I’m sharing how Pamela ends because the average reader may never get this far, but there’s suddenly an exciting and interesting subplot at the very end. I mean, not the very, very end, because that’s where Samuel Richardson put a brief description of every. dang. character. and the moral lesson we are meant to learn from them. Just before that morality lesson part, although Sally Godfrey is part of the moral lessons.
When Mr B’s sister Lady Davers came by to give Pamela whatfor and briefly revive the plot, she let slip the name of ‘Sally Godfrey,’ which causes Pamela some unease in her otherwise blissful newlywed state.
What is up with Sally Godfrey?
We don’t learn until the final 6% of the story, at the point when I was still reading out of sheer stubbornness and some sort of perverted thrill to see how terrible Mr B really was. I’ll summarize the tale as he tells it.
Mr B: Oh, by the way, I have a 7 year old bastard daughter. See, there was this lady, ahem, “lady” whose family wanted to trap me into marriage, so they tried to set up a compromising position for us to be caught in. In fact we were caught but I escaped (in a most dashing fashion!). So they couldn’t force me to marry her, but I did continue to meet her secretly and repeatedly afterward, at least until everyone noticed she was pregnant. Then my sister paid her family off and now the kid’s in boarding school. She thinks I’m a distant uncle.
Pamela: Aww, she’s adorable! Let’s adopt her.
Way to make the best of a bad situation, I guess? I mean, he’s already reformed, as far as we and Pamela know, so no point in castigating him. But also, way to bring a Scarlet Letter into the household so he can always remember how wicked and naughty he was before Pamela and her overwhelming virtue saved him!
Mr B, now that’s he’s coming clean, goes on to tell the whole sordid tale. Miss Sally Godfrey nearly died in childbirth and then moved to Jamaica because she was so repentant and ashamed. Such are the wages of sin! (For women.) She didn’t even want to see Mr B before she left for fear of being tempted to sin again. And in matter of fact Mr B confesses that he had fully intended to seduce her again and prevent her leaving the country.
He followed her across the country to her ship and offered her money to stay. Not an offer of marriage, mind you, just some money. Have I mentioned that he is a sack of shit? Sally Godfrey FLED THE COUNTRY to get away from him.
But anyway, once he’s got that off his chest, then they go to church so all the neighbors can admire Pamela, and then my final reading notes were:
Oh for fuck’s sake. No, I am not reading any of Mr B’s poetry about flowers.
Pamela, of course, would love to be favored with more such recitations, but Mr B says he’s rarely had patience or attention long enough to finish such things.
But don’t worry, dear, as long as you follow the wifely precepts he so kindly laid out for you, I’m sure he’ll never lose interest in you!
