Life (or Death) Lessons

After reading this week’s selections, I find it depressing to be a woman in this time period, subject to this genre of literature. In The Castle of Otranto, the women are mistreated: Hippolita is unloved and betrayed by her husband, Isabel is almost raped and Matilda is stabbed by her father. In these poems, the women suffer horrible fates as well: two are carried off to the grave, one becomes a maniac, and another (in female horse form) is left “scarce a stump” (l. 218). It seems, however, that the women are blamed for their actions—or at least that their sinful actions cause their unhappy fates. In Southey’s poem, “Mary”, Mary is too masculine, too brave for a woman—she goes outdoors by herself at night. This must have been scandalous in the 18^th century. In Lewis’ “Alonzo the Brave, and Fair Imogene”, Imogene breaks her vow to always be faithful to Alonzo, whether or not he is alive or dead. She is seduced by the suitor’s “treasure, his presents, his spacious domain / … He caught her affections so light and so vain…” (ll. 27-30). For her infidelity and greed, Imogene is punished. In Bürger’s “Lenora”, Lenora despairs the loss of her William, curses her life, wishes for death and “Against the Providence of God / She hurlde her impious strains” (ll. 87-88). She blasphemes God’s name and falls into the sin of hopelessness. Thus, she gets her wish and is carried to the grave to die. These poems seem to serve like lessons to women—be faithful and virtuous or else you will become a maniac or dead.