List of works with the subtitle "Virtue Rewarded"


This is a chronological list of works with the subtitle "Virtue Rewarded".
In books and other works, a subtitle is an explanatory or alternate title that usually offers a generalization or moral drawn from the work's plot. Subtitles were a common feature of English literary works of the 17th and 18th centuries, especially plays. In the early 17th century, this convention was at times made light of, as in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or, What You Will; while in the 18th century, subtitles would often make a more serious moral point, even in case of comic works.
The "Virtue Rewarded" subtitle has been used by a variety of books as a reminder or boast to the reader that the neoclassical principle of poetic justice will be upheld by the plot. With changing cultural perceptions in the 20th century, the use of this subtitle diminished as a serious form. In academic discourse in the 20th century, subtitles began to be full explanations of the subject of a work, while the title itself was a gnomic or cryptically poetic phrase. This reliance upon the subtitle is part of the comic density of literary reference brought into play in the Anatomy of Melancholy by Cook et al., implying that dissertation-writing is governed both by the poetic justice principle—virtue rewarded—and by the depressive symptoms described in Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy.
This list is a compilation of works whose full subtitle is "Virtue Rewarded". Thus The Crafty Chambermaid, or, Beauty and Virtue Rewarded does not qualify, nor does Virtue Rewarded, or, The Faithful Lady.
AuthorTitleGenreYearStoryVirtuous personVirtueReward
Charles ShadwellIrish Hospitality, or, Virtue RewardedPlay1720Sir Patrick Worthy helps his children and neighbours.middle-aged Irish squiregood nature, thoughtful fatherhoodchorus of praise, children well settled
Samuel RichardsonPamela, or, Virtue RewardedNovel1740Pamela rebuffs her aristocratic would-be seducer.15-year-old lady's maidhumility and embattled chastitygrand marriage to aforesaid would-be seducer
Elizabeth Barrett Browning"Sebastian, or, Virtue Rewarded"Poem1815????
Eliza Pope'Novel1818????
M. BryantMy Uncle’s Present, or, Virtue RewardedCollection of moral tales1820????
John Charles TarverJames, or, Virtue RewardedNovel1896????
Winifred PhelpsTemptation Sordid, or, Virtue Rewarded, A MelodramaPlay1960Two lovers defeat the machinations of a fortunehunter.a pure-hearted young coupleresistance of diabolical wilesunion of love over dead bodies of enemies
David R. Slavitt Rochelle, or, Virtue RewardedErotic fiction1966A young woman resists the lure of vice.dull but virtuous girl??
Stanley Cook, William J. Sullivan, Fred Moramarco'Textbook1969A doctoral dissertation gets written.the dissertation-writerwork ethic, overcoming writer's crampPh.D.