Why did Henry Fielding write Shamela?

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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

Henry Fielding wrote Shamela (1741) as a satirical response to Samuel Richardson’s immensely popular epistolary novel, Pamela.1

Fielding intended the work to burlesque what he perceived as the sentimental prudery and hypocrisy found in Richardson’s original story. By transforming the virtuous servant girl of the original into a predatory fortune hunter, Fielding sought to expose the underlying artifice he believed was masked by the moralistic tone of Pamela. Through this parody, he challenged the cultural reception of Richardson's work, portraying the protagonist as a character who cold-bloodedly manipulates her wealthy master into marriage.1