Clarissa Harlowe

Clarissa's older sister, Arabella, begins to be courted by Robert Lovelace, a wealthy "libertine" and heir to a substantial estate. However, she rejects him because she felt that he put more effort into gaining the approval of her parents than in wooing her and felt disrespected by this. Lovelace quickly moves on from Arabella to Clarissa, much to the displeasure of Arabella and their brother James Harlowe. Despite Clarissa's insistence in her dislike for Lovelace, Arabella grows jealous of her younger sister for Lovelace's interest in her. James, also, dislikes Lovelace greatly because of a duel which had occurred between the two of them. These feelings combine with resentment that Clarissa was left a piece of land by their grandfather and lead to aggression towards Clarissa from her siblings. It is proposed that Clarissa marry Roger Solmes, a match that the entire Harlowe family, except Clarissa, accepts. Clarissa, however, finds Solmes to be unpleasant company and does not wish to marry him. This makes her family suspicious of her feelings towards Lovelace, and they begin acting paranoid towards her insistence that she does not care for Lovelace either. The Harlowes begin restricting Clarissa's access to the outside world by forbidding her to see Lovelace anymore and eventually forbidding her to either leave her room or send letters to her friend, Anna Howe, until Clarissa apologizes and agrees to marry Solmes. Feeling trapped and desperate to regain her freedom, Clarissa continues to communicate with Anna in secret and begins a correspondence with Lovelace, while trying to convince her parents not to force her to marry Solmes. Neither Clarissa nor her parents will concede, leading to a communication breakdown and her parents' disregard of Clarissa's protests as stubborn disobedience.