Shamela (Criticism)

Henry Fielding Shamela Criticism

Pamela vs. Shamela (link)

http://mural.uv.es/pagamo/lit2links.html

Pamela

Frank W. Bradbrook in his article about Samuel Richardson ( The New Pelican Guide to English Literature) claims “Unfortunately, the character of Pamela does not create the impression of pure and injured innocence that Richardson intended. The weakness of Richardson as a moralist is that he appears to be unconscious of the implications of the situations that he describes. There are elements of hypocrisy and coarse-grained vulgarity in his heroine. What repels the reader is not merely the inconsistency of a supposedly chaste maiden whose dreams are filled with ideas of rape, but whose waking moments resound to prate about her honour”.
Do you agree or not? Justify your opinion basing yourself on what you have read.

Robinson Crusoe (excerpt film 1997)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TbeYkSrW2Q

Robinson Crusoe

The book was published on April 25, 1719. Before the end of the year, this first volume had run through four editions. Within years, it had reached an audience as wide as any book ever written in English.

By the end of the 19th century, no book in the history of Western literature had more editions, spin-offs and translations than Robinson Crusoe, with more than 700 such alternative versions, including children's versions with mainly pictures and no text. Why do you think this novel gained so much popularity?