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Eliza faced many hardships in the novel “the Coquette”. One of Eliza biggest hardship and the lead to her downfall was when her fiancé died. Eliza lost her fiancé, and this opened new doors for her it was a very sad and bad time in her life, but she did her best to bring herself out of the bad in the situation and into the good she powered herself through her fiancé death and eventually moved on. Eliza now a free woman was very eager, and she was ready to give new life and move on from her fiancé death. Eliza writes to her friend Lucy about the two men that have interest in her major Stanford and Mr., Boyer, she writes about how she enjoys both of the men but doesn't want to marry at this time, during the time Eliza is in a difficult situation
In the beginning of the story, when Eliza was sick, she still wanted to get out of bed and work to help care for Patsy. This shows her love, because even though she is sick and can’t work, she still wants to work just to care for Patsy. Patsy, in turn, wanted to go to the stables to exercise some horses to earn money even though his mother was afraid the horses might kill him like his father died. In the text, it says,'"Nevah you min'," said Patsy with a choke in his voice. "I can do somep'n', an' we'll have anothah doctah." "La, listen at de chile; what kin you do?" "I'm goin' down to McCarthy's stable and see if I kin git some horses to exercise." A sad look came into Eliza's eyes as she said: "You'd bettah not go, Patsy; dem hosses'll kill you yit, des lak dey did yo' pappy."’ This shows that even though Patsy’s mother does not want him to go, he knows he needs to get the money for his mother so he can get a doctor for
From the beginning of The Coquette Eliza Wharton is a headstrong, freedom-seeking woman. Having escaped her impending marriage with the death of her fiancé, Eliza is determined to enjoy herself, regardless of the consequences. Eliza disregards the warnings she receives from those around her, she disregards Major Sanford’s past, and she disregards the societal impact her actions will undoubtedly have. Eliza is reckless with her reputation and virtue and she pays the price.
The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton narrates the tribulations of an unmarried woman in post-revolutionary America. The author Hannah Webster Foster uses the story of Miss Wharton as an allegory of female moral decay. The highly patriarchal demands that women be submissive, domestic, and married. However, the protagonist Eliza Wharton has conflicting ideas of her expectations within the society. She is highly intelligent and yearns for self-determination. Though the novel is about seduction, Foster significantly altered the basic structure of novels at the time by relating it from the female perspective. The result is a novel that explores several significant themes in post-revolutionary America among them, the existence, and the need for female education.
Eliza Wharton has sinned. She has also seduced, deceived, loved, and been had. With The Coquette Hannah Webster Foster uses Eliza as an allegory, the archetype of a woman gone wrong. To a twentieth century reader Eliza's fate seems over-dramatized, pathetic, perhaps even silly. She loved a man but circumstance dissuaded their marriage and forced them to establish a guilt-laden, whirlwind of a tryst that destroyed both of their lives. A twentieth century reader may have championed Sanford's divorce, she may have championed the affair, she may have championed Eliza's acceptance of Boyer's proposal. She may have thrown the book angrily at the floor, disgraced by the picture of ineffectual, trapped, female characters.
With one another’s help, they are able to prevent their husbands from havoc and disaster, and likewise keep their own lives happy. The faults in the Insatiate Countess are attributed to her insatiability, which comes from over-investing in men and devaluing friendship. Were she to follow the paths of Abigail and Thais, she would not only have someone to channel her energy into, but also have someone to talk her out of revenge, which would then prevent her from both orchestrating murder and being hanged herself. If we can learn from both the comedic and tragic plots, let us first understand them to have the same message: to observe a moderate one’s investment in one’s lover, a greater investment in one’s friends, and, when balanced by friendship, an utmost investment in oneself.
...-choice. David Waldstreicher author of "Fallen under My Observation": Vision and Virtue in "The Coquette" writes, “The only resolution is beyond the gaze of monitors, where a physically absent Eliza can stand in for the idea of virtue, apart from vision and the evaluation of virtue. Eliza is finally what Boyer wanted her to be: an idea held close to the heart. The Coquette is a tale of seduction; it enacts a complex logic of vision and virtue, a system of exchanged sentiment that allowed for women’s subjective experience, only to make that experience the object of closest scrutiny.”(Waldstreicher 210-216.) The destructive nature of love trumps Winthrop’s vision of brotherly love by showcasing the moral consciousness Eliza experiences for not demonstrating good Christian charity, thus rendering her as an example of the anti-model of a “good and virtuous” Christian.
