Duck's Thresher Speaks Volumes of the Working Class

Stephen Duck's Poems on Several Subjects (1730) are interesting, because he was a common labourer and a self-educated man in the fields of poetry, reading, and writing. His poem "The Thresher's Labourer" is unique in its portrait of life for the working class, because it presents a mundane cycle of labour, hardship, and repetition.

From the outset of the poem, there is a circular nature of the speaker (the titular Thresher) and his colleagues (hint hint-cycle) in their daily laborers. They must rise early, leave the barns in which they reside, work in the fields under the sun, return to their lodgings, and wait to repeat the process on the following morning. The Master calls them to prepare for the coming harvest, and he intends to rouse them from their slumber each day (except for the Day of the Sabbath). At one point, the speaker compares the situation with Hercules' Twelve Labours by noting that the tasks of the peasants are long, tiresome, and never-ending.

Despite eventually gaining success and pleasing the master, the labourers are told by their employer (or the "Cheat") that they must repeat their toils to ensure the next harvest of corn, which will not be for another year. Duck inserts a small Greek reference to the myth of Sisyphus, which indicates that the work of the labourers is a never-ending cycle that will continue to take place. This is made evident with the speaker noting "Now growing Labours still succeed the past,/And growing always new, must always last." Although the workers will not last forever, the labours of threshing will go on.

For a working class man, Stephen Duck was quite articulate and vivid in depicting the struggles of the common labourer. Considering his mental health problems and eventual suicide, it is evident that he endured a great deal of suffering and hardship in his life. "The Thresher's Labour" is a significant poem in the presentation of commoners in the 18th Century.

The preparations of the essay- planning and coming up with argument

For the upcoming essay, I've been hunkered down in research and writing over the past few weeks. I'm gonna make it easy for everyone to follow.....

Prior to the November 10th class, I have always been fascinated with Jonathan Swift and his use of satire in his essays and poems. Specifically, I will be focusing on how the satirical elements were incorporated into the texts and who/what they lampooned. The intent is to understand how Swift used satire on certain themes and provoked his reading audience. I am examining satire in Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and "The Lady's Dressing Room", because these two works show his sense of humour and way of critiquing society for its faults. In "Modest Proposal", Swift uses the extreme notion of cannibalism to control the growing Irish population, provide for the upper and middle class, etc. Ironically, the speaker of the essay claims to have learned about cannibalism from an American (possibly Native American, riffing on the 'Indian eaters of men'?). By using such extreme notions, he is satirizing England and Ireland for their role in the predicament of the Irish.

"The Lady's Dressing Room" concerns the satirization of narrow-minded men, their romantic notions of idealized women, and women themselves. Swift depicts his protagonist Strephon as a foolish man who sees females as something other than human beings. Upon snooping in the dressing room of the woman he is courting, he is bothered by the pile of dirty clothes, brushes, make-up, and ointments/powders which she takes to accentuate her appearance (Swift pokes fun at her taking five hours to get dressed). After discovering a chamber pot, Strephon is horrified at the notion of his beloved having bodily functions, and henceforth he views all women as being disgusting. However, it should be noted that the poem could be a defence of women, because Swift satirizes the 18th Century male's romantic notions of women.

Overall, it should make for an interesting essay.

William Hogarth- Satirist and the First Comic Book Artist

During the last lecture, we focused on the use of satire in the Victorian era (on which I'm doing my essay), specifically with artists and writers such as Jonathan Swift, William Hogarth, Daniel Defoe, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. The presentation given at the start of class was interesting, because it focused on Hogarth and his work with engravings (painted drawings depicting life in society). Satire was a focal point of his work, because it criticized certain institutions and people in societies by lampooning them. Specifically, Hogarth's 1735 engravings of "The Rake's Progress" brilliantly satirize the wasteful, self-indulgence of the rich in Victorian society.

"The Rake's Progress" depicts the rise and fall of young heir Tom "Rake" Rakewell as he goes from prominence to debt, from gambling to debauchery, and from prison to the madhouse. Although receivng a large inheritance from his late father, Rakewell During the early part of the story, the engravings depict cariactures of everyday characters in society from musicians, fencing/dancing instructors, and prositutes. Hogarth presents the upper class as foppish and over-dressed in a French style, while the prostitutes are crafty individuals to steal from Rakewell while covering all traces of syphillis. These themes of having no values, displaying unseemingly behaviour, drinking, and adultery were set against the rich, privileged backdrop of an aristocratic setting. Due to his excessive lifestyle, "Rake" is nearly charged for amassing debt, from which he narrowly manages to escape. In an effort to secure himself and his wealth, he decides to marry an elderly spinster (or 'Old Maid'), but he proceeds to squander his new fortune after gambling it away at a gentleman's club. Finally, the law catches up with Rake and places him in debtors' prison. Later, he becomes insane and gets sent to a mental hospital for the rest of his days. Despite being delivered from ruin by both his rejected finance and new wife, he has failed to change his lifestyle and then pays the price.

