British Literature TD1 by Kelly Coral

How does Robinson Crusoe appropriate himself the Island ?

jujuden2 — 2020-09-20 16:26:09 UTC

I. Disovery of the Island
A. He is discovering the Island and keep a diary
> dates "It was on the 15th of July"; "The next day, the sixteenth" like the explorer he is writing everything in his diary and keep exploring by taking a survey to know all about the island. It could be to escape from the loneliness.
B. He is learning to survive
He is repeting the word "understand" because he doesn't have this kind of land and climate in England, everything is new. He has to get used and to learn about plants in order to survive.

II. He is taking advantage of the Island
A. A Lord of Manor
He wantd to have an heritage as a Lord of Manor and make this land his proprety > ironism because this is an Island
he also make reference about the Englishmen who already came on the Island (they want to sort of colonize the Island
B. All the goods
He is enjoying all the plants and talking about every fruits in the extract (> enumeration) "so fresh, so green, so flourishing" he sees the nature, the plants, the fruits as something he can take advantage of and take it back to England > to be recognized as a Lord of Manor, he sees the fruits as a profit and not just as the nature, he is not used to see all these exotic fruits because of the climate.

PBM : How does the narrator appropriates the island for himself as if it was a gift from God ?

baptisteleverrier — 2020-09-20 17:24:45 UTC

I) The appropriation of the place
a) He knows nothing
When he ashores on the island he has a little knowledge of what is the place for example on line 10/11 « There were divers other plants, which I had no notion of or understanding about, that might, perhaps, have virtues of their own, which I could not find out. ». On line 9 « I knew little of the plants in the field ».
b) He tries to find out how to sustain enough to survive.
He tries at first to explore the island as if he did not ashore on it but as if he wanted to colonize it. « A little brook of running water, very fresh and good » l.4/5 ; « I found a great deal of tobacco, green, and growing to a great and very strong stalk. » l.9/10.
II) Eden Garden
a) The comparison with vegetation
The narrator gives many hints to the reader that the place looks like the Eden Garden for instance along the text he tells all the kinds of plants there are « grass »l.8 « tobacco »l.9 « plants of aloes »l.13 « sugar-canes »l.14 etc... He also mention numerous spots of water, all of this makes the reader feeling the place is a viable environment like the Garden of Eden.
b) A ressourceful place
The narrator mentions that the place is full of food, water and ressources that can be used to live more than decently. He compares the island as a planted garden on line 10/11 « The country appeared so fresh, so green, so flourishing, everything being in a constant verdure or flourish of spring that it looked like a planted garden ».

Robinson Crusoe Chap 7

Varde_Hloise — 2020-09-20 20:08:03 UTC

Pb: How does Roinson Crusoe gives us the view point of colonialism through a dissenter’s travel tale?
I- A detailed account
a) a diary
the timeline is explicit ;
there is rhythm with indications of time :
“ it was on the 15th of July”; “first”; “the next day, the sixteenth”; “evening”; “in the night”

b)
he keeps a record of all his actions
“I began”; “I went”; “I brought”
he’s using the preterit and the first person to do an enumeration of actions
→ dynamic

c) description of the environment
as if creating a map
“particular survey” ; “I searched”; “I saw”; “the same way going a bit further”
→ as if he was here on purpose to colonize the wild

II- subduing the earth
a)
“so fresh, so green, so flourishing”
=tonery rhythm
“ very ripe and rich.”
“very fresh and good”
“planted garden.” + enumeration of plants,…
→ //garden of Eden ‘planted by God’
→as if he was here for a reason = providentialism
→ a garden of Eden described in an almost scientific way

b) not his first experience in the wild

“which the Indians, in all that climate, make their bread of”
“I had made so little observation while I was in the Brazils”
“remembering that when I was ashore in Barbary”
→ he knows what to look for
→ comparison with real expeditions = for the reader it isn’t just a tale but it relates to real experiences in the colonies= makes it more real and then more attractive
more accurate description of the colonialist/imperialist society of the 18th century

c) an imperialist point of view

“ I was king and lord of all this country indefensibly, and had a right of possession”
→ more political view
→ sees himself as a lord of land in England → people in power (in Parliament)
“I saw here abundance […] but all wild”; “I found now I had business enough to gather and carry home”
“abundance”, “business” + enumerations of products
= lexical field of commerce
his way of thinking makes us think of a merchant
doesn’t look like his here only to survive but as if he wanted to get something out of it

How did the author use the Island (Nature) in order to describe Robinson Crusoe’s survival?

gurleremel — 2020-09-20 20:36:04 UTC

I/ The author used it in a way to show Robinson’s ignorance

a) He decided to discover and understand the Island

“It was on the 15th of July that I began to take a more particular survey of the island itself” (l.1) “I found after I came about two miles up” (l.2) he uses “I found” a lot of times + “I searched” / “ I saw” / “I saw large plants of aloes, but did not understand them.” / “There were divers other plants, which I had no notion of or understanding about” (l.10)

b) First-person narration: he is describing it

“It was on the 15th of July” (l.1) giving us the date / describing what is surrendering him and how he uses things “ / “I found many pleasant savannahs or meadows, plain, smooth, and covered with grass; and on the rising parts of them, next to the higher grounds, where the water, as might be supposed, never overflowed, I found a great deal of tobacco, green, and growing to a great and very strong stalk.” (l.7-10)

c) Religious references (such as the Garden of Eden, Crusoe looks to see what it has to offer)

“the country appeared so fresh, so green, so flourishing, everything being in a constant verdure or flourish of spring that it looked like a planted garden” / “I found melons upon the ground, in great abundance, and grapes upon the trees”

II/ The author used the Island to emphasize on the concept of home

a) Robinson Crusoe is taking his marks on the Island (places and food)

“I went up the same way again” / days passes / “I was exceeding glad of them; but I was warned by my experience to eat sparingly of them; remembering that when I was ashore in Barbary, the eating of grapes killed several of our Englishmen”

b) He is accepting it as his home

“I had business enough to gather and carry home” / “I came home (so I must now call my tent and my cave)” he appropriated the Island as his home

________________________________

How does DEFOE represent imperialism of Britain in his novel?

francoisalexