement and suspicious nature; ?Is not this the minute of her trial? [...] Whether her frost be frost indeed? Whether her virtue be principle?? (p.878-9). The repetition of ?w hether? reflects the debate within his head - should! he put Clarissa to the test or not. These ruminations contain ?their writer?s thoughts, fears and tension,? and Lovelace is portray as hesitant quite than controlling. The novel emphasises the battle in the midst of the opposed forces of masculinity and femininity. entirely there are ?cross-gender identifications? that show they are not actually as separate as they seem. Clarissa begins to gain some control, and Lovelace loses it. At Mrs Sinclair?s whorehouse, after the glow, Clarissa thinks Lovelace is going to rape her as he comforts her. Lovelace is intrigued by her defiance, saying, ?I never before encountered a underground so much in earnest [...] What a triumph has her sex obtained in my thoughts by this trial, and this hold outance!? (p.727). He thus exclaims, ?un-rakishly?, ?Now is my reformation secured; for I never shall love any other woman! ? Oh she is all variety! She must be ever new to me!? (p.722). He is being controlled by her. Clarissa declares she will not see him for a week as she thinks the fire was a trick. She escapes to the house owned by Mrs Moore. She has control and their procedures overrule momentarily. Lovelace immediately switches his tone to anger, seeing her sex as ? disagreeable?, with ?every individual a schemer by nature? (p.737). He sees her as having the stance of a ?plotter? now, alternatively of himself. After her escape in this part of the novel, Lovelace?s melodyed thoughts become more apparent. He argues with himself, angry that she has conversed with Dorcas to give her provender so she did not have to eat with him: ?She is odious in my eyes; I hate her mortally! ? But oh! Lovelace, thou liest! ? She is all that is lovely! All that is excellent! ? But is she, can she be gone!? (p.738). The short sentences emphasise his contradictions in thought. He appears to miss her, ?sighing over the bed and every piece of article of furniture in it?. After finding a letter in her room addressed to him, he ?trembl ed? as if overcome. This is when he says ?How does th! is blest love unman me! ? But nobody ever love as I love! [...] Ungrateful creature, to fly from a passion thus ardently flaming!? (p.742). He merely loves his control of her, his passion of lust, and sees her negatively, as ?ungrateful?. Upon reading the plank of contents of the letter he admits she has control over him, then saying, ?I can subscribe with too much lawfulness to those lines of another(prenominal) poet [Nathaniel Lee, 1679]:She reigns more fully in the soul than ever;She posts my breast, and mans against meEv?n my own rebel thoughts, with thousand graces,Ten thousand charms, and new-discover?d beauties!?There are manly images of triumph and control here. The word ? place? is associated with the military, suggesting she controls his heart, and is stationed there. She ?mans against? him his ?own rebel thoughts?, which suggests her virtue is affecting him. In contrast however, when he then reads Anna Howe?s letter to Clarissa, he is infuriated, sign the words t hat require ?vengeance? as they urge him to ? penalise them? (p.752). Lovelace wavers between his affections for Clarissa and his inherent ?Libertine ways?, exposing his intimate feelings.

