Short Essay – Option 2

Prompt

What is the significance of Tobias Smollet naming his book after a character that appears to be as insignificant as Humphry Clinker? What point, if any, is Smollet trying to get across by doing so? Please be sure to consider the following terms as you construct your answer: Epistolary form, representation, mediation, consumption, etc.

 

RE: “out of his league lovelace”

 “I believe more of Lovelaces true nature are revealed in Clarissa than would have been, if it had not been written in the Epistolary format. As Lovelace tells his friend Belford, more of the soul comes out in the writing than would be relayed through a face to face encounter. Basically, he tells him that it is the speaking of one’s soul, separate from the bodily world.”