Samuel Richardson's Clarissa and abduction

[manuscript]

Hi All,

I am writing a second-year undergrad essay on gothic genre with Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey as a principle text. I remember hearing something a depiction of abduction in Clarissa which I have a feeling may be burlesqued in Northanger, as Catherine Morland is driven by John Thorpe. I have a Penguin Classics edition of Clarissa but I have not read it and I do not have time. I wonder if anyone might be able to provide me with any vague information about this scene I have heard about in Clarissa, if not whereabouts it is situated in the novel (so I might flick through my copy in a guided attempt to find it), whether she is actually abducted, in a tempest of emotion, or whether she goes willingly.

Cheers!

[Pecksie]

I think Clarissa is actually raped in the novel.

[curlyqlink]

The entire (and impressively long) novel is basically about Clarissa's abduction. And the fascinating unanswered question is whether or not she goes willingly; to what extent she is willing, if so; and if she is not willing, then who is in truth responsible for her abduction.

[Wilde woman]

I don't know about Clarissa, but Northanger Abbey is a parody of Ann Radcliffe's famous Gothic novel, the Mysteries of Udolpho. If you're looking to write a comparative paper, you might find the Radcliffe novel useful. It is, however, also a long novel.

[dfloyd]

through for days looking for what you are seeking, I've had a large 2 volume edition on my shelf for ten years without opening it. Masterpiece Theatre did dramatize it. Find a copy and you'll find what you want more expediantly.

[dfloyd]

through for days looking for what you are seeking, I've had a large 2 volume edition on my shelf for ten years without opening it. Masterpiece Theatre did dramatize it. Find a copy and you'll find what you want more expediantly.