For my final essay I will focus on understanding Roxana’s character in Daniel Defoe’s novel Roxana and her relationship with her daughter Susan. We saw how an unfortunate event early on in life made her life change course to where money and social status were more important than her children and reputation. Throughout the novel we saw her abandon her children, use her sexuality and beauty to become the mistress of powerful men and men from whom she can benefit financially. It isn’t until Roxana is much older does she gain interest in her children’s whereabouts.

My main interest and question is why Roxana chose not to tell Susan she was her biological mother. Roxana loved all her children dearly before she had to part ways with them; she made sure they were in a safe place where they would be taken care of. When Roxana does find Susan, she realizes she is a servant girl in her own home and does everything possible to try to help her. My argument will focus on Roxana and why her life choices deterred her from exposing her true identity to Susan.

I chose this topic because this decision by Roxana changed the course of Defoe’s novel. The ending of Roxana was all due to Susan seeking the truth from Roxana. Roxana went as far as to move to another country just to hide her secret and even took a chance of Amy murdering her. We saw time and time again how Amy was willing to commit murder in order to keep their secret from being exposed. Roxana was absolutely against this and even damned Amy and stopped speaking to her for a period of time. This showed that Roxana loved her daughter, wanted what was best for and wanted to keep her safe. I want to answer if Roxana loved her daughter so much, why would she not tell her the truth, especially if not telling her would bring worse results.

I’ll analyze women’s role in the 18^th century and what Roxana’s life choices would have meant for her during that time. I’ll seek to understand how her vices could have forced her to be selfish with her children. Society’s perception was important and we need to understand how society’s role played a part in Roxana’s decision. Why was it acceptable for her to be the mistress of a Prince and then not acceptable when she was married with the Merchant? What was it about being the mistress that danced the Turkish dance that was so shameful to Roxana? What about her life was so disgraceful that she would take a chance on her daughter being murdered? Roxana’s mental health should also be evaluated because she began to be paranoid where she believed people were following and spying on her to find out her real identity. These are all factors what can point us to answer why Roxana could not give her confession to her daughter.

In our final essay, I will be focusing on Samuel Richardson’s Pamela. In my opinion, it was the most interesting novel that we’ve read this semester, as well as the easiest to get through. In the novel, there is an obvious distinction between the roles of the main characters, Pamela and Mr.B. However, while they obviously have very different roles, perhaps even opposite ones, I do not think it is actually so obvious what those roles are. Although it may seem that Pamela and Mr.B adopt the traditional female and male gender roles, respectively, that is not actually the case. Their roles, in regard to gender, are actually switched; with Pamela taking on a traditionally male role and Mr.B taking on a traditionally female one.

Earlier in the semester while discussing Pamela, the importance of gender roles in the novel was brought up in class. Our discussion was mostly about how Pamela and Mr.B fulfill the traditional dominant male and submissive female tropes, respectively. However, the in class discussion led me to think deeper about the relationship between them and who actually fills which role. It seemed to me that it could be argued that Pamela plays the role of the traditional male and Mr.B fills the role of the traditional female, based on the gender expectations and stereotypes at the time of the novel being written. For example, Pamela is the one who must remain strong and virtuous while rebuking Mr.B’s advances, while Mr.B is the one who lets himself be controlled by his desire for Pamela. Traditionally, women are the ones who are seen as emotional and abandon logic to sate their desires while men are seen as the more level-headed ones.

Another thought that occurred to me is that the relationship between Pamela and Mr.B somewhat models the biblical tale of “Adam & Eve” and “The Fall of Man”. In the tale, Eve is the one who gives into temptation, in her case curiosity, and draws Adam into her downfall. This is similar to how Mr.B gives into temptation, in his case desire, and eventually draws Pamela into it which diminishes the status of her morals and virtue. I think that this could be an interesting comparison to expand on, especially because of the presence and importance of religion and morality in the novel.

In this essay I plan to analyze the relationship between Pamela and Mr.B and how the roles they play, in relation to gender, is unconventional. I will use evidence from the text, and possibly also from secondary sources to further my argument and make my points even clearer.

