Richardson's Characterization of Mr. B. and Double Purpose in ...

PAMELA 465
ships I have made her undergo" (p. 219). Alas! At this high
moment Pamela, still doubftul of a sham-marriage, fatefully utters
her oft-repeated plea, "Permit me to return to my poor parents;
that is all I ask."
This worst of all possible replies evokes a storm of wrath which
blows away all tender feelings. (Note also Richardson's comic
irony in having the same plea so constantly used by the heroine to
forestall her "ruin" now apparently ruin her new hopes.) Pamela's
lack of confidence when he is all sincerity and noble resolve is more
than her master's ego can bear, a reaction for which Richardson
has prepared by Mr. B.'s repeated warnings that Pamela trust him.
In his "fearful passion" he instantly orders a chariot to take her
home: "And is it thus in my fond conceding moments, that I am
to be answered and despised? Perverse, unreasonable Pamela! be
gone from my sight, and know as well how to behave in a hopeful
prospect, as in a distressful state; . . . Be gone, I tell you, I cannot
bear this stupid romantic folly" (p. 219). He refuses to see or
talk further with Pamela but will send later the papers he has not
yet read. Pamela overhears his reply to Mrs. Jewkes, who urges
that the girl not go "scot-free": "No more of this, as I told you
before. . . . What! when I have such proof that her virtue is all
her pride, shall I rob her of that? No, let her go, perverse and foolish
as she is; but she deserves to go honest, and she shall so go!"
Although he will not speak to her, Mr. B. writes for delivery to
Pamela that night a letter intended to be a dignified farewell of
noble resignation and good will, but hurt love, ego, and sentimentality
inevitably creep in. He explains he was just on "the point of
passing over all other considerations for an honorable address" to
her when she spoke her "ungenerous preference," and after her
choosing to go home, he would not have her "tarry with me an
hour." His sudden dismissal and refusal to see or hear her were due
to his fear of being swayed by her or by her journal, "for well I
know my weakness in your favor." Three different times he expresses
the hope that he will get the better of "his fond folly." Several
times he expresses his good wishes, from a beginning "I bear
you no ill will" to a "I wish you well with all my heart." Ego and
jealousy impel a further wish that Pamela "not think of marrying in
haste; and particularly not to have this cursed Williams," and he
indulges the sentimental hope that she "will not refuse to my