Analysis Of Mademoiselle La Rue In Charlotte Temple

Does deviating from one’s gender norms inevitably doom one down a spiral of moral corruption? Tim O'Brien, author of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and Ernest Hemingway, author of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, certainly seem to hold this view, as evident by the fates of the major female characters in their respective works. The deviance of the major female characters in both works appears to corrupt not only themselves, but also pollute their partners, causing them to suffer injury or harm as a result. The degree of injury ranges from negligible, like Fossie’s demotion and broken heart, to fatal, like the bullet that rips through Macomber’s skull. It begs the question, are these stories meant to serve as cautionary tales for their female readers, or possibly for their husbands, so they may recognize gender deviance and stop it in its tracks before their wives transform into Margot Macomber or Mary Anne Bell? This essay will analyze what such characters say about pervading views of women, both in society and in literature.

Charlotte Temple was a novel written by Susanna Rowson, in 1791 in England under the title Charlotte; or, a Tale of Truth. Although it is not technically an American but British novel, Charlotte Temple became extremely popular in America after the America Revolution. Rowson arrived in Philadelphia in 1793 in hope for better financial fortunes. She was successful. In 1794, Charlotte Temple was republished in America and became the country’s first best-seller. In the novel, Susanna Rowson frequently interrupts the story to addresses her readers directly. She reveals that her target audience for her novel is as she addresses them “dear girls.” She, also, addresses men or older women who might be reading the book, suggesting that she anticipated

When you look at an example like this one, you start to think whether or not these upper class people believed in their own morals and if they even had any. But one thing is for sure, such arrogant actions only go a short way until they come back to haunt you. Because Mrs. Van Hopper was so blinded by her own self and worried so much about what was going on in other people's lives, she had lost her attention from her companion friend, which let to a love affair between the narrator and Mr. Maxim de Winter.

Charlotte Temple is a seduction novel written by Susanna Rowson that tells a story about a British soldier, Montraville, who seduces a British schoolgirl, Charlotte, into falsely loving him and following him away to America, where Charlottes tragic life will unfold. Montraville takes advantage of Charlottes love for him and promises her that he will marry her one day and he also tells Charlotte that her parents would be proud and happy to hear that their daughter ran off with a man of honor. This manipulative and strategic doing of Montraville will continue up until the day Montraville leaves Charlotte due to the mistrustful actions of Belcour and Charlotte. The treatment and equality that the women have, or do not have, in the 18th century is evident in the novel by Rowson which is displayed by many factors such as Charlottes inability to live a happy life simply because the expectations of women during this time were standardized by men. Most jobs in the 18th century needed quite an amount of physical strength so jobs were mostly occupied by men, married women mostly did not work and many single women were private servants. The expectations of women in the 18th century that were set by men, halted the progress women were taking to try and step by step, alter the time ahead of women’s rights and equality so that the tales of Charlotte Temple would be one short told by women in the future.

The book “The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle” is about a thirteen year old girl named Charlotte Doyle who is going back to her home in Rhode Island from England where she has finished her education. The two other families she was supposed to travel with do not show up, so she is the only passenger aboard. The new boat surrounding is scary, and the girl is frightened. She gradually becomes fond of an elderly black man by the name of Zachariah.

Charlotte continually disregards her dream of love and to belong to someone and surrenders to that which she believes will make society approve of her. Charlotte is the only character that appears to be level-headed when acting what seems to be ridiculous. She does not marry for love, but she still seems to be reasonable and she has thought through this decision. Charlotte arrives at approval from society, but only after she surrenders her dream to that of her superego and

Montraville bribes the French teacher to let Charlotte meet him again thenext day. The story continues but it goes back some years before Charlotte was born. Susannawrites about Charlotte’s father, Henry Temple. Susanna Rowson describes how Mr. Templedidn’t allow his father to do what he did with his siblings which was forced them into unhappymarriages. Here Susanna Rowson shows the Enlighten ideals, where before a lot of marriageswere forced because of financial reasons; but Mr. Temple stopped that and he marries Lucy apoor girl but she is the woman that he loves. After Susanna Rowson described Henry Temple,she continues by describing Charlotte’s teacher Mademoiselle La Rue. La Rue is described as animmoral person who lived with different men. The story continues with Susanna talking aboutMontraville and his father; how. Montravilles father gave him some advice before he leaves tothe United States. He told Montroville not to rush into matrimony and have kids; not until he hasa good rank in the arms forces. “A soldier has no business to think of a wife till his rank is suchas to place him above the fear of bringing into the world a train of helpless innocents” (Rowson).Montraville didn’t listen to his father’s advice and fell in love with Charlotte. Charlotte wasbeing convinced by Montraville to leave England and go with him to America. Charlotte didn’tlike the idea of leaving with him. She knew she was not doing the right thing, leaving

Finally, in the middle of the spectrum, come the characters that seemed to be stuck in the middle of the times of the past and the times of the future. The first being Charlotte. Some readers might say Charlotte is very much a stickler for having society’s rules. I, however, would like to argue this is because of her environment.