For my paper, I wanted to evaluate whether Horace un/intentionally channeled the writing style of Sophocles. In Horace’s Castle of Otranto, tragedy is the first theme that appears in the gothic novel. The first major event in the novel lead to everyones eventual fate (a theme that Sophocles greatly stresses in Oedipus Rex).

In The Castle of Otranto, the “prophecy” is similar to the prophecy in Sophocles’s “Oedipus Rex” in which they both challenge characters to protect their position in the castle or of higher power. The prophecy sends its “beholders” on a protection rage where they would do anything to avoid this prophecy from coming true. The action of them trying to protect their future is in fact what leads them to their  own  undoing. With just this bit information, I seek to establish a relationship between the ideals of Gothic/Romantic novels and Tragedy as a genre. Horace fails to mention that not only does he “creates” this new gothic novel by redefining romance novels, but that he also uses the concept of tragedy, fate and sight/blindness to create this new genre. While I was reading this novel, every page I read somewhat screamed to me “Sophocles”, “tragedy”, “comedy” so I decided to question whether or not this novel is just an upgrade to Sophocles greatest works. (I would include comedy depending on whether or not I include Shakespeare’s reference in the preface of Horace’s novel)

The terror in Horace’s work could be a direct comparison to tragedy, for terror stems from tragic events and etc.

I seem to get stuck trying to find a proper way to provide evidence for this idea. I feel the problem stems from not having a clear question or that I might be misunderstanding the assignment as a whole.

Some background information:

Tragedy: is a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in audiences. (Wiki)

Fate is a theme that often occurs in Greek writing, tragedies in particular. The idea that attempting to avoid an oracle is the very thing which brings it about is a common motif in many Greek myths, and similarities to Oedipus can for example be seen in the myth of the birth of Perseus. (Wiki)

My final essay will try to unmask the true face of Pamela Andrews. The question that is continuously coming up to my mind is the following. Is Pamela Andrews truly virtuous or a convincing hypocrite?

Pamela regards her virtue very highly, but there are many understatements in her behavior when it comes to her relation with Mr. B. From one side as the title says virtue rewarded, reader could say that she is really a pure person without any sins, but then there is the other side when you take a closer look up that may seems that Pamela  is simply playing around and hiding her true personality. She seems to be really virtuous young woman that was thought very well about being righteous by her parents. Maybe church and what family will say are the most important and she values that the most. Then there is a question if she really just acted out virtuous and she wasn’t like that at all? Would she get to the place where she ended at the end of the book? Would she get married with Mr. B? If she was so easy at the beginning and let her master do whatever he wanted with her he might just get bored and live her alone. She would be just one of many mistresses that he’s ever had. So this is a topic that has to be closely analyzed.

The other book that will help me to analyze my problem is the publication of Shamela. After Pamela’s book came out, Henry Fielding published Shamela which was a parody of Richardson’s novel. Fielding believed that Pamela didn’t resist her master’s attempts because of fear, morals and virtue, but because she thought she might get more out of him if she’ll play hard to get.

In the end what’s the truth about Pamela? Is she a real example of virtuous young lady or is she just plotting a plan of seduction of the prince? Is she just a hypocrite? We’ll see the result after I’ll try to analyze each case separately.

The novel that is being analyzed is Roxana by Daniel Defoe. The question that is being asked is, how does Defoe show the reader that Roxana goes from needing help economically to becoming economically independent and does not need to depend on others. As a reader, reading this novel quickly made me believe that Roxana was a woman who depended on people with money. The people in the novel that I believed were people that she depended on were, the landlord, the prince and the Dutch merchant. The landlord saved Roxana during a low period of her life and brought Roxana out of poverty. The prince spoiled Roxana from the time the prince met Roxana to the time where they both went their separate ways. The Dutch Merchant had money and had a “great Reputation for a Man of Substance, and of Honesty.” All three men had a relationship with Roxana and reading the novel quickly the reader would believe that Roxana depended on these three men to become economically stable. But after Roxana ends her time with the prince, Roxana starts to go on her journey of economic independence. Roxana becomes wealthy thanks to the jeweler and the prince but now Roxana does not have to think about being economically stable. Roxana now wants to accumulate her wealth even more instead of just needing it to survive.

