What are the benefits and drawbacks to Samuel Richardson using an epistolary style of writing for this novel?

The novel's first person point of view is mostly limited and unreliable due to the nature of Richardson choosing an epistolary style of writing, and Pamela's inability to know anything other than what she witnesses and hears. This point of view is important to the novel due to the format and the fact that a large part of the premise of the novel revolves around Pamela's change in feelings toward Mr. B. Without this point of view, it would be impossible to see Pamela's feelings. This point of view is also important for enabling the reader to see Pamela's virtue since she can report on her actions and feelings about them, doubly demonstrating her virtue. There are only two narrative passages in this work, during which the point of view changes to that of an omniscient and reliable third person narrator.

The story is told with a fairly equal distribution of exposition and dialogue. There are also a fair number of monologues throughout the text, by virtue of the epistolary style of writing. The focus of the novel is on Pamela clinging to her virtue while Mr. B contrives to ruin her. Some short amounts of time pass within a very descriptive letter or journal entry while shorter accounts may detail an extended amount of time. The events of the novel are seen mostly through Pamela's eyes with two exceptions of the narrator intervening to explain matters objectively.