My October 27th presentation- Henry Fielding’s Career

On October 27th 2009, I gave a presentation of the life and times of Henry Fielding. During the 18th Century, he was renowned for his satirical writings and witty commentary of society, social classes, the government, etc.

Despite having studied law and the classics, Fielding began his career as a playwright. His play Tom Thumb is an interesting tragicomedy which mixes farce with tragic elements. Some of his earliest works were praised or villified by critics for their supposed “vulgarity.” For example, the play Rape upon Rape and The Vision of The Golden Rump were both condemned as attacks on morality. However, the former is a critique of the judical system and human rights (in essence, a “rape” of the legal system), and the latter is a satiric parody of the government, which raised the ire of then-Prime Minister Robert Walpole. As a result, the Theatrical Licensing Act was created in 1737 that censored playwrights and their works. Fielding returned to his law profession as a barrister to provide for his family.

Fielding’s novels Tom Jones, Joseph Andrews, and Shamela are satirical commentaries on society that focus on the external rather than internal. They concern topics such as social positions, divisions of class, prostitution, and promiscuity. Joseph Andrews is a spin-off of Samuel Johnson’s Pamela, and Shamela is a “more serious” retelling of Pamela that portrays the title character as a devious, manipulative vixen. Unlike Johnson, Fielding is more concerned with the social issues that affected society.

 

Female Writers among Female Writers- Radcliffe and Austen

It is interesting that many writers who came to prominence during the Enlightenment were women, and their works are very different yet very realistic in how they capture society in the 17th-18th Centuries. Ellen Moer’s introduction of “Female Gothic” work to adjust the understanding and value of particular texts, and it helps re-humanize the characters, etc.

Anne Radcliffe suggests that propriety is beyond the rules of behaviour. There is a clear distinction of rules and inner morality/self-worth. For example, in The Mysteries of Udolpho, she puts her female protagonist in a variety of troubling situations, but she manages to come through with her moral values intact.  Radcliffe also shows a rather harsh view of religion. Emily and her father are fascinated by religious symbols, but they display few signs of religious devotion (the Church in the field). They may not be particularly attuned to nature, but it could be a Protestant notion of Catholic symbols and representations as idolatry.

Interesting, Jane Austen did not have a fond view of the Female Gothic style and of her female contemporaries. Regarded as one of the greatest writers, social critics, and humorists, Austen focused on themes of religion, family, morality, and the sense of self. These themes are most evident in her novels Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. She dismissed Udolpho as being ridiculous, and she stated that the Female Gothic was “formulaic”, “poorly-written”, and “pure fodder.” In Pride and Prejudice, the main themes are pride and prejudice, how they affect society, women in society, and the inequalities between females and males.

It opens up the reader to have an emotional response, which is also an intellectual response. Radcliffe has Emily go from one place to another during the course of the narrative. The religion and gender aspects of the novel come together in a notion of propriety and superstition, and it is all resolved by the end of the novel. Parodic and serious Gothic themes are very different. In Udolpho, we have the father element playing in after he dies when Emily is left remembering the things he taught her. While looking at a firefly, he gets irritated with her. The emotional response to things of the 18^th Century was that it was through emotions and empathy that people are good. Through feeling their pain, you can’t be bad.

The Clash of World Views and Ideals in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

In Charlotte Bronte’s 1847 Gothic novel Jane Eyre, there is a series of ideals, morals, and beliefs exposed to the title character, and she ends up having to find a middle ground on which she can function.  These include finding a middle ground between religious belief and mortal happiness, finding the ability to assert herself in a male-dominated society, etc.

Religion is one of the ideals that Jane must contend with in the novel. During her school days at Lowood, she is humiliated by the hypocritical, Puritan headmaster and clergyman Mr. Brocklehurst, but she is able to be cleared of any wrongdoing and Brocklehurst is exposed for his cruelty. Years later, Jane is reduced to begging, and she is saved by a Christian clergyman named St. John Rivers, who is soon revealed to be her cousin. St. John remains committed to his Calvinist learnings, while coming off as reserved and simple-minded in his Christian devotion. Feeling that God is calling him to become a missionary, he asks Jane to marry him and join him in India, but although wanting to go, she rejects his proposal on the grounds that his logic and reason are not right for her passions. Despite being exposed to variations of religion, Jane manages to find a common ground through which she is able to subside her passions without suppressing her true self. 