Focusing on the other half of the book (post departure from the prince), Roxana has a determination to become economically independent. For example, Roxana declines the Dutch Merchants marriage proposal. Roxana states, “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 indeed, a meer Woman ever after, that is to say, a slave.” This quote is telling the reader that agreeing to the marriage contract Roxana would lose everything she owned. It would not be Roxana’s money or items anymore, it would be under Roxana’s husbands. Afterwards Roxana herself would be under the authority of her husband and lose all her freedom. This is very different from the beginning of the novel where Roxana was in poverty and when the landlord came around she let him do whatever to take Roxana out of poverty.

I chose this topic because of the title of the novel. The title of the novel has the words “The Fortunate Mistress” in it. When I thought of mistress, I had negative thoughts about Roxana. During the time when Roxana was the prince’s mistress I felt that the story was going to be over and I would have to listen to Roxana’s thoughts about being a mistress to a prince. But it was not. Seeing Roxana change into an independent woman financially, was something I was not expecting. My thoughts of Roxana changed at the end of the book after analyzing the novel carefully.

My essay will revolve around the ideals that lie behind female identity in the 18^th century and how it is constructed by society’s expectations of women of different social classes. One underlying, yet sometimes primary theme that we continue to see in each of the novels we’ve read this semester is that of the woman’s place in the 18^th century. This “place”, which differs so vastly from that which exists today, is one centered on oppressive men in positions of power who, often by means of social normality, use their privileges in the eyes of society to take advantage of women. The primary idea in my essay will be feature the societal powers that exist to oppress women in this century and maintain power with the white males.

My argument will revolve primarily around Roxana, which presents us with the narrative of a woman who is born into this oppressive state but is able to escape it and attain individuality in a world that is so fixed on keeping her from doing so. It is important to note though, that although she is able to accomplish so much on her own, in the end she still finds herself yearning for the support of a man, reminding the reader of the need for intersexual support.

Roxana’s narrative shows us the ideals that different social classes hold on the female sexuality, as well as their role in the world. Throughout her story, we see Roxana being introduced to increasingly more complex sections of society. As we venture through her narrative, we get to see as Roxana meets women of different social classes, learning something from each and providing us with a window into each their lives. Their lives, however different they may be from one another’s, all feature one conjoining trait; they all live under the thumb of some male authority. From the family relative who is forced by her husband to help Roxana’s children in the beginning of the novel, to the wealthy prince’s wife, who must endure the emotional punishment of being the wife of an unfaithful man; most, if not all of the women Roxana encounters must live through the social norms that she has escaped.

I will also use Pamela’s narrative to show just how strongly these ideals are enforced and expected to be followed. Since Pamela’s virtue is seemingly unprecedented in her social class, I believe her story shines a light on key aspects of the many societal believes that shape a woman’s sexual behavior in the 18^th century, and how they vary from one class to another.

Further, I will delve into the hypocrisy of the societal expectations that are placed on women during this era. Here, I will highlight the passages in Roxana that show us the ruling classes comporting themselves in the unvirtuous ways that they would expect the lower classes to behave. From sex parties in lavish homes, to the all-right mistreatment of women, the higher classes portrayed in Roxana often seem to inhabit less virtuous behaviors than the lower classes. Pamela’s narrative will also be used to enforce this point, as the antagonist throughout her story is a member of the ruling class who is relentless on taking her virtue.

I will conclude my essay with a daring perspective on the power that literature and other works of art have on the social constructs of the times. This power, which can be used for both good and evil, will be examined as I conclude my essay, tying together all of the points examined throughout the essay.

For my final essay, I will be focusing on the 18th century concept of romance (i.e. unrealistic or exaggerated events). I am interested in exploring the 18th century definition of romance as I have noticed that many of the novels discussed in class this semester have contained a plethora of improbable events. Of all the novels I have read this semester, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole contains the most mythical and exaggerated events. By analyzing romance as it relates to this particular novel, I aim to answer the question of whether or not romance helps readers better understand a story’s underlying meaning. Based on my reading of The Castle of Otranto, I consider romance an effective way for writers to convey to readers a story’s true meaning and lessons. The reason why romantic elements, or exaggerated events, help readers better understand the key takeaways of a story is because they grab readers’ attention. Furthermore, the more frequent unlikely events occur in a story, the more likely readers are to find a connection between them and therefore understand how they contribute to the story’s overall meaning. If an event is ordinary and happens only once or very few times in a story, the less likely readers are to notice it or assess its meaning.

