Abstract: | The paper deals with the major aspects defining the eighteenth century English cultural discourse on issues regarding the women’s lives and their roles in marriage. Richardson’s novel Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded probably offers the best epitomized image of two important stages in a woman’s life: firstly, the preconditions of maidenhood, and, secondly, the duties and benefits of wifehood and motherhood. The paper represents only a starting point in the portrayal of the eighteenth century cultural discourse on feminine cultural types like the coquette, the prude, the country maid, the town lady, or the female wit. |