Jane also has to deal with the gender politics of her era and to assert herself in society, because different men try to subordinate her. In Chapter XII, Bronte writes that women “suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation” in life. In school, her friend Helen has complete trust in God and always turns the other cheek towards those who abuse her. After she dies of typhus in Jane’ s arms, Jane expresses admiration for her faith and good nature, but she cannot bring herself to be like Helen. When Jane becomes employed by the wealthy Edward Rochester, she finds herself falling in love with him, but he ends up marrying the mentally unstable Bertha Mason. However, Rochester does offer her the chance to become his mistress. Although she loves him, she refuses to compromise her moral princiles and rejects his offer. It is not until the end of the novel when they meet again after Bertha committs suicide. Jane finally agrees to marry him but only if she will be his equal.

Throughout the novel, Jane struggles to find a way to assert herself and religion, all the while staying devoted to her moral values. She is exposed to three extremes of religion but manages to have faith without suppressing herself. In regards to gender roles, she manages to escape the confines of Brocklehurst and rejects St. John’s strict religious devotion. Even though she is obedient and loves Rochester, there is a shift is aesthetics. She mirrors the narrative to romanticism in an interesting way by only marrying Rochester after ensuring that it will be a marriage of equality. That collison of ideals and beliefs is evident in this novel.

Female Gothicism- Women writers, their characters, and Feminist critical theory

Female Gothicism came in the late 18^th Century. It gave writers and readers to describe terrifying experiences. It was a label for the macabre, supernatural, and terrifying. Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, and Mary Wollstonecraft are some Gothic writers. Others are Lord Byron and Robert Walpole. Female Gothic is categorized by female authors as meaning that the Gothic texts “rescue” the female author. It plays out in plot, characters, meaning, or moral and theory. Ellen Moers coined the term Female Gothic.

Female Gothic literature tended to be labelled as erotica, childish fiction, or trash by several male critics or writers. However, others say that it links feminism to literature. It can be placed as a sub genre of Gothic literature focusing on female writers, their works, and the theory to gothic texts. Frankenstein was the most original by dramatizing dangerous oppositions through the struggle of a creator and a creation. Mary Shelley produced a test testifying to a female experience, because Victor has anxieties and fears as the creator of “the Creature.” It is important to note that Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died as a result of childbirth, and Shelley herself miscarried a child and was often bedridden. Interestingly, there are several passages in Frankenstein where the title character falls into a swoon due to stress or sickness. Her mother’s famous A Vindication of the Rights of Woman inserts an analysis of the relations between the sexes into a revolutionary attack on hereditary birthright, wealth, rank, and gender concepts. With her initiating this discourse, texts like Udolpho might not have been possible.

As explored in The Mysteries of Udolpho, it is too easy to look at propriety, because behaving properly would ensure your future in life. To keep your reputation, women depended upon propriety. It was a defensive thing. The notion of it being a positive thing also meant to own your own self-image and rightness in the world. It was about moral strength and pleasure one takes in creating their persona. The protagonist Emily would act without propriety behind a lock door. That is just how she is deep down.What propriety she has begins to shift at the ball at which she sees Valancourt. This is a perfect example of her wanting to live up to society’s expectations. To refuse an offer to dance and accept another one would be considered rude.

When she has been kidnapped and imprisoned, Emily is faced with a dilemma: Is it better to stay kidnapped by her abductors or to do an unladylike thing like climbing out the window? Emily is quite assertive and resourceful. Radcliffe suggests that propriety is beyond the rules of behaviour. There is a clear distinction of rules and inner morality/self-worth. Radcliffe was conservative, but she is not putting forward a Wollstonecraft-type notion of rebellion. She puts a young woman in a lot of lurid situations, but the protagonist manages to come out alright. On Emily’s part, there is a sense of empowerment, and she is not afraid to call someout out for their wrondoing. It does not all have to be progressive. The way Radcliffe creates Emily as a character is vastly different from the Wollstonecraft notion of women.

She gets taken away from her guardian and is forced to escape. It shows quick-thinking and intelligence. Even Pamela was presented as a paragon- she goes on about duty and obedience but will not stop to call out her husband. Strangely, Emily does not bemoan her predicaments, such as her father’s death, her being shifted to different places, and her abduction.

