ABSTRACT
This chapter denies that Richardson's inability to locate a plausible, sustained, idealised image of maternity is attributable, as Terry Castle has argued, to his imaginative failure'. The difficulties encountered by Richardson in transferring his paragon from written lover to written mother were actually due to formal tensions inherent in eighteenth-century literary discussions of motherhood. These tensions led later writers exploring maternal models to remove husbands from their educational texts, across all literary genres. The chapter demonstrates advice on maternal conduct created a contradictory model identifying mothers biologically, but simultaneously prioritizing and idealizing a theoretical maternal educator. Richardson's influential treatment of motherhood actually exemplifies the impossible representational task of assimilating conflicting notions of ideal' mothers. Richardson's belief in women's superior understanding of motherhood is demonstrated not only in Pamela's aggravation at being prevented from performing the physical duties of a mother, but also in her challenges to the most influential male voice of parental guidance.
