And Particularly Shewing, the Distresses that May Attend the Misconduct Both of Parents and Children, In Relation to Marriage is an epistolary novel by English writer Samuel Richardson, published in 1748.

The novel tells the tragic story of a young woman, Clarissa Harlowe, whose quest for virtue is continually thwarted by her family.

The Harlowes are a recently wealthy family whose preoccupation with increasing their standing in society leads to obsessive control of their daughter, Clarissa.

[2] Robert Lovelace, a wealthy "libertine" and heir to a substantial estate, begins to court Arabella, Clarissa's older sister.

Eventually they forbid her to either leave her room or send letters to her friend, Anna Howe, until Clarissa apologises and agrees to marry Solmes.

Trapped and desperate to regain her freedom, Clarissa continues to communicate with Anna secretly and begins a correspondence with Lovelace, while trying to convince her parents not to force her to marry Solmes.

However, unbeknownst to Clarissa, Lovelace has arranged for his servant, Joseph Leman, to make noises mimicking a disturbance in the Harlowe household.

But Clarissa resists his manipulative advances, repeatedly urging him to set her at liberty or deliver her into the respectable circles of his relations.

She tries to reconcile with her family, but they refuse to listen or forgive her because of the perceived betrayal of her elopement, and Clarissa is deeply shocked by her father invoking a curse upon her, that her disobedience will lead her to ruin in this world and punishment in the next.

She is held at several lodgings, including unknowingly a brothel, where the women are disguised as high-class ladies by Lovelace so as to deceive Clarissa into believing she is in respectable and safe hands.

He introduces her to some of his rakehell friends, including John Belford, who becomes a genuine admirer of Clarissa's purity, beauty and intelligence.

Under the pretense of saving her from a fire, Lovelace at last gains entry to Clarissa's bedroom but she thwarts his attempted assault with vigorous resistance.

However, she considers this promise made under duress as void; soon after she makes her first successful escape from Lovelace, concealing herself in lodgings in Hampstead.

After the rape, Clarissa suffers a loss of sanity for several days, presumably brought on by her extreme distress as well as the dose of opiates administered to her.

She writes a series of incoherent "mad letters" and verses, blaming herself and him for what has occurred, and begging to be admitted to an asylum to die in peace.

However, he soon realises that he has failed to "subdue" her; instead she is utterly repulsed by him, refusing his now-genuine offers of marriage despite her precarious situation as a fallen woman.

Lovelace is forced to concede that, despite the rape, Clarissa's virtue remains untarnished, but he begins to convince himself that the "trial" was not properly conducted.

Pretending to be angered by the discovery that she has bribed a servant to help her escape, Lovelace begins to menace Clarissa, intending to escalate the confrontation to physical violence and then rape, but she threatens to kill herself with a pen-knife should he proceed.

More intent than ever to make Clarissa his wife, Lovelace is called away to attend his dying uncle from whom he is expecting to inherit an Earldom.

She lives in constant fear of being found by him again, as he continues to send her marriage offers through his friend, John Belford, as well as through his own family members.

Eventually, surrounded by strangers and her cousin, Col. Morden, Clarissa dies in the full consciousness of her virtue and trusting in a better life after death.