The Female Gothic is a culmination of the literary progress through the ages. Gothic themes placed the Gothic at the center of the female tradition.  Those sorts of things we would call “female traits” was regarded as a mark of sophistication for men to have such responses. The Romantic Poets are mostly males. There were a lot of female writers during this era, but through Emily, Radcliffe shows a notion of sensibility.

 

Gothicism- A Genre that Focuses on Emotion and Character

At the mention of the word “Gothicism”, we tend to picture the same thing: creepy castles, spooky characters, haunting moments, etc. Aside from that, Gothic literature explores several themes like family problems, curses, murder, mystery, and psychological problems are recurring themes.

Gothic literature realized on characters for artistic identity. A dashing hero, a heroine, and an antagonist that is an evil force of nature. There was a concept of Enlightenment versus monstrosity: monsters were a result to a neo-classical aesthetic devoted to the notions of conformity. Gothic was moulded by the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. The latter was a very violent time that could have contributed to the dark subject matter. The Gothic genre shares traits with romantic literature, such as developing the romance of characters and the growth of them as individuals.

Yes, it is true that several Gothic classics such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus used supernatural elements as forces of evil (the Count) or nature (the unnamed Creature struggling with its birth, sense of self, and neglectful creator). However, these were to explore human themes of life, death, . In Dracula, the themes include repressed sexuality (since sexual aggression, especially that of females, in Victorian England was seen as dangerous), Christian salvation, modern science, superstition, etc.  As portrayed in Shelley’s text, the Monster represents the question of what is humanity, the dangers of seeking things men were not meant to know, etc. It is also important to note that the supernatural forces were used in Gothic works as a means of representing the conflicts faced by Man.

Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) is one of the most interesting Gothic novels, because it gives a view into existentialism themes and life and death. The protagonist is a young heroine named Emily St. Albert who is fascinated with nature and life, but she is far from the stereotypical image of a “damsel in distress” that needs to be rescued. In addition, the plot concerns her misfortunes, travels, and conflicts with others who try to weasel her wealth from her. It is interesting that while she falls in love with a young man Valancourt whom might seem to be her rescuer, but as the novel plays out, Emily ends up saving herself. There are no supernatural forces of evil working against her; it is her cold, distant Aunt Cheron, her greedy new uncle Montoni, and her kidnappers. What supernatural elements do appear in the novel are demystified and logically explained by the end of the story.

Overall, Gothicism is not a “horror genre” per say. It is actually full of humanist themes of life, death, love, emotion, etc. The monsters featured in several of these stories represented forces of nature or certain fears that people shared during that time. However, it is fair to say that Gothic elements do exist in the works of modern day writers such as Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

The Age of Satire- the witticisms of the 18th Century

What is satire exactly? From the Latin satura lanx, meaning “medley, dish of colourful fruits.” William Thrall in A Handbook to Literature says it is a “literary manner that blends a critical attitude with humor and wit to the end that human institutions or humanity may be improved.”

Examples of satire date as far back as the second millennium BC, but satire is usually seen as a product of Greco-Roman culture. Horatian was named for Roman satirist named Horace. His tone was critical yet playful and relatively mild, often sympathetic. He used tactics of wit and humour. Juvenalian satire was named after Juvenal, another Roman satirist. His tone was darker, pessimistic, sometimes without humour. Often, his tactical approaches consisted of showing scorn, outrage, and sharpness.

It characterized a lot of texts. Writers weren’t writing as isolated artists, but they were involved in the community and felt a sense of morality or civic duty. There were huge rivalries fought over endless pages. Some famous examples included John Dryden (1631-1700) who wrote A Discourse concerning the Original and Progress of Satire (1693). Instead of calling someone an idiot, he demonstrates how absurd they are through words. “Had I ranted, I would have been called out”- very strategic on how you would say something. This shows how satire be used as a weapon.

Alexander Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock (1712) and The Dunciad (1728). He talks about women’s breasts as being “udders.” He doesn’t talk about female writers’ work, instead preferring to discuss her in a lewd manner. In turn, he was satirized as being caricatured as a monkey. Depicted as a pope monkey with a donkey, this symbolized the stubbornness and stupidity of animals. This was essentially a parody of a parodist.

