In various descriptions of this series it says that Lovelace becomes genuinely infatuated with Clarissa, and that leads to his downfall. I watched this and I was never under the impression that he loved her. She was a virgin so that made her a major prize, it seemed like he wanted to build his already huge ego by possessing her.
shareI don't know about love, per se, but she seems to have won his respect by the end of the story. He considers her a worthy adversary, and apparently is willing to bestow upon her the dubious honor of his name. I can't see any love in his actions, especially as after the rape he writes to Jack that all the harm can be undone by a few words (meaning, the marriage ceremony). NOT a loving attitude, that.
Democracy: 2 wolves, 1 lamb voting on a lunch menu. Liberty: A well-armed lamb disputing the vote.
Additionally, I seem to recall a couple of times where Lovelace seemed to want to show mercy toward Clarissa, but the women (e.g. Deb and Sally) egg him into more cruelty. Am I misremembering that some of Lovelace's cruelty occurs so that he can save face with these women? (Although that is no excuse, to be sure.)
shareI got that impression too, but now that I think of it I can't recall any specific reasons why.
Democracy: 2 wolves, 1 lamb voting on a lunch menu. Liberty: A well-armed lamb disputing the vote.
Must be time for a rewatch!
shareAfter the book was published, Samuel Richardson spent the rest of his life horrified and irritated at the scores of female readers infatuated with Lovelace. He'd written the book partly to counteract the romantic fiction that reformed rakes can make good husbands... he later revised the book to paint Lovelace as more of an unambiguous villain, but it was too late!
shareI'm one of those women who developed a bit of a crush. Although I only read half the book because eventually Clarissa became so tiresome in her purity that I was flipping through the pages muttering "Just DO her already..."
shareI haven't read the book - I think I might now after seeing the adaptation. I didn't get the feeling that Lovelace had any true love for Clarissa (certainly in the adaptation) he had pricks of conscience on occasion but it never overrode his desire to conquor Clarissa and possess her. He had no idea what love was from what I saw and certainly showed none to Clarissa. Very few of the characters seemed to have any genuine selfless affection and love for anyone, it seemed to me. Only Clarissa's friend Miss Howe was truly on her side throughout it all and Lovelace's friend Jack seemed to be the only character who truly grew to respect (and possibly love??) Clarissa through her ordeal and felt compelled to avenge her. She saved HIS soul at least I guess.
shareI just rewatched the first episode a couple of nights ago. I had trouble falling asleep, Clarissa's brother and sister made me so angry!
shareMy daughter and I watched this together way back when on PBS. We were so under the spell of Sean Bean that we kept saying, Lovelace is going be won over and he'll turn out to be good, now, Lovelace is going to understand he's in love with Clarissa, no, no, no, right up until the very end! We just couldn't believe he'd be such a villain! Great story, glad that's not my family.
shareLol! My mom and I were the same way and was shocked by how it ended!
shareI think Lovelace loved Clarissa as much as he was capable of loving. I really don't believe that selfless love, Corinthians-style, is a magic that can descend upon us all, like God's grace, and elevate us. I think (JMHO) that love is different things for different people. Less developed psyches probably rise to no greater level than "MAN, do I want to possess you forever and ever!!" The craving to be near and secure access to the desired one is probably as elevated as some people get. Perhaps after some years they learn to care how that desired one feels, although not to the exclusion of their own needs...
shareIt was only after her death that he really knew what he had done to himself.
Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.
I can't believe some of you putting this guy in such good standing after what he did. On top of his actions he asked for her hand in marriage and even that was contrived....All you have to be is good looking and charming and even women that should no better will love the character. Romance lives or should I say stupidity trumps all senses of reason. The guy destroyed a women by raping her and you posters give him a pass.
shareIt's a long-standing, primitive female fantasy to have an incredibly hot, rich guy so mad about you that he'll go to any lengths to have you. It's got an ego-gratifying charm that is a little bewitching. And men have some pretty primitive fantasies of their own, Little Sir Judgalot. So back off.
share I said what you apparently did not want to hear, so i will let a woman tell you the same. I really don't feel as i was judging but simply stating a point of how some of you posters overlooked what happened to her............ This is a user review from a a person who to me said it so accurately ......So, the rape scene was the climax of the movie/series. by this time, this girl's insolent primness drives you so crazy, you're cheering on the prostitutes who hold her down!!! And I'm a woman who knows how horrible rape is. Funny isn't it, that Lovelace doesn't receive his public comeuppance in class-crazy England until he does in a 'lady'. One of his conquests dies in childbirth, and he goes completely free. The funniest and sickest scene is when the Puritan virgin, having been so dumbly done in over and over by this rake, asks his masquerading buddy if "On your honor, is it true that Uncle.......?" The twitches on both their faces is hilarious: who cares if they rape and molest women, it's their HONOR that gives them trouble when called upon. you wonder where they came from. What motivates women to become so loose? AND why didn't this little dunce just run home to Daddy and Mama? She certainly didn't have to speak just to her wicked brother and sister. And they take her pen away, but she's forever writing letters, and somehow getting them delivered (not realistic). And how can a poverty-stricken girl pay for a beautiful mohagany coffin? Sorry to intrude with reality, but this wasn't a fairy tale.
Lovelace didn't love Clarissa at all. He might have admired her spirit, but his attraction to her wasn't love and it goes beyond even simple lust-- he wanted to conquer her, to own her, because she wouldn't easily give into him. Her principles made her the ultimate prize. When Clarissa dies and he has that freak out, breaking the mirror and everything, I saw it as more he was upset that she'd finally escaped him. There was no chance of ever fully possessing her as he wished.
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