Clarissa Characters

Not Your Average Perfect Princess Clarissa might be perkier and prettier than a cheerleader who exclusively wears J. Crew. She's the kind of person who apologizes when you bump into her, because s...

Give Me a B! Give me an F! Give me an F! BFF! We don't take the acronym BFF lightly here at Shmoop, and neither does Clarissa's pal Anna Howe. She's practically on call for the entire book, making...

Will the Real Reformed Rake Please Stand Up? While everyone's all will-he-or-won't-he over Lovelace and his reformed rake status, Belford is over here showing what a good guy really looks like. (N...

She Puts Maleficent To Shame Mrs. Sinclair doesn't have many redeeming qualities. She's a straight-up witch (and madam) who likes nothing more than making Clarissa squirm. While we don't get too m...

Everyone's a Bad Influence Everyone totally knows a Mrs. Howe. She's a totally cheerful old lady who loves being a mom and mothering everybody, whether they need it or not. That is, until she swit...

The Invisible White Knight For most of the book, Colonel Morden is like a ghost in a scary movie. You know the ghost is there because everyone can't stop talking about it, but you start to think i...

Awesome Name (And Not Much Else) Poor Dorcas. Although she has a fantastic name, she kind of gets the brunt of it from Lovelace and Mrs. Sinclair. We'd say she deserves it after selling out Claris...

Hot-Tempered Hoodlum Way to set the whole scandal in motion, buddy. If James had just been able to bury his irritation at Lovelace, maybe the Harlowe family would have been cool with the dude cour...

Sibling Rivalry If only Arabella were the type of sister who just stole clothes from Clarissa's closet. Unfortunately, she can't even be in a room with Clarissa for two seconds without starting a...

The Lurker Lovelace seems to have an army of friends willing to dress up in disguises to help him seduce Clarissa, but Captain Tomlinson is the most persistent. Or maybe he just likes playing spy....

Daddy Dearest The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in terms of how James Harlowe, Esq., and Junior treat Clarissa. While he's not the worst dude in the world, it's not a great idea to get on D...

Lady Charlotte is definitely under her husband's thumb, but she's not quite as harsh on Clarissa. Yeah, she pushes the marriage to Mr. Solmes thing a little harder than she should, but there's a re...

The Vulture What can we say about Solmes, the dude who circles around trying to get some Clarissa scraps? The guy may be old, ugly, and a real pain to be around, but at least he knows his strength...

Clarissa's old nurse is about the closest thing she's ever gotten to a teacher. Clarissa's sweet nature sure isn't a biological trait, so we're betting that Mrs. Norton had a good deal to do with i...

Let's Hear It for the Good Guys Mr. Hickman is just the nicest. Does that make him sound too bland? That's because he is. In comparison to Lovelace, Hickman could use just a little somethin'-somet...

Not to get all Downton Abbey on you, Shmoopers, but sometimes the help knows all the secrets. Although there's no upstairs-downstairs drama, the servants play crucial roles in Clarissa's fate. Let'...

Where's the Money? Betty knows that she's not Clarissa's main girl. But while the Harlowes give Hannah the old heave-ho, Betty knows where her paycheck is coming from. Hey, she's probably just hap...

She's There for Her Girl Hannah is Clarissa's girl. Yeah, it probably wasn't the smartest idea to take lovers' letters back and forth when Clarissa's already in hot water with the fam. But Hannah...

Double Agent Dude Someone's been spying on the Harlowe family. Who? That would be Joseph Leman, the guy we barely hear about until Lovelace makes him Accessory #1 to Clarissa's departure slash abd...

Totally Heartless Okay, so it might be a tad harsh to classify William Summers as totally heartless. The guy is just doing his duty by tracking down Clarissa and reporting her location back to his...

Despite sounding like Dr. Seuss characters, these two ladies are bad to the bone. They're Mrs. Sinclair's oily sidekicks who don't seem to have a problem throwing Clarissa in the slammer. If you ne...

Go With the Flow Gal Clarissa's aunt isn't a bad type. She sure sympathizes with Clarissa's situation, and she tries to help her niece whenever possible. Unfortunately, Mrs. Hervey isn't really wi...

Uncle Grouch Uncle Antony sure knows how to stick his nose in business where it doesn't belong. Not only does he frequently write to Clarissa to pressure her into obeying her parents, but he offer...

Lovely Ladies Who Love Lovelace Lovelace attracts admirers everywhere he goes, and the five Mrs. So-and-Sos— Mrs. Moore, Widow Bevis, Mrs. Lovick, Miss Rawlins, and Mrs. Smith—are proof. Who e...