Hogarth satirizes the frivilous, wastefulness of the upper class by depicting its members drink, gamble, and engage in sex with prostitutes. Rakewell himself is a young male archtype who foolishly spends his inheritance, piles up debt, falls from grace, and ends up losing his sanity. The satire depicted here is mocking the rich and criticizing their moral faults. I found it interesting that the term "Rake" itself refers to a reckless, immoral individual, which makes the name Rakewell appropriate. In a sense, William Hogarth was the first artist of comic books, but rather than superheroes, his stories focused on what was wrong with society by satirizing it.

The Problem with Coffee Houses

During last week's class, I learned a great deal about coffee houses and periodicals.

For instance, the second presentation focused on the popularity of coffee houses in the 18th Century, because they acted as social outlets for various social cliques and businessmen. In fact, they were used as office space and meeting centers for barristers and insurance agents. London became one of the cities with the largest number of coffee houses within its layout. However, housewives began speaking out in opposition to these establishments, because their husbands spent more time there instead of being at home. There were lobbying attemps to get coffee houses shut down, but there were counter-petitions drawn up in response.  Despite the mixed reactions about coffee houses, they subscribed to journals, which were quite expensive for the common individual to purchase. Instead of buying them, people gathered with their peers to read them. Unlike magazines and newspapers of today, these journals consisted of essays, social commentary, philosophical topics, and discussion of current events. It was a shared love of diverse knowledge; the purpose of these journals was to move debates away from the classroom and into coffee houses, tea tables, or closets for further study.

Coffee houses were a major social area for 18th Century men, but they proved to be a problem towards women (and to a degree, the taverns and ale houses). Apparently women had a bigger issue with their husbands hanging out in coffee houses rather than getting drunk. However, the coffee houses were important in getting academic/literary discussions out of schools and universities and into the public setting.

Reviewing Conduct Literature (Part 2)

For Part 2, this posting will focus specifically on Eliza Haywood's The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, its status as conduct literature, the social mores of the 17th-18th Centuries, and Haywood's change from amatory to conduct literature. In comparison to writers such as Jane Austin, Haywood's characters get into numerous scrapes and unpleasant incidents. Furthermore, they are complex, flawed, and concerned with social rules and practices of the era. Conduct literature itself did contain many rules and restrictions for women.

The character of Betsy Thoughtless herself is a rather proud, vain, and somewhat self-absorbed, and she has a tendency to get into trouble due to her coquetry. In the first portion of the book, Betsy is nearly raped on four occasions, and her inability or unwillingness to avoid such situations indicates a certain naivety on her part. Like Haywood's Fantomina, Betsy's elders punish her by sending her away; however, the main difference is forcing her to be married instead of becoming a nun. With regard to historical context, women were looked upon as property rather than people, and many of them did not know if their husbands would turn brutal after marrying them. It would not be hard for men to get away with spousal abuse or infidelity in this era. The art of courting was a highly-ritualized practice, but it lacked intimacy and instead focused on tradition and rules. When Betsy is courted by Mr. Munden ("mundane"), he is well-meaning but lacking in sensibility, and his habit of sending her gifts does not result in her returning his love. Upon finally being married, he becomes quite unpleasant in his treatment of Betsy and means to which he intends to break her resolve (i.e- killing her pet squirrel).

The rest of the characters are interesting in their own character arcs and interaction with Betsy. Her adoptive sister Miss Flora is obsessed with ruining Betsy's reputation by plotting and scheming against her. Further adding to the irony, she engages in an affair with Mr. Trueworth, who is the object of Betsy's affection. Of all the characters, Lady Trusty is probably the voice of reason and arguably the one person who cares for the well-being of Betsy. As a giver of advice, she attempts to play a role in guiding Betsy towards young womanhood. Haywood appears to be speaking to the audience via Lady Trusty as a vessel of sorts. However, she is removed for the majority of the text, because Betsy has to experience life as it really was for young Victorian women.