From the very beginning of The Castle of Otranto, there are several unlikely events that unfold throughout the novel that grab the attention of readers. The very first and arguably the most pivotal event in the novel is when Prince Manfred’s son, Conrad, dies on his wedding day due to a massive helmet falling on him. This particular event sets into motion other improbable and major events in the story, such as Manfred mistakenly stabbing and killing his daughter, Matilda, because he thinks she is Isabella. Throughout my essay, I will analyze these romantic events and how they are connected to each other to solidify my argument that the more ridiculous events that happen in a story, the more likely readers are to pay attention to them and understand what they mean in the context of the overall story.

To further strengthen my argument that romance is a great literary technique for writers to highlight a story’s underlying meaning, I will include Clara Reeve’s counterargument in the preface to The Old English Baron. Reeve argues that overly exaggerated and unlikely events distract readers from grasping a story’s meaning and lessons. Reeve’s point is valid in that many of the events throughout The Castle of Otranto are so ridiculous and improbable that readers may find themselves laughing at or being confused by them rather than analyzing their meaning, like when Conrad has a massive helmet fall on him. However, one of the key benefits of romantic or outrageous events is that they grab readers’ attention, whether it be negatively (i.e. they mock the event) or positively (i.e. they take time to pause and analyze how the event fits into the overall story). Grabbing the attention of readers through extraordinary events provides a better chance of them pausing to analyze their meaning, rather than presenting readers with ordinary events which they are more likely to skim over. With this logic in mind, romance is a great way of highlighting a story’s true meaning.

For my final paper I decided to write about the fictional autobiography “Roxana” by Daniel Defoe and the biography “Pamela” by Samuel Richardson. What’s interesting about writing this novel “Roxana” again for my final paper is because of her maid Amy, whether or not she is an actually person or Roxana herself, the fact that she did play a servant role. Which is even more significant on how a servant character, becomes one of the important character in the novel and she is the reason that makes this book interesting to read. I find Amy and Pamela to be very similar but also different too. Pamela, who is also a servant that write letters to her parent about her master and her living style. Both Amy and Pamela, they’re fighting as feminist give them anxiety and that anxiety made their determinate to succeed. By offering a close reading in which I will compare and contrast Defoe’s and Richardson’s novel. As we can see, social class is one of the theme for the two novels, but my meaning of “succeed” is not to show whether if the two servant start from poor and become rich. But explaining what makes them a successful character that keeps this novel going because they both have things that they want to protect. For instance, Defoe’s novel Amy, the scene when Roxana puts her in bed with the landlord. Although Amy did say she will scarify anything for her, but under no circumstances Roxana took the action herself without Amy’s permission, so that Roxana won’t feel guilty in mistress when Amy is not virgin anymore. Additionally, when Amy mention that she will murder Susan Roxana’s daughter, so that no one will know her secret except Amy. Similar to Pamela, when her master Mr. B often will secretly come to her room while she is writing to her parent and becomes sexuality active toward her, but she will fight against him to protect herself towards her belief of defending her virginity until her marriage. Roxana’s maid Amy, where they’re relationship goes above and beyond a servant or a friendship even when she gets betrayed, Amy is constantly committed to her. While in Pamela, she rather suffer from injury and scarify anything to protect herself as being virtue. In both novels, Amy and Pamela are not only female servant, but their action goes beyond their social role to represents the eighteen century. Additionally, both novel is written in a first person narrator, where the reader doesn’t know if the character is telling the truth about their situation or not because they were not able to hear from other characters as well. However, at the end of the novel we see that Pamela married to Mr. B but Amy is mysteriously gone leaving the mystery if she had murder Roxana’s daughter or not. Even though Amy didn’t end with a happy ending but throughout the novel she had lead the reader to uncover these mysteries about Roxana which is what this novel is about and that is what makes her a successful character.