Charlotte tries to maintain certain "airs" in order to appear to be something she is not. As a wife, a mother, and a member of the community, she always acts as she believes she is expected to act. Her values are heavily influenced by this attitude, and therefore, they are hypocritical and ambiguous; yet Charlotte seems inanely unaware of the hypocrisy and contradiction in her life.

Susana Rowsan’s novel of seduction Charlotte: A Tale of Truth tells the unfortunate story of a young English girl, seduced to America where she is later abandoned. Charlotte as an illegal immigrant of America possesses no political or economic rights and she is left all alone in this country where she was abducted by deception and force. Her misguided and manipulated sexual decisions are the reasons for her fall from grace which ultimately leads to her death. This sentimental novel takes a much more compassionate approach to connect with its readers than previous texts published in early American literature. The mix of suffering and sympathy throughout the novel manages to grab the readers’ attention and evokes deeper emotions towards the characters. Women in the novel are portrayed as being extremely vulnerable and the book somewhat acts as a warning to other women. The predominance of the male characters over the female characters is typical of the 18th century and is evidently reoccurring throughout the story. The majority of women during this time were not given the respect on making their own life decisions as they are today. As a result of this they were forced to rely on the men of their society to aid them with their needs. This book displays the roles and experiences women had to go through during this time.

Protagonist: The protagonist is Anne Shirley, a red haired, freckled girl who is a stubborn, passionate, loyal, and intelligent person. Anne was an orphan until she was adopted by Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert. Throughout the book, Anne makes social blunders and tries to quickly absorb the rules of social conduct, religion, and morality that other children have grown up learning. Even so, she has difficulty mixing these social customs with her own unique sensibilities. Anne loves beauty and fantasy and all in all, wants to be a good person.

As the novel progresses, the reader gathers a clearer and clearer vision of Meursault’s amoral outlook on life. Meursault’s view on the situation with Raymond and his girlfriend is one prime example of this amoral outlook. When Raymond, Meursault’s neighbor, explains to Meursault that his girlfriend has cheated on him and so he consequently beat her, Meursault takes an entirely objective approach to the situation, stating that “he’d beaten her till she bled. He’d never beaten her before…he wanted to know what I thought of the whole thing. I said I didn’t think anything but that it was interesting” (Camus 32).

Published during a time when a woman’s purpose in life was believed to be a successful homemaker, Anne of Green Gables has often been lauded as the “first and greatest Canadian feminist novel.” In addition to the rarity of a feminine heroine, most books for female readers promoted a certain ideal for femininity while Montgomery created a character that was simply incapable of attaining the mould society had set for her. For instance, aside from “decidedly red hair,” Anne is an orphan who doesn’t know how to cook and has never been religious, a complete contradiction to the good Christian homemaker, but a relatable voice for a diverse population of

Perhaps the threat the governess posed is best displayed when Blanche tells the story of her governess and her brother’s tutor:

Innocence with regard to virtue is admirable, but Frances Burney’s 1778 novel, Evelina, raises the question of whether a person can be innocent to a fault. Not stopping there, the story further questions if one can be innocent to such a degree that he or she is a danger to himself or herself. Any person who has spent time with Evelina, the protagonist in Burney’s novel, would not hesitate to acknowledge the young woman as a model example of an “innocent” person. The novel suggests that this innocence comes from both her innate nature and the parenting of her guardian, Mr. Villars. The death of her mother, Caroline, at Evelina’s birth left Evelina subject to the care of her father, Sir John Belmont, who immediately denounced having been married to Caroline in the first place. Due to the lack of competent family relations, Evelina was raised by the same man who raised her mother, Mr. Villars. Evelina begins reaching a mature age and the reader enters en media res, as Evelina is leaving her security at Berry Hill with Mr. Villars, and is beginning her “Entrance into the World” (Burney v.) After reading the circumstances in which Evelina finds herself in and how she reacts in certain situations, many scholars have questioned whether Burney has set up Evelina’s guardian, Mr. Villars, to be partially, or wholly, guilty for the harm Evelina finds herself in as a result of her innocence. If so, many wonder if Burney has set within her novel a commentary on patriarchy.