Rake [ Politics & Society / Character / Social interaction ]
… one of the most famous incarnations of the rake: the character of Robert Lovelace from Samuel Richardson’s 1748 novel Clarissa . The book continued Richardson’s didactic intent, already on display in his 1741 Familiar Letters , which … virtue. Unlike Mr. B, who is eventually redeemed and becomes a supposedly devoted husband to the former servant Pamela, Clarissa ’s Lovelace is denied such a resolution. With his second novel, Richardson once again made use of the rake … while going further in his condemnation of licentious upper-class men. Lovelace spends most of the plot agonising over Clarissa’s refusal to submit to him, her status as a woman, the daughter of a mere country gentleman and – perhaps worst …
Literature | Masculinity | Rank | Violence
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