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Personification
Explanation and Analysis—Virtue and Goodness:
At the end of Letter 8, Pamela's parents warn her not to let people's compliments affect her too much. They use personification and a metaphor to remind her of their Christian belief that beauty is created by moral character:
Besure don’t let People’s telling you you are pretty, puff you up: for you did not make yourself, and so can have no Praise due to you for it. It is Virtue and Goodness only, that make the true Beauty. Remember that, Pamela.
Pamela's parents personify Virtue and Goodness as the creators of "true Beauty." On the other hand, they tell Pamela not to let herself get "puffed up" by other people's comments that she is pretty. This warning suggests that compliments are, metaphorically, air that can fill Pamela's ego like a balloon. If she sees herself as beautiful because of all this empty "air," she is seeing a sort of illusion that will disappear as soon as the air is let out. If instead she allows Virtue and Goodness to fill her up, she will be truly beautiful. No matter what anyone says, and no matter what happens to Pamela's appearance as she ages, this "true Beauty" will never leave her because it is real and substantive.
The idea that Pamela can make herself beautiful through Virtue and Goodness reflects her parents' deeply Christian worldview. Virtue essentially means abstinence from sex, and Goodness essentially means obedience and demureness. As a Christian girl, Pamela is supposed to do as she is told and guard her virginity at all costs. These two directives are somewhat at odds with each other when obeying Mr. B. would involve having sex with him. Pamela's challenge throughout the book is to be both "virtuous" and "good." Mr. B. makes walking this line very difficult for her, but one way of interpreting his character is as the ultimate test of Pamela's ability to fulfill her parents' wishes for their daughter. By rising to the challenge, she proves her "true Beauty" and her worthiness for marriage and riches (at least according to her parents).
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