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Study Guide
Clarissa Letters 242-272
Letters 242-272
- Lovelace is still trying to do his best to get Clarissa away from Mrs. Moore's.
- He tries to calm her down with false promises that his female cousins will pay her a visit, but Clarissa sees right through that charade.
- Lovelace calls in the big guns again. Since Clarissa never figured out that Captain Tomlinson was a false character, he gets his buddy to pay a visit to Mrs. Moore's.
- Even Captain Tomlinson is pretty torn up about tricking Clarissa. The dude can't even play his part without crying.
- While Clarissa is with Mrs. Moore at church, a letter from her beloved Anna comes in.
- Uh-oh. Lovelace intercepts it by convincing one of his new lady friends at Mrs. Moore's to pretend she's Clarissa.
- Mrs. Beavis gets the letter and passes it right onto Lovelace, as easy as pie.
- The letter has some important info about the next steps in Clarissa's escape plan.
- Anna fills in her BFF on the deets: Mrs. Townsend can receive her the following Wednesday or Thursday, but no sooner.
- That should give Lovelace plenty of time to work his evil plans. Muahahaha.
- On the plus side, Lovelace finally receives the marriage license. He pokes fun at all the legal language in a letter to Belford, because there isn't anything funnier than a good wedding.
- Clarissa confides in Lovelace that she hopes to use her grandfather's inheritance to live on a secluded estate, with only Mrs. Norton as her companion. That is, if he ever lets her leave.
- Well, at least Lovelace's cousins are coming to visit! Except that they're actually prostitutes dressed up as Lovelace's cousins. Sigh.
- Clarissa figures out that they're impostors, but not before they trick her into going into town. Of course, they take her right to Mrs. Sinclair's place.
- Lovelace writes a one-line letter to Belford, letting him know the affair is complete. Yeah, that's kind of abrupt.
- We don't get any details, but it soon becomes clear that Lovelace raped Clarissa after Mrs. Sinclair drugged her asleep.
- Belford is seriously hopping mad. He calls Lovelace a bunch of names and tells him to make it right ASAP.
- Lovelace isn't totally repentant, though he does seem sad. He basically says that Clarissa paid the price for setting such a high price on her virginity. Not cool at all, Lovelace.
- In the meantime, Clarissa is going crazy. Literally. She's writing up a storm, but none of it seems to make sense.
- We get some examples of her mad ramblings, which go all over the page. There's some cool eighteenth-century typography if you're into that.
- (Brain Snack: scholar-type folk call these the "Mad Papers.")
- Clarissa asks Lovelace to take her to the madhouse, but he refuses.
- Clarissa pulls it together enough to accuse Lovelace of her rape, and he seems totally repentant.
- He says he'll marry her right away, but Clarissa's the one stalling now.
- Lovelace gets the news from one of Lord M.'s stewards that his Lordship is really sick.
- Lovelace hopes he'll at least get a good inheritance from Lord M. That might help him make some headway with Clarissa.
- All the ladies of the night at the brothel are feeling sorry for Clarissa. That, or they're sick of hearing her complain.
- Clarissa makes friends with Dorcas and promises her a big-time payoff if she'll help her escape.
- Unfortunately, Dorcas has deep pockets and knows who pays her bills. She lets Lovelace in on the secret.
- Before Clarissa can try to bolt, she comes down with a bad fever. She'll only let Dorcas in the door.
- Lovelace gets his old buddy, "Captain Tomlinson," to write recommending that Lovelace and Clarissa get married the following week.
- Even though she's super sick, Clarissa doesn't buy it. Also, she just doesn't want to marry that dude anymore.