He reveals his emotions to Belford, yet he is still controlled by his will for manipulation, with revenge. His ?masculine? qualities are still present, and he is not muck up ensemble ?unmanned?. Towards the end of the novel, the inversion of control between Clarissa and Lovelace is made even more apparent. Just before her death, Belford says to Lovelace, ?you will find the sense surprisingly entire, her weakness considered? (p.1349). Clarissa exerts the fullest possible ?control over her meanings, sus taining an enviable coherence of sense even through a! nd through her overcome trials?, and this envy belongs to Lovelace; he contrastingly ?lives on the home(a) of his prose? luxuriating in multiple modes of being.? Lovelace may have physical specialty but Clarissa has growing mental strength, controlling the narrative as she contemplates her death. He becomes ambiguous and complex, whilst Clarissa remains pure and becomes less ambiguous. She asserts power through her suffering ?moral authority,? he, through callousness. In the rape, she is a hands-off victim of phallic power. However, it is a shallow victory, with him demeaningly having to do drugs her to rape her. Richardson does not give the rape a commentary; it is left out, an anticlimax that undermines the sexual act. Nobody experiences the rape. The rape, his moment of ?victory?, actually initiates her slow death and the utter profligacy of Lovelace himself. Lovelace is portrayed as pathetic, and his ? rakishness?, for all its virile flamboyance, is nothing less than ?a crippling incapacity for adult sexual relationship. His misogyny and infantile sadism achieve their appropriate expression in the virulently anti-sexual act of rape.? Lovelace?s sexual anxiety stems from his savvy of losing the very ideal he desires. He cannot contemplate that ?Clarissa is not to be possessed? and so ?his precarious self enters upon cool off dissolution.?Ironically, Lovelace lacks the strength power to deal with contradictory impulses. Before Clarissa dies he says, ?I am not the savage which you and my worst enemies think me. My soul is too much penetrated?? (p.1339). He is also dialog of ? pain pangs the condemned soul feels? (p.1340). He later chastises himself for letting his rakishness cause her death; ?Marry and repair, at any time; this (wretch that I was!) was my plea to myself? yet [she], from step to step, from distress to distress, to maintain her favourable position? No power left in me to repair her wrongs! - No alleviation to my self-reproach!? (p.1344). He now calls her, ?my Clarissa Lovelace? (! p.1385). He is anguished by his actions, saying, ?These reflections sharpened, rather than their edge by time abated, fall out me in whatever I do, and wherever I go,? (p.1483). He regrets his rakish behaviour, using strong language such as, ?I feel the torments of the damned, in the remorse that wrings my heart on looking back upon my by actions by her? (p.1333). His rakish principles do not seem to remove him any more and Lovelace deteriorates as a symbol of masculine desire. His is restless and in agony, declaring in a letter to Belford, ?O my dearest, and ever-dear Clarissa, keep me no overnight in this cruel misgiving; in which I suffer a thousand times more than ever I made thee suffer? (p.1335). He becomes passive and disempowered, changing from being the oppressor to the oppressed, becoming a ?victim? himself. He still tries to resist ?reforming?, by saying he will reform once he returns from France. However, his death in the duel with Morden out in France, emphasises the loss of his masculine identity, as well as his masculine power. At the end he is no longer at the centre of the plot, with his death narrated by a French valet, a stranger. In Clarissa, ironically, the threat of manful sexuality is tested by virtue. Clarissa challenges Lovelace?s right to superior status, refusing to accept a power structure based on gender, having moral basis for actions instead. Clarissa who appears vulnerable has more control, through her death, than the male protagonist. When Clarissa questions the Rakish framework, by refusing to accept her role of sexual sinner, Lovelace?s ?pose falters and we find that the defiance of pompousity has its own conventional limits.? The manipulative power he had at the start has disintegrated. Lovelace is never consistent in being the magisterial rake. Cohan says ?when she rejects him after the rape Clarissa forces Lovelace to acknowledge the many inconsistencies in his character which the rake character cannot incl ude.? His feelings for her continue even after sexua! l conquest and so Lovelace moves away from being a purely sexual figure. He does not know how to love; ?Clarissa stands for love; Lovelace stands for malevolence; he is ?Loveless?.? Yet his inner struggle illuminates the contradictions of this ?pure? masculine desire. He feels guilt and regret as he realises his moral faults and their consequences after Clarissa?s death, accepting and acknowledging his ?love? for her, horrified by his rakish behaviour. He is a realistic character and his masculine desire led to the loss of his masculine identity. Masculine desire does have a limit, as not everything can be possessed. Primary text used:?Richardson, Samuel, Clarissa, or, The memorial of a unripe Lady, ed. Angus Ross, (London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2004). Secondary Criticism:?Batsaki, Yota. ?Clarissa; or, Rake versus Usurer? CALIBER, 93 (2006), 22-48. ?Biggs, Penelope, ?Hunt, Conquest, Trial: Lovelace and the Metaphors of the Rake?, Studies in 18th Century Culture, 22 (1982), 51-64. ?Cohan, Steve, ?Clarissa and the Individuation of Character? ELH, 43 (1976), 163-183. ?Eagleton, Terry, The dishonour of Clarissa (Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1982). ?Gwilliam, Tassie, Samuel Richardson?s Fictions of Gender (California: Stanford University Press, 1993). ?Ishak, Samia Fahmy, A stylistic study of the language of Richardson?s Clarissa, Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Leeds (Department of Linguistics and Phonetics), 1980. If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderEssay.net

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