#FANNY HILL CODE#

Her refusal to become вЂњmistress of person and fortune, as much as if the foolish ceremony had passedвЂќ is governed as much by her moral compass as it is by her instinct for self-preservation as a woman of a low social class (Richardson). This resolve to cling to her virtue is not only for her own spiritual protection, but also for the safeguarding of her person.

#FANNY HILL CODE#

Pamela abides by a strict moral code throughout the text claiming вЂњhow easy a choice poverty and honesty is, rather than plenty and wickednessвЂќ (Richardson). RichardsonвЂ™s Puritan principles manifest themselves throughout the novel through PamelaвЂ™s repeated denial of Mr BвЂ™s designs on her. Many critics have labelled Samuel Richardson as вЂњpuritanical, meaning little more than that he had a rigid moral codeвЂќ (Morton 242). Throughout both texts, the authors interrogate the institution of marriage as a complex issue intricately connected with social class and sexual inequality. Cleland manipulates this parallel and portrays Fanny as the antithesis to RichardsonвЂ™s heroine. The similar and somewhat ambiguous upbringings of Pamela and Fanny create an innate comparison between the two characters and their lifestyles. Although inherently different in plot, the heroines of these two texts share a common origin as poor, lower class country girls. Conversely, ClelandвЂ™s heroine, Fanny Hill, devotes the bulk of her memoir to the graphic recollection of her sexual encounters as a prostitute. Throughout the first volume of Pamela, RichardsonвЂ™s heroine continually deflects the sexual advances of her master claiming that she вЂњwould rather lose life than honestyвЂќ (Richardson). The disparate depictions between the lives of Cleland and RichardsonвЂ™s heroines throughout their respective texts serve to assert that marriage is not the only available option for their heroines.

Pamela and Fanny Hill reconcile the differences in their fundamental structure through their portrayal of marriage not as the only available option, but the only acceptable option for their heroine. Both Richardson and Cleland approach marriage within their respective works in radically different ways as each text provides its author with a vehicle to comment on the function of marriage amidst eighteenth century British society. However in Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, John Cleland provides the antithesis of RichardsonвЂ™s novel by depicting pleasure as his heroineвЂ™s ultimate source of freedom throughout the account of her life as a prostitute. Samuel RichardsonвЂ™s novel Pamela Or, Virtue Rewarded, embraces the notion that marriage is the only acceptable path for his heroine. These social politics, combined with the sexual inequality that characterised eighteenth century British society, are manifested throughout the literature of the time. In addition, amidst a socially stratified society, marriage also served an alternate purpose as a potential means by which a woman could elevate her social situation.

Thus, marriage during this time provided the only respectable means for a woman to achieve a comfortable and virtuous life. However, in eighteenth century society, where sexuality, especially female sexuality, was repressed, prostitution as a line of work was largely taboo. Although marriage and maternity provided the only socially acceptable path for women during this time, some women turned to prostitution as an alternate means of subsistence. In the context of eighteenth century British society, this prescribed duty implied marriage first and was shortly followed by procreation and duties relating to family life. This patriarchal climate stipulated that вЂњa respectable woman was nothing but the potential mother of childrenвЂќ (Blease 7).

In this society men of the upper class governed the female identity. Class and gender chiefly governed British society in the eighteenth century and the opportunities for a woman to achieve social and financial security were scarce.

Fanny hill