Graphic Satire was focused on common topics like politics, manners, mores, fashion, etc. At the time, France was a thorn in the side of England, and it was believed that French influence was too strong. James Gillray parodied this as England being “Frenchified” and fed French influence. At the time, France had a notion of illicit sex. Literature played well into it, because amatory fiction originated in that country. French fashions could be attractive but seen as too risqué. Elaborate hairstyles were parodied by artists as being too high and heavy.

Satire was both used as a way of commenting on the elements of society and as a method of criticism of the problems affecting society by injecting it with humour and wit. It was to provide a social commentary on what was good and what could be improved.

Musings on Happiness in Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas

Throughout Samuel Johnson’s The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, the protagonist ventures from his home to learn what makes for a happy life. Rasselas asks several cross-cultural questions that could be considered common to human experience regardless of location. People are constrained in various ways with different life choices. It could have been anywhere instead of Abyssinia, but Johnson chose to set it there to remove it from the reader’s everyday reality.

There are a series of oppositions- Happy Valley and the outside world is discussed in Chapters 1-14, 14-49. Some never leave Happy Valley; they take the easy choice and never go through the tunnel or have the life they are expected. Johnson is talking about the people who want to go beyond that and crawl through the tunnel.

Throughout Chapters 1 to 47 (and at the end of 48), the choices of life and eternity are discussed. All the chapters show different kinds of lives as possible ways of being in this world. The characters all go their own ways in the end, but they decide that one can live his or her own life through finding happiness. Everyone chooses something different. There is no guaranteed happiness, but the only one that you can hope for is in Heaven. They do not overtly discuss God in the text, but their belief in the afterlife is underlying. The notion of God being around us showed there was a feeling of spirituality.

In the end, Rasselas has a satisfactory ending, because the characters come to an understanding that one must find his or her own happiness. Why is Johnson on this course? He is tweaking our expectations of the novel and critiquing things that he finds to be “wrong” with the novel as  a whole. Although the characters do not find the exact “definition of happiness” per say, they are left satisfied with the explanation of working to be happy and looking forward to the afterlife. It is as best as they can achieve on Earth.

On an interesting side note, the structure of Rasselas bears similiarities with that of Voltaire’s novella Candide, or Optimism. Both texts have a young man exploring to find the meaning of a concept (Candide- optimism, Rasselas- happiness). Each end with the characters left a bit more cynical and wiser from the experience, and they decide to make the best of all worlds while they can. However, the main difference is that Candide is more satirical in tone, and Rasselas is more serious and deeper in terms of philosophy.

Shamela- A satirical novel of the “true story” of Pamela Andrews

Say what you will about Shamela- that it’s long, tedious, repetitive, etc…. In my opinion, it was an interesting read. Yes, it is true that these kinds of stories are long, but that does not necessarily make it “boring” in any sense.

Written by Henry Fielding in 1741, Shamela purports to be “the true story” of Pamela Andrews, the title character of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela. Unlike the latter’s depiction of the protagonist as as a young girl of virtue and chastity, Pamela (whose real name is Shamela) is a scheming, manipulative young woman who plots to trap Squire Booby (the obvious “real name” for Richardson’s Mr. B) into a marriage. Like the original work that inspired it, Shamela is written in the form of various letters, but unlike Pamela, it is composed up of several characters’ points of view. This is different from Richardson’s novel, because we could only rely on the writings of a young girl.

Fielding is exposing us to the moral failures that he found in reading Pamela, and he does so through his use of satire. Richardson’s theme of a young girl’s chastity is a valuable commodity was played out through having Pamela resist the romantic seductions of “Mr. B.” In response, Fielding reverses the situation to have the heroine (if we can call her that) be the one making the moves on her master, and it seems appropriate for him to be called “Squire Booby,” since he is something of a boob. As an author, Fielding was more interested in showing the hypocrisy of society, social classes, and values rather than examing the internal conflicts or vices.

Overall, Shamela is worth taking a look at. It might appear to be long, but you can understand it after considering Fielding’s intent was to expose the moral failures and problems with society. Even the name Shamela (a sham) tells the reader that this novel is most definitely a parody of sorts. In fact, Fielding must have shown this when he published under the psuedonym Conny Keyber.

