Richardson's work

• Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. It tells the story of a beautiful 15-year-old maidservant named Pamela Andrews, whose country landowner master, Mr. B, makes unwanted advances towards her after the death of his mother. After attempting unsuccessfully to seduce and rape her, her virtue is eventually rewarded when he sincerely proposes an equitable marriage to her. In the novel's second part, Pamela marries Mr B and tries to acclimatise to upper-class society. The story, a best-seller of its time, was very widely read but was also criticized for its perceived licentiousness.
• Pamela was the first  first best- selling novel in England.  It was written almost by accident. As a printer, Richardson was asked to construct a set of “familiar letters,” models to help country people write to their families. Some of these letters were supposedly from a servant girl to her parents, asking what she should do when faced with her master’s sexual advances. Richardson’s friends enjoyed this plot and asked for more of it, and he published Pamela, or, Virtue Rewarded in 1740. According to Richardson, Pamela was a new form of fiction writing altogether, an exercise in instruction through entertainment. The novel was an instant sensation. Its moral precepts formed the themes of church sermons as well as newspaper debates, while its plot and characters inspired musical adaptations, continuations, operas, and even waxworks. Pamela also received its share of criticism and parodies, most notably Fielding’s Shamelaand Haywood’s Anti-Pamela.st example of a best-seller in the history of English literature. The book was immensely popular not only in England but also in Europe where it was soon translated into all major languages and turned into a play (in Italy, Carlo Goldoni wrote two comedies after Richardson’s novel:Pamela Nubile and Pamela maritata.

• Clarissa Harlowe tells the story of a virtuous, beautiful eighteen-year-old woman who is brought to tragedy by the wickedness of her world. Her family possesses great wealth but little status.
  The trouble starts when Richard Lovelace comes to pay court to Clarissa’s sister, but is attracted by Clarissa instead.
  The family forbids Clarissa from corresponding with Lovelace and commands her to marry a horrible rich man, Roger Solmes. Clarissa refuses and when she is able to run away, she is in Lovelace’s power. Roger is a manipulator who is in love with her, but hates the idea of marriage. His intention is to force Clarissa to compromise her strict morals, sully her reputation, and gain full control over her.
  Clarissa’s virtue has a powerful effect on Lovelace and sometimes sways him away from his bad intentions. . Finally suspecting Lovelace’s vileness, Clarissa escapes, but Lovelace finds her and he rapes her. The rape has failed to put Clarissa fully in his power because she has never compromised her virtue, and she runs away again, this time successfully.
  But once Clarissa has been raped, she stops eating and no longer worries about worldly problems like reputation. Her health steadily worsens, and she begins to prepare for death.
  She finally dies, expressing forgiveness for everyone in her life and joyful anticipation of heaven.