Roxana 3
1. Main Point
In class we looked at the three questions: Why didn't Roxana marry the Dutch merchant earlier, why does she continue being a whore, and is there really an end to the novel. Through our discussion of Roxana not marrying the Dutch merchant a pattern was found in her relationships. Roxana talks about her relationships like they are business transactions and uses many financial and economic terms when she talks about them. We also find out that she looks at the institution of marriage as being dehumanized and losing all control over what she has in her life. She realizes prostitution is better than marriage because she doesn't lose her personhood and that she has a power over men through which she has sexual freedom to go after her desires. Even after she moves into the house of the Quaker, taking on a Quaker style of dress, Roxana doesn't change. She has gone from one extreme to the next when she takes herself out of the public eye to be in the private realm. When she thinks about why she is still a whore she pulls herself away from the public realm. She is still prideful because she wants the Dutch merchant to buy her a title once they are married. Where Roxana is not the sign of reformation the Prince is. He has repented and started living his life like he should. The class also talked about the violence that Amy shows through killing Susan, Roxana's daughter. Throughout the novel there are signs of Amy's violent nature. For instance, Roxana tells us on p. 49 "I acknowledged her kindness and fidelity, yet it was but a bad coin that she was paid in at last, aswill appear in its place." She is the one that brings Roxana to think of sleeping with the landlord. The last thing we talked about was how many people changed the ending of the novel so that it was happier and Roxana repents. Many people didn't like the way Defoe ended his work so they changed it so the audience would like it better.
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2. Close reading - p. 187 second paragraph from the bottom
" That the very Nature of the Marriage-Contract was, in short, nothing but giving up Liberty, Estate, Authority, and every-thing, to the Man, and the Woman was indeed, a meer Woman ever after, that is to say, a Slave. "
Class began with a discussion of marriage in The Fortunate Mistress as connected with themes of money and occupation, and looked at economic langauge in a quote from p. 176. Describing human relationships in economic terms can also be seen in this passage's description of marriage as a contract. The passage presents a realistic picture of 18th century marriage in that a married woman in that time lost her legal standing and right to own private property. A wife was in a sense absorbed into her husband; this concept is known as "femme covert" meaning covered female.
What the narrator argues for in this passage, and espouses in her actions, is that it is better for a woman to be a prostitute than a wife, because in this way she can avoid "giving up Liberty, Estate, Authority, and every-thing, to the Man," and preserve her freedom. This autonomy includes sexual freedom, and connects to our current positive view of individual autonomy. The issue was raised as to whether Roxana can be read as a feminist character. The story is told from the point of view of a woman facing hardships realistic for females, such as abandonment by one's husband and the necessity of supporting oneself. However, it portrays the narrator's choices in these situations as immoral. In the novel, sympathy for the plight of a female, and a positive view of female autonomy contrast with the book's moral conclusion that the narrator's assertion of her sexual autonomy is wrong, so the term feminist does not really apply here.
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3. Text referent – theatre in 18th century Britain
“...I suppose, your Lady was some French comedian, that is to say, a Stage Amazon, that put on a counterfeit Dress to please the Company, such as they us’d in the Play of Tamerlane, at Paris, or some such.” (336)
Textual context: Susan (the narrator’s daughter) is recounting the story of seeing Roxana in her Turkish dress at the masquerade many years ago. The narrator suggests that Roxana may have been an actress in the theatre, which could account for her promiscuous behavior.
Helpful information:
- "Comedian" means actress, not a comedian in the modern sense.
- Calling Roxana a "Stage Amazon" shows the speaker's distate with her behavior. The word Amazon is generally used to refer to a woman who is masculine, however the ensuing description shows Roxana's overt sexuality in both her dress and profession. Therefore a "Stage Amazon" is a woman who has the physical appearance of a woman but acts in an unfeminine way.
- The speaker confuses Nicholas Rowe's popular play Tamerlane (1701) with the Frenchman Jean Racine's less popular Bajazet (1672). In Tamerlane the heroic Christian Tamerlane tries to subdue Bajazet the emperor of the Turks. Racine's play is also about the Turkish sultan Bajazet but also his wife, the sultaness Roxane and is probably the play that the speaker was referring to when she mistakenly said Tamerlane.
Notes: Notes 331-333 (pg. 402) all help to explain the narrator’s comment regarding women and the theatre. As indicated, female actresses had a reputation for being sexually promiscuous and lacking the sense of honour that women were expected to uphold at the time.
After the Restoration in 1660, there was a revival in theatre across Europe. Before this period, women did not act in the theatre and their roles were traditionally played by boys or young men. In the late 17th century women began acting in stage productions but they were often single women who also acted as courtesans to supplement their income as no respectable family would allow their daughter to be an actress. By the 18th century, more women were actresses but the profession was still associated with loose women from poor families who may have had to use their daughter’s talents (both on and off the stage) to help them survive in difficult economic times. Lead actresses were required to sing, read, dance and project her speech in addition to acting. Many of these skills were associated with upper (or upper-middle) class women, therefore many actresses were from families who were once wealthy, but were in risk of losing their wealth and prestige.
While actresses were looked down upon in society for being unfeminine or unnecessarily licentious, they were also viewed as celebrities who often entertained members of the aristocracy or royalty (again, both on and off the stage). Charles II was especially notorious for having relationships with women who acted in the theatre.
Sources:
http://engl3621mgc.tripod.com/
http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/
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4. Today's interesting link:
Clothing and descriptions of clothing seem to play an important role in Roxana. This is not only true with regard to the infamous Turkish dress but also the rags she is left with when she is forced to sell off her own clothes at the start of the story and the Quaker habit the protagonist adopts late in the book, among others. In addition, some influence can be seen in the naming of certain objects after the French version of the word. With this in mind, it might be helpful to have a glossary of terms commonly used by writers of the time to refer to items of dress in the 18th Century. A work in progress by an MIT professor http://people.csail.mit.edu/sfelshin/revwar/glossary.html has a heavy emphasis on women’s clothing. It includes more common words like “bodice” or “bonnet” as well as words clearly derived from their French counterparts like “equipage” or “toile.” In addition to the basic definition and the origins of the word, many entries go into depth on the usage of the particular item.
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