She lives her life on her own terms than that of the views of society. She is the minority in her way of thinking that is okay not to have love and life figured out by the time she is 30 years of age. All her aspirations are laughed at by her friend Lucy, whom puts her down for trying make a better life for herself instead of following with the etiquettes of society. “Forgive my plainness, Eliza. It is the task of friendship, sometimes to tell disagreeable truths. I know your ambition is to make a distinguished figure in first class society; to shine in the gay circle of fashionable amusements..(Foster 27). Instead of encouraging Eliza, Lucy dashes her
After sleeping with Steven, she alone thinks about John, admitting she “In retrospect, found them to be years of worth and dignity, until crushed by it all at last.” When she looks back, she realizes that her temptation ruined her marriage with John, making her regret her decision. Influenced by temptation, her marriage, which she now thinks of in a new light, is “crushed by it all.” it is from her private thoughts, which she isolated and kept away, that she finds new desire for her marriage. She was so certain that giving into her temptation with Steven was right, but when she thinks about her choice, she realizes that she had made a horrible mistake, that the “sense of guilt that even her new-found and challenged womanhood could not entirely quell.” in her isolation, she realizes that her love for John is greater than her temptation. She recognizes while standing alone, that temptation did not solve her loneliness. Even now, she is still isolated. Blinded by her isolation, she acts on her subsequent temptation. She comes to terms with these feelings by herself, accepting that her temptation was only temporary and her choices might have lead to the destruction of her marriage. When she goes back to Steven, she thinks “It would be easier were he awake now with her, sharing her guilt….she came to understand that for him no guilt existed.” she learns that Steven will never face
At the beginning of the story, Anna is refusing Mr. Gordon’s proposal. Her refusal creates tension and conflict between her mother and herself. Then why can’t you marry Mr. Gordon, and make me happy?” “Because,” and Anna’s voice was firm decided and honest, “Because I do not love him, and to marry him would make me very unhappy.” (King 16) Mrs. Mansfield points out to Anna that Mr. Gordon would make an excellent husband with financial benefits. “Oh, my dear,” said Mrs. Mansfield, “You know how poor we are now. Here I am with you four girls and an income not much larger than your dear father’s time I spent upon my own dress. Is it wonderful that I long to see you settled?” (King17) What she is really saying, I do not have money for the family so get marry to this rich man .Mrs. Mansfield persuasion tactics demonstrate to Anna what she learned from her mother. Make good choices in life, marry, and love will come afterwards. In other words, sell yourself girlie! The author, Susan King, writes this statement, “What of the end of all this? Is this grand automation really dead, or does a heart, young and still untouched, lurk-strong, free and dangerous-in that quiet, unmoved and stately figure.” (King 40) Anna heart is not in love with Mr. Gordon and remains close to any emotions he has for her. Anna stands her ground to her mother.
However, she falls for James when he is a graduate professor at Harvard. Her dreams and goals a put on hold when she finds out that she is pregnant. Her and James get married and move to Ohio, where he accepts a job as a professor. Also, she loses contact with her mother because her mother was not accepting of their interracial marriage. The choice of the all knowing third person leads the reader to think that she gave up her life to have a family. Except in the 1960’s that was the norm to become a stay at home-wife, although Marilyn liked going against the norm. Another interesting part of the book is that is seems as though she is pushing her dreams of being a doctor and her oldest daughter, Lydia Also, the narrator leads me to think that she gave up a lot for her happiness and maybe that is why is left her husband, but I have not reached that point
Eliza seems to have stood up for herself against Higgins and support Shaw's theory of Victorian women breaking the ideals of the housewife and child-rearer but once she is married to Freddy, or to anyone else, and starts a family she will have to go behind the scenes and keep the house and tend to her children. Pulling Eliza from the gutter and making her into a duchess revolves around a friendly bet between Higgins and Pickering. Eliza is passed off as a duchess but as the play draws to a close the bet is uncovered and Higgins and her squabble. The play ends ambiguously, we are told she is going to marry Freddy but their marriage is left up to the reader. However, it is with the understanding of Victorian ideals the reader can hypothesize what is going to happen once they are married; which is taking on the original roles of men and women in the Victorian era.
The depression that Madame Bovary, or Emma, falls subject to is caused by her marriage, which she finds to be dull and passion-less. She knows that her husband Charles loves her, but she does not feel that their marriage lives up to what she hoped it would. On page 52, the author states of Emma, "she could not think that the calm in which she lived was the happiness she had dreamed." Emma feels that her husband is not all that he should be, and resents the fact that he is so happy with her while she finds such fault with him. Emma "resented this easy calm, this serene hea...
Contrary to the stereotypical woman of the Victorian culture, both female characters Gwendolen and Cecily become instigators of love, from influencing the proposal to composing their own love letters from their lovers. Gwendolen affirms her forwardness in romantic matters when she exclaims to Jack who is hesitant about proposing, “I am afraid you have had very little experience in how to propose” (Powell, 132). Not only do the ladies have a skewed view of marriage and their responsibilities within that relationship, but the men do as well. Algernon says of proposals, “I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted” (Ericksen, 150). He clearly has a skewed view of marriage. When it comes to Lady Bracknell, her view of marriage is primarily concerned with money and sometimes concerned with social respectability. When questioning Jack about the potential of marrying Gwendolen, she focuses on typically irrelevant characteristics. Lady Bracknell says of Jack’s confession to his tendency to smoke, “I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind” (Greenblat, 539-540). She goes on to take interest in such things as his knowledge and education, finances, and family
Eliza does not want to continue being part of the high society and has to stay under Higgins watch but wants to return to where she came from (Berst 100).
As a lady herself, Jane was able to write amazing female characters that have agency in their own narratives. Besides the romantic aspects of the plots, Jane’s heroines often have their own goals or undergo personal growth outside of finding a husband. For instance, in Emma, the title character begins the story as a good-hearted, but spoiled know-it-all. However, through lessons from the various friendships she makes during the book, she learns to become a more considerate and truly generous