Wishing Times were a Changin...

The past several weeks of class have been dedicated to reading and discussing various articles from popular magazines of the early 1800s. I have been repeatedly intrigued by the style in which these pieces are written; their unique blend of reprobation and flamboyance. They were meant to be both and instructional and entertaining to their readers- much as the articles in popular magazines such as Cosmo and Glamour are today. Perhaps it is this strange blend of artful language and didacticism that makes these articles confusing. Their ridiculousness sometimes entices the reader to think them devoid of serious subject matter; however, the subjects covered are extremely serious (libertines, pregnancies, abuse).

Moreover, I have been frustrated at how similar the narratives are to their predecessors. At the start of the 1800s, the core ideas and morals of these narratives seem sadly close to those of texts fifty or more years before them. Women are still seen as fragile and sinful, with some exceptions and additions. So perhaps the slow class discussions are coming from frustration with lack of social change coupled with confusion about the texts’ strange writing style.

In my mind, many of the articles we have read for recent classes tend to blend together. They have the elements of the fallen woman narrative: sensibility, libertines, seduction, punishment, and death. We have remarked again and again that the women face death due to loss of virtue at the end of many of the texts. They are being punished for giving way to their feelings, however, they are living in a time period where many valued exuberant emotion and expected it in their literature. How strange and almost hypocritical that these woman be punished for having ardent emotions that the era seemed to call for. It just shows me that even in the Age of Sentimentality, women were forced down and kept in check.

One of the only articles that seemed to make some progress was “The Passenger.” I think this was a difficult piece to discuss in class because of its dark subject matter (abuse). Despite the grim material, this was a happier read for me because it was one of the first to show that the man could be made accountable or blamed for a situation. We talked in class about the great line that insinuates that marriage is a contract, but unlike other contracts the man is not punished or forced to pay for breaking it. That really struck a cord with me because it seemed like the author felt the husband was capable of censure. In fact, the whole article suggests this.

Finally, the women in the articles sometimes speak out against their offenders. They say that they hope the rake “gets his for what they have done.” But such reproofs usually come from the female characters voice, and in very silly language, and not from the narrator. I am ready for some narratives where the man really does get paid back for his sins and the woman is forgiven (or does not die) for hers.