The Coquette Summary

During the 19th century female authors were commonly degraded especially when books had a sexual nature. A now notable biography from this period is Charlotte Brontё’s “Jane Eyre”, a detailed account of the life of a young girl that blossoms into adulthood having to face the challenges and social norms of the time. In many works of literature a character intentionally deceives others to either hurt or offer protection. In “Jane Eyre” a character intentionally deceives a loved one with the intention to protect everyone including himself. This particular deception plays a large role in developing the characters of the narrative and the plot development, contributing to the work as a whole.

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.

Actions and words define an individual. Clarence Harvey is described as a “man of genius” and was “distinguished at Oxford,” but he is also “ignorant” due to his fear of “passing for a pedant,” which comes to show how complicated Hervey actually is. In Maria Edgeworth’s novel, Belinda, the author uses literary techniques, such as point of view and language to portray Clarence Hervey’s character.

> After a night of sex, Vivian is ready to leave in the morning. It is perfunctory for her to have sex then leave, but she has a nice breakfast that awaits her. She is not used to being treated as a person. Edward, ever concerned with work, needs a “date” for the upcoming week for the sake of appearances. He wishes to employ Vivian for the next week as his “date.” He says that he is paying her three thousand dollars “be at [Edward’s] beck and call.” Here he is treating Julia like a prostitute. The nature of their relationship is pendulous, moments of a nascent love to moments of business and concupiscence. Vivian needs new clothes to replace her questionable and inappropriate attire in order to ensconce in the upper class. She is shopping on Rodeo Drive, the Mecca of haut-couture, but while at a store she encounters women that will not wait on her because of the way she is dressed. Because of the prejudice she

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.

In Hannah W. Foster’s, The Coquette, Eliza Wharton is portrayed as a woman of status, above average intelligence and education, with a flirtatious nature. Though the author does not cast her in an antagonistic light, her manner is painted as foolish, flippant to 18th century social conventions, and lacking in forethought. As such, The Coquette should be viewed as a literary warning for young women of the day, especially those who may have shared undesirable attributes with Eliza. It is the novel’s intent, by way of Eliza’s thoughts and actions, to discourage young women from pursuing a fleeting and non-virtuous lifestyle. Through the novel, Foster acts as a moral guide to young women by persuading them to obey social conventions like entering into dutiful marriage, refraining from political and public

Jane Austen’s novel 'Emma' and Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, as significant and satirical reflections of Regency England and postmodern America respectively, indicate how the transformation process can shape and improve literacy, intertextual and logical importance. The transformation is evident in the compositions Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ and Amy Heckerling’s ‘Clueless’ enabling us to investigate the assortment of logical subjects. Regarding ‘Emma’ the perspective throughout the Regency time frame examines the strict values of love and marriage inside the inflexible social hierarchy. Austen’s advances the significance of etiquette throughout the text. Austen reveals a neo-women’s activist perspective, shown in the female protagonist revealing the female protagonists’ scholarly capacity and social equity in an otherwise patriarchal society. However, the close resemblance of the story; ‘Clueless’, Heckerling composition conveys entirely transformed values, reflected through the actions of the current upper-working class of contemporary Los Angeles. The critical analysis of commercialism in the informal social class system of modern America reiterating social expectations of gender and social characterisation within the microcosm of the typical American educational system. The transformation in attitudes of Austen, reveals an exhaustive utilisation of setting, a close examination of dialect and various artistic procedure.

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

Clarence Hervey supposes himself to be a Renaissance man, when in authenticity, he is nothing more than a charlatan. In this passage from her novel Belinda, Maria Edgeworth develops the many characters of Mr. Hervey through generalized language, references to Mr. Hervey’s inconstancy and Mr. Hervey’s ironic and hypocritical fears of Belinda.

The novel in which Jane Eyre stars in can be seen criticizing many aspects of those times such as the role and nature of women, child negligence and social hardships for those in a lesser class. Jane Eyre’s alienation from society allows for a greater reveal of the story’s culture, values, and assumptions. It’s presented through the use of gender, class and character conflicts throughout the story. On multiple occasions, Jane is judged for the presented factors reflecting the type of society Jane lives in and what the times were like at that time.

The idea of seduction is present throughout the novel The Coquette. This is one of Foster’s most well known novels, and as critics have said “the most read novel in the 19th century besides the Bible.” The novel was one of the first to exploit sexuality with a woman’s point of view in a not so reserved format (Baym). Foster’s main point that she was trying to get across to her audience was the art of a woman mastering the expectations of what society wanted from them in an upper-class level of the community against the influence of the individual trying the follow her own heart (“Introduction”). This main idea is related to the country of the United States in almost a form of an analogy.

When Catherine resides in Thrushcross Grange, her coarse demeanor is heavily augmented by the values of the upper class. Catherine’s return from a five weeks stay at Thrushcross Grange renders “her manners much improved” and her appearance as a “very dignified person” (Bronte,37). Catherine proves to be a proper, civil woman, when on the Grange, picking up on the well-mannered tendencies of Edgar and

“Jane Eyre” is a book centred around female duality. In a time when females were still expected to fulfill their “womanly duties,” Charlotte Bronte wrote a novel dealing with a woman’s view on morality & sexuality, passion & sensibility, and conformity & insanity, among other themes. This motif of duality plays a strong part in the dynamism that makes up the book, and is not limited to the themes, but is also used to relate many of the characters to the titular Jane. In “The Mystery at Thornfield,” Valerie Beattie makes claims that the character Bertha Mason’s insanity is a representation of rebellion toward the limitations of Victorian women. Not only is

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre emerges with a unique voice in the Victorian period for the work posits itself as a sentimental novel; however, it deliberately becomes unable to fulfill the genre, and then, it creates an altogether divergent novel that demonstrates its superiority by adding depth of structure in narration and character portrayal. Joan D. Peters’ essay, Finding a Voice: Towards a Woman’s Discourse of Dialogue in the Narration of Jane Eyre positions Gerard Genette’s theory of convergence, which is that the movement of the fiction towards a confluence of protagonist and narrator, is limited as the argument does not fully flesh out the parodies that Charlotte Bronte incorporates into her work. I will argue that in the novel

Nelly represents not only the power and wisdom of women, but also her compliance to dominance of men. ‘Nelly Dean is a manipulative creature who will go to considerable lengths to maintain the status quo of male authority.’ (Whitley, 2000: xi) By adding this trait to Nelly’s character Brontë reminds the reader of the order of the world. Even though the characters are fighting and representing women’s rights, they still do live in a man’s world – that is the novel’s connection with the reality. The character of Nelly is a great support to the statement of de Beauvoir (1949: 324):