In a short but interesting critical study of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, Levin begins with a dream of Lovelace's (the seducer of Clarissa) about Clarissa in

bed with Mother H. who suddenly turns into Lovelace. The article moves on to a consideration of some of the psychological complexities of the novel. The author feels that there is an as yet unrecognized element of masochism in the character of Lovelace. Using Freud's essay, The Economic Problem in Masochism, he sees Clarissa as a moral masochist and Lovelace as a feminine masochist with strong elements of sadism. One of the main movements of the novel is that Lovelace identifies more and more with Clarissa as the story progresses, so that his sense of guilt and his death wish at the end are psychologically plausible. The paper is convincing and interesting although it tends to be somewhat reductive (infantile fantasy is always primary) and requires fuller documentation from the novel than it provides.