Compare And Contrast The Coquette And Wieland

The epistolary style of The Coquette allows the reader to see both sides of the story and see things that might not otherwise be apparent. For instance, in The Coquette, we are following the flirtatious excursions of Eliza and occasionally we get an insight into what General Sanford’s views. The trickery of Sanford is hidden until we read his letter to Mr. Deighton where he states, “but I fancy this young lady is a coquette; and if so, I shall avenge my sex by retaliating the mischiefs she mediates against us.” (Coquette, location 407) The theme of correspondence becomes apparent from this point because it shows the reader that women can be naïve to the intentions of others. This plays out throughout the novel in many ways through the actions of Eliza and the reactions of Boyer and Sanford. Eliza spends much of her time writing to friends, attempting to persuade them that she is not a coquette. This is where the theme of sexual freedom and liberation comes into play.

Jane Austen provides her readers with insight into marriage and English society within the 1800’s. In Emma, the story establishes the idea that society could not function without marriage and how the institution of marriage defined one’s social status.

Hannah W. Foster’s The Coquette is a young woman’s path navigating the expectations of society while not surrendering her own wants and needs. Marriages, in the eighteenth century, are based on financial security and social rank, not love. Women, especially those who did not have a dowry, married a man of wealth and connections. The sad, tragic tale of Eliza Wharton validates the fact that defying expectations in the eighteenth century caused women to fall from grace.

Within the 19th century American atmosphere, is a realm of cultural tropes that distinguishes themselves among the common literature that people read. Among these people, are different demographics as each publication caters to a specific audience on the basis of race, gender, and residing region. While the readers of these publications come from varying backgrounds and belief systems, there are unique similarities that provide insight as to how people were reading in the 19th century. These similarities contextualize what these readers were looking for in these publications as well as their interests and habits in respect to the demographics represented in the periodical archive.

The American Dream has always been the unattainable idea of a perfect life, often causing disorder when it is not realized. In response to society’s unrealistically high standards, and the human desire to be accepted, people shape their existences to fit within the quixotic ideals of society. The ubiquity of this conformity is demonstrated by its omnipresence as a theme in American literature. The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, along with Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, demonstrate how these perspectives of social mores are centered on the prevalence of the unrealistic views of normality. The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and

Eliza Wharton’s yearning for freedom is a fundamental underlying theme to Foster’s novel, “The Coquette”. Eliza views freedom as the ability to partake in the pleasures and joys of youth without the restrictions and obligations that come with a commitment to marriage. Furthermore, freedom is the choice to

Comparing Hope Leslie or Early Times in Massachusetts and The Scarlett Letter is interesting because at first glance both novels don’t appear to have much in common aside from having a female protagonist and taking place within Puritan society of early America. (keep but not as first sentence). However, despite obvious differences between both novels such as the character presentation of the female protagonists in Hope Leslie who range from the free-spirited Hope Leslie, obedient Puritan Esther, and character of Magawisca as a noble but proud Native American contrasts with the Hester Prynne’s presentation as a shamed but deeply contemplative woman in The Scarlett Letter. The different purposes all these characters each serve in their respective stories begins to show commonality in that Hope Leslie’s Hope, Esther, and Magawisca and The Scarlett Letter’s Hester Prynne all have to overcome the adversity and social expectations with Puritan society so they can follow their hearts and do what they feel is right by relying on their wit, intelligence, and inner strength. By examining how both Hope Leslie and Hester Prynne overcome the challenges they face in their respective Puritain socities it will be easier to observe how these novels presentation of their female protagonist illustrates the gender politics of each text.

Domestic Manners of Americans is one of the most hard-hitting, successful novels written by Frances Trollope, displaying themes scattered throughout the book about the United States as seen from a different perspective, from the eyes of a tourist. Frances Trollope resides from England, and in 1827 she made the decision to embark on a journey to America, to see if it really was the land of opportunity. She left with her three children and set off leaving her normal life, and her husband, behind her. What she hoped to find in America was a new life, a new experience, and what she found was a country that was struggling to see the incredible number of problems it held. Slavery, social injustice toward women, and the misuse of religion are all addressed in the novel by Frances Trollope, and she refrains from censoring herself to make sure that it is evident that the United States is not the ‘Land of the Free’ that Americans think it is.

Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette (1797) and William Hill Brown’s The Power of Sympathy (1789) are epistolary novels that outline the inevitable perils and consequences (for women) of carelessly becoming a victim of male seduction. These provocative novels allow readers to enter a sexual private sphere of society, one that may have been deemed taboo, through letters depicting the art of seduction. Women were expected to subscribe to the societal expectations of appropriate female behavior. In addition, literacy was at transformative state at the staging of both novels; morals lessons (within the household) could now be found in non-biblical mediums of literature. The divergence from reading for devotion to reading for entertainment and intellect was pivotal. The perceived dangers of this, however, were that “novels which expose no particular Vice, and which recommend no particular Virtue, to the fair Reader, though she may find amusement, must finish them without being impressed with any particular idea" (Brown, 7). Brown implies that, by misinterpreting seduction novels, women would not be able to perform their political and social role as republican mothers—that these novels would penetrate their moral compass and leave them vulnerable to the powers of seduction. The seduction that befall women in Brown’s The Power of Sympathy and Foster’s The Coquette reinforce the expected role of women in the New Republic, highlight the horrifying consequences that accompany

America is presently a culture full of diversity and unity but it wasn’t always so. Literature has been known to affect the American culture and shaping the identity of the individuals of this country. During the 18th and 19th-century writing styles like Romanticism, Transcendentalism and American Gothic appeared in hope to show their audience that there is more to life than what individuals knew it to be. Nathaniel Hawthorne is most known in American history as a Gothic and Romantic author with his novels, The Scarlet Letter and the House of Seven Gables and a large collection of short stories. These stories and more from Hawthorne have been staples in the American culture.

Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes” (Hawthorne, 1) places the readers in a small village in the United States in the middle of the 1800’s with an action that lasts for several days.

    What are the attitudes of the young Puritan husband Goodman Brown toward women, of the author toward women, of  other characters in the story toward women? This essay intends to answer that question.

In the 1920s many Americans were disillusioned by the massive destruction and carnage of the Great War and were questioning the meaning of life. It was a time of prosperity for many and a time when many of the countries talented young writers had fled to Europe. These books speak of a period that marked the end of the Victorian age and the rejection of what was accepted to be proper decorum. Both novels have characters that drink excessively, are sexually promiscuous, and fail to establish any meaningful relationships through marriage. They are searching for meaning in a world where there may not be any to be found.

While the late seventeenth century America remained a land of vast wilderness, many well-established colonial communities provided their inhabitants with stable lives. Organized around distinctive core values, either religion or wealth, those frontier communities appeared to be very different from traditional European communities; but in fact, they continued many ideals of the other continent, including an unequal gender relationship. Believing in the righteousness and benefits of women’s obedience, men ignored women’s feelings and took control. In their novels, A Mercy and The Scarlet Letter, Morrison and Hawthorne depict gender inequality in the early colonial America, though Hawthorne holds a more optimistic attitude than Morrison on the outlook of gender roles.

In 1878, Henry James wrote, Daisy Miller, a novella about a young American girl and her travels in Europe. Daisy Miller is a complex short story with many underlying themes such as appearance versus reality, knowledge versus innocence, outward action versus inward meditation, and Nature versus urbanity. In this short story, one is left to judge whether Daisy Miller, the main character of the story, is “a pretty American flirt” or a misunderstood, modern young woman. By probing into the complexities and contradictions of Daisy’s character, it is obvious that Ms. Miller is merely a misunderstood young woman.