[I found this image on Wikipedia, an image of the Battle at Torbay, during the Glorious Revolution. This picture depicts the events leading up to, and occurring in Tristram’s life. The picture is dark and gloomy, and the waters are raging, this can be compared to the disastrous events of Tristrams life.]

After reading the first volume of Tristram Shandy, Sterne wants the readers to understand the severity of his misfortunes, and why Tristram keeps reiterating the importance the series of unfortunate events leading to is conception and following him through his entire life. In Volume I, Tristram explains the actions of his parents during his conception, and describes the importance the circumstances have on who he would become. He describes that his life didn’t have much potential because during his conception his parents weren’t even focused on the act of sexual intercourse. They were more concerned with the routine of winding the clock, which would usually occur consistently before the act of intercourse on Sundays. In Chapter V, Tristram reveals the date of his birth as November 5, 1718. He even expresses that his date of birth was a horrible one, because of the series of other prominent events that happened that day in England. Sterne’s footnote explains that this date has a negative significant meaning because of two reasons. The first reason is that it is the day that the Gunpowder Plot took place in 1605. Guy Fawkes, plotted to blow up the first of the Stuart Kings of England, James I, because he was intolerant of Catholics. He has ordered all Catholic priests to leave England. Amidst storing gunpowder in a house next door, Guy Fawkes and his entourage were caught. This day is celebrated by a bonfire, in which the people of England celebrate the failed attempt on King James I death. Tristram is using the reference to describe the severity of bad luck following his conception to his birth and thereafter. For Tristram to be born on a date where such a heinous crime was planned to be committed towards the leader of his country, is yet another sign of the outcome of his life; and the reason he feels he needs to explain how disastrous his life has turned out. Also in November of 1688, according to the footnote, the Glorious Revolution took place, in which William of Orange landed in Torbay and overthrew King James II of England. This is yet another day signifying the demise of the English government. In reading these footnotes, the readers understand early in the novel the tone of Tristram’s storytelling.  Sterne portrays Tristram’s self-pity, and Tristram is very accepting of his unsuccessful destiny. The circumstances during his conception, cause Tristram to give up hope that he would ever amount to anything in life; despite having a resourceful family, holding the Shandy name. The repetition, of the causes, of what Tristram refers to as his misfortunes, show that that is a main theme of the book. The extreme references in the beginning of the novel to his date of birth, help the reader better understand the severity of events that happen throughout the novel. Tristram describes that these events are directly a result of the circumstances of his conception and birth. The confusion of Tristram’s method of storytelling, make it important for readers to remember this theme while reading the novel. While his method of storytelling may seem random and unorganized to readers, it is crucial to read the footnotes to see the importance of certain references he makes. In reading the novel further, readers can better understand the plot. Keeping in mind that Tristram’s main focus is to reiterate the unfortunate circumstances that have caused his life to be a less than desirable one.  

Sources:

“The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 – History Learning Site.” History Learning Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2016. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/stuart-england/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/>

“Guy Fawkes Night.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night>

“Glorious Revolution.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Revolution>

In the very first page in this book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman which is chapter 1 and page 1, the narrator, Tristram Shandy, describes the moment that his parents were having sex. During that moment, his mother interrupted his father because he did not wind up the clock, which was the signal of having sex. On the movie ‘Cock and Bull Story’ also has this scene and Tristram Shandy thinks that every bad and unfortunate thing is already made before he was born.

Tristram says about ‘animal spirits, as how they are transfused from father to son’. (5) I think that Tristram thinks that because of his mother’s interruption made his father’s emotion was not happy and that unhappiness was transfused to his son during the production of Tristram Shandy. In the foot note, it says that stern draws principally on John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding which had great influence on eighteenth century epistemology, or the theory of knowledge, however, the explanation on foot note about ‘animal sprits’ are much different with Tristram’s use of that word which is just saying his parents’ unhappiness passed to unborn (even unmade I think) Tristram and unexpected happening (because his father did not wind up the clock) has effect on his future life. The foot note says “though it remains uncertain whether Sterne had really studied the Essay, or was simply familiar with some of its principal ideas” (542) and I think that the author Laurence Sterne used theory as his own interpretation of that.

work citation:

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