While Betsy is not deceptive like Fantomina, she is a forward-thinking character with a penchant for getting into trouble without intending to do so. Regardless of her good intentions, she would be more fixated on appearing good by others rather than being good. However, she is prone to re-examining her behaviour and wonders what unmarried would be like. Given Haywood's transition from amatory fiction to conduct literature, it is possible that she intended Betsy to demonstrate her changing way of thinking. For this reason, The History of Betsy Thoughtless is important to Victorian literature, because it indicates a difficult era for women concerned with social mores and restrictions in society.

Reviewing Conduct Literature (Part 1)

During last week's presentation, I found the content and format was not only insightful but also amusing in its depicting the strict social rules and conduct literature, which dates as far back as the Middle Ages. For instance, I never realized that women eating in public was considered to be "disgusting" and impolite or that crossing their legs at the ankles or putting legs together with their backs straight were seen as the most appropriate way of sitting. Needless to say, they had it more difficult than the men, who had noticeably less norms or customs than females. However, the exploration of conduct literature was intriguing, because it showed how women were constricted in the 1800s.

John Gregory's A Father's Legacy To His Daughters is an interesting example of conduct literature, because the author never intended it to be published. In the text, he notes how men complain about the reserve of women and their alleged bad habits. For this reason, he warns his daughters (whom he meant to write the book for) against eating in public and cautioning against women who used humour. After he died, it was ionically published and put into printing. Another writer of conduct literature was Lord Lyttleton, who believed that public intoxication was sinful and that loving the husband was the women's primary goal.

One of the most famous works of conduct literature is Eliza Haywood's bildungsroman The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless. The book concerns a young woman leaving her abusive husband and experiencing life as an independent woman for the first time. Unlike Haywood's earlier Fantomina, Betsy Thoughtless does not disguise herself and pursue men for the purpose of sex. The narrative is more introspective and concerned with the question of how to present oneself as "good" to others. Although she is not deceptive or manipulating like Fantomina, Betsy allows herself to be drawn into certain situations in which she is perceived as doing something wrong. During the 17th-18th Centuries, women desired to be good in a virtuous manner, but social expectations were seen as being more important.

To be continued with Part 2.....

Women are Equals to Men, although Some of the Latter Think Otherwise

The battle between males and females has been waged for centuries, but the 17th and 18th Centuries witnessed the rise of early feminism among literary circles. One prominent example was Mary Astell, who argued that women ought to have the rigth to education. While she was not a leading crusader of women's suffrage, her views were shared by a number of male contemporaries such as Daniel DeFoe. Another major female writer was Margaret Cavendish, who was the Duchess of Newcastle and an author in her own right. These two examples are unique, because they pushed for ideas such as equal education and using females as a literary protagonist.

Mary Astell was known for her early feminist work and proposing the idea of an institution for women to be educated. In her book A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest, she suggests that women be taught separately from men and given a good education. She put forward the question of why God bestowed women with intelligence and never gave them a chance to use it. During the 17th to 18th Centuries, the only education women received was from Bible study, but they were encouraged (or rather dissuaded) not to read books. The notion of a woman reading novels was seen as "dangerous" for the possibility of giving her certain thoughts. With regard to religious context, a number of religions had dogmatic claims that viewed men and women as not being different; indeed, Quaker groups allowed females to speak at meetings. However, most denominations (Catholics, Protestants) were strict on conformity. Apart from Astell, Daniel DeFoe (Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders) was also in favour of an all-women's college in the design of a convent for nuns.

Unlike Astell, Margaret Cavendish is an interesting woman for her ability to get her work published. As the Duchess of Newcastle, she had the support of her husband, who pretty much let her do as she wished. Due to her high status, she was able to social circles of learned individuals, which was considered scandalous for women to do. Her 1666 prose fiction A Description of a New World (or The Blazing World) was significant, because it concerned a female protagonist exploring new realms and pondered themes of science. However, Cavendish was mocked and derided by others for being "mad", "different", and abnormal. Ironically, she was able to get her work published due to her supportive, financially-stable husband.

While a number of women were able to publish their work in this period (mostly under pseudonyms), Astell and Cavendish are significant for their ideals in women being educated and casting females as protagonists. Although they had a number of male writers who shared their views, there was no major feminist movements at this time. Women being educated was a hotly-contested debate and an interesting topic in history, because obtaining higher education was not seen as a universal right. Nevertheless, Astell and Cavendish were instrumental as females getting their work published.