The Reading Revolution

The Reading Revolution was in force as a pursuit for the wealthy. There was an opposition to anything that took labourers from work, and reading labourers were thought to be a bad idea. It was required by law in England that all children attend school. For those of the labouring poor, the only way to be schooled was via charity or blue collar schools. Reading was taught initially around the age of five, which started with the Lord’s Prayer and the Bible. Children were taught to recognize letters and put them into words. Writing would come much later if it was vital to their education. Many people tended to be semi-literate, if not illiterate.

Alan Ramsay began a revolution by hiring out his books and selling him. A circulating library was what he created. Nestled amongst the shops, it was an unlikely sight. One could rent books for a fee and make them their own for a while. Without his idea, the public library may never have existed. By the 1740s, every town had a circulating library. Some felt that encouraging literacy was a bad idea. High minded moralists saw them as markets of titillation and botching readers’ minds, especially those of women. Women audiences could no longer be kept in the dark. It was previously believed that girls reading books would get a false sense of the world and their place in it.  Some well-to-do women could read, but most had been excluded from literary debates. Books gave women access to talking points, politics, scandals, etc. There were very few female authors and professors, because they were not encouraged to be intellectuals. It was their courage that gave way to feminism.

The novel is considered by many to be the triumph of the 18^th Century, because it could teach people about themselves. Some still saw it as frivolous and a danger. Colorless moral text readers could not compete with the novel, which allowed you to identify with characters. The hero or heroine was a fictional character in your world. Samuel Richardson’s Pamela was one of the first bestsellers. In one village, the parish church ran its bells when the title character was married. Novelists invited readers to explore society and themselves.  Previously, women could not go out and discuss literary works with others, but now, they started sharing experiences of reading.

Reading was for the few that could read, but the Reading Revolution changed all that by having the British become voracious readers.

Fantomina- A Really Important Piece of Amatory Fiction

Written by Eliza Haywood, Fantomina is one of the most popular works of amatory fiction. Amatory fiction tended to be written by women and very popular with female audiences. They were often political in nature, and they acted as a precursor to the novel and ancestor to romance novels.  It was a fiction of erotic intrigue; stories focused on love, usually sexual love and secular. This genre was popular in Britain in the late 17^th to early 18^th Centuries. They were influenced by Continental Romance tradition and French scandal fiction. Some of these stories are political satires due to parodying popular figures in government and society.

Whereas previous stories had vulnerable women as the “persecuted maiden,” Fantomina is the heroine of this story with ambition and wit. She is thrust into a difficult situation in which she resolves to win over Beauplaisir, the man she desires. However, as it transpires, Beauplaisir is not as smart or as deceptive as she is, because he thinks he is making love to different women every time. He is opportunistic, loose in terms of sex, and free-ranging, whereas she is truly in love with only him. That makes her more moral than he really is.

In regards to the idea of Fantomina being more moral than Beauplaisir, Haywood presents the notion that a woman’s emotions are more engaged than those of a man. She also suggests that men are less moral and more on emotion. Fantomina is still very female. At this time, women were beginning to explore their behaviours and sexuality. Whereas Fantomina is deceptive in presenting herself, Beauplaisir is more morally wrong than she is. Fantomina is rich and autonomous- travelling around to hire houses and disguise herself. She doesn’t have to account what she does to anybody, but when her mother returns, she is stripped of that autonomy and back under the parental thumb. When forced to confess her impending pregnancy to her mother, Fantomina hopes that Beauplaisir will defend her, but he does not do so.

The ending is somewhat downbeat; Fantomina is forced to tell the truth to her mother while in labour and gets sent off to a monastery. From a female perspective, there is a kind of female brutality having a mother punish the daughter. This is violence between two women. Furthermore, the reader tends to feel a sense of injustice, because Beauplaisir is unpunished and only has to support the child if it survives infancy. When considering the ending, the idea of her being forced to pray every day is one way of looking at it, because convents were used as brothels back then. She did not plan what would happen, and she ends up having to face the consequences of her actions. It is a very contemporary way with the youth culture of today; many get into trouble without considering what their actions could do. Fantomina engineers the whole situation herself. Haywood might be giving the moral ending, because she feels she has to show actions have consequences. However, the heroine has sexual freedom and self-autonomy. Fantomina stands as an example of what amatory fiction is; to give female characters an arc and an examination of their emotions and actions.