Roxana’s life of fortunate misadventures is an absolute contrast to the typical life of a woman in the 18^th Century. A series of events forged her new mentality on how she would life her life. She broke the mold of a woman’s place in society.  She used her sexuality in order retain and gain fortune and wealth.  What is truly amazing is how she used sexual favors and affairs in order to gain a higher social status. It is quite ironic since sex workers were considered very low on the social ladder, but Roxana’s mentality and fortunate events led her into a mine field of aristocrats with deep pockets.

Furthermore Roxana did not desire the authority of men but desired wealth and notoriety that they may provide. This isn’t as obvious while reading the novel since in every situation the men are chasing her for sex and pleasure. Roxana seems to be getting luckier and luckier as she becomes a mistress to a long list of men over and over again. Do not be fooled Roxana is a first person retrospective; according to her of course the men came onto her. I will explore this allegation that there may be lies in Roxana’s claims.

Another point that I will make in this paper is that Roxana is a feminist which was not a popular idea or lifestyle of this time. She became one with her sexuality and really opened up a new world of opportunities that were not every possible before.  She was the author and authority of her life and choices she made.

As a child I owned a hobby-horse that my father bought me for Christmas in the year of 1995. I remember the racket the springs made as I imagined I was a sheriff chasing down the railroad bandits. I was obsessed and played on the horse every day. The noise would drive my parents crazy, but they knew that was what I did every day. A child with a wild imagination such as myself became one with my made up characters during play time, in my mind I was that cowboy sheriff every minute of every day. When Tristram speaks about toby and hobby-horses in his retrospect narrative, he identifies them as two things in one, a pair. “A man and his HOBBY-HORSE, tho’ I cannot say that they act and re-act exactly after the same manner in which the soul and body do upon each other: Yet doubtless there is a communication between them of some kind … so that if you are able to give but a clear description of the nature of the one, you may form a pretty exact notion of the genius and character of the other” (Sterne, 61). These hobby-horses are what define characters in this novel, for instance in Tristram’s example of Uncle Toby. He is totally obsessed with re-enacting the battle where his manhood was fatally wounded. Toby has gone so deep into war fortifications that it has become who he is and what he is known for. Psychologically there is a link between this life changing event where he lost his penis and who it has made him become, but nonetheless it is his identity. There is also the example of Walter Shandy who has his own Hobby-horse throughout the text but essentially his is planning and arguing. There are an abundance of examples throughout the text reflecting this characteristic of Mr. Shandy, it’s referenced as a characteristic because it is a part of his being, not just a mood or passing behavior. His contract with his wife over the location of the delivery of his son was quite odd. It was of such importance that he may have his way, and have his way planned out on a legal form. This may sound ridiculous to one but again this is Mr. Shandy’s Hobby-horse and his identity. This footnote is originally found on page ten, but it is a reoccurring topic throughout volume 1 thus cannot be fully assessed from just one reference. In this primary reference Tristram is essentially establishing is that a person may have a hobby-horse and it is totally acceptable “so long as a man rides his HOBBY-HORSE peaceably and quietly along the king’s highway, and neither compels you or me to get up behind him” (Sterne, 10) This statement is upheld later in the novel because a major theme is the acceptance of who someone really is; the acceptance of a person and their hobby horse as one. All of Mr. Shandy’s desires in life for his son Tristram will not shape or create the person who he is suppose to be but rather Tristam finds who he is despite his father intentions and rides his own hobby horse.

Works Cited

Sterne, Laurence, and Ian Campbell. Ross. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.

This is very similar to the hobby horse that I used to play as a child. I found this on Ebay.com for sale….It is tempting but I’m sure I’ll break it.

Why so serious?

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole is considered a work of camp by Clara Reeve. She argues that the degree of exaggeration is intended to please the reader comically rather than be taken at face value. “a man shall admire and almost adore the epic poems of the ancients” (Reeves 1) Stories of exaggeration are not a strange concept to human, there has been tall-tails since the ancient times. What Walpole does is completely change the idea of a novel during his time and make something new. The Gothic novel starts off with the perfect example “he beheld his child dashed to pieces, and almost buried under an enormous helmet” (Walpole 7). Obviously an event like this most likely could ever happen, an enormous helmet falling out of the sky and killing the groom is funny since he was about to start his new life with another. Walpole uses this supernatural event to grab the reader from the beginning. It was not meant to question whether if this could be even possible but rather it provides Walpole the platform to introduce the over-the-top supernatural element. This imaginative part of the novel is what intrigues the reader since the book is now combining the supernatural with romance. Combining the supernatural in a novel with romantic events and Gothic culture would be different to the status-quo during its release, thus making it different and almost a parody of how serious novels where at this time.

I choose this because the joker has a sense of humor which differs from everyone else and this is what Walpole accomplished in his The Castle of Otranto.

I found the image on the internet