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How does Shamela parody Samuel Richardson’s Pamela?

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Henry Fielding, frontispiece to Fielding's Works (1st ed., 1762), engraving by James Basire after a drawing by William Hogarth — Henry Fielding Henry Fielding, frontispiece to Fielding's *Works* (1st ed., 1762), engraving by James Basire after a drawing by William Hogarth

In his 1741 parody, Shamela, Henry Fielding critiques Samuel Richardson’s Pamela by subverting its central premise of virtue. While Richardson’s original novel depicts a servant girl who preserves her moral integrity against her master’s advances, Fielding transforms the heroine into a predatory fortune hunter.

Fielding’s parody functions by:

Character Reversal: He portrays the protagonist not as a virtuous victim, but as a calculating social climber who cold-bloodedly manipulates her lustful master into marriage.12
Burlesquing Sentimentality: The work serves to mock the sentimental prudery that Fielding and other critics found dubious in Richardson’s immensely popular original text.12

By reframing the narrative, Fielding challenges the moral sincerity of Richardson’s work, suggesting that the heroine’s actions were driven by ambition rather than the preservation of virtue.2