Timeline and Summary

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• Lovelace visits the Harlowes to check out Arabella, but he soon becomes smitten with her sister, Clarissa. As soon as he sees her, it's light out for Lovelace.
• Too bad James Harlowe knows the guy from college and hates him.
• He's pretty much immediately given the old heave-ho by the Harlowe family.
• Swords out—it's duel time! James picks a fight with Lovelace and loses.
• Lovelace spares his life because he likes his sister.
• Even though Lovelace is banned from the premises, he starts up an illicit correspondence with Clarissa.
• He keeps trying to convince her to leave with him, and she finally agrees.
• Since he's a sneaky guy, Lovelace takes extra steps that ensure Clarissa will actually leave with him.
• He gets his spy in the Harlowe household, Joseph Leman, to cause a distraction while Clarissa is in the garden with him, then Lovelace whisks Clarissa away in his chariot before she even knows what's up.
• Clarissa is pretty mad that Lovelace didn't make proper arrangements for her. She basically insists he find a better place for her to stay.
• So obviously, Lovelace takes Clarissa to a brothel.
• Just to be on the safe side, he provides all the prostitutes with moral literature. That way, they might fool Clarissa into thinking they're normal ladies.
• Lovelace tries all sorts of tricks to seduce Clarissa, like hiding in her bed. They don't work.
• When Clarissa escapes from the brothel, Lovelace is hopping mad. He has his servant, Will, track her down at Mrs. Moore's.
• Lovelace disguises himself as a decrepit old man in order to trick all the boarders at Mrs. Moore's.
• He doesn't trick Clarissa, though. She's like, "Stop being weird and get out of that stupid costume."
• But he has more tricks up his sleeve. He pays the prostitutes to pretend to be his cousins in order to get Clarissa back to the brothel.
• Once she's back, he commits the ultimate crime: he drugs and rapes her.
• He's kind of repentant afterwards. Sort of.
• Okay, he offers to marry Clarissa. She flat-out refuses.
• After his buddy Belford takes charge of the sick Clarissa, Lovelace starts to express some actual repentance.
• He tries to sneak in to see Clarissa, but she's taken steps to avoid him.
• Lovelace makes a scene at Mrs. Smith's because he can't find Clarissa. He's such a spoiled brat.
• When Clarissa dies, Lovelace is heartbroken. He heads off to France to nurse his wounds.
• Colonel Morden finds him and kills him in a duel.
• His servant embowels his body and sends it back to England. Uh, that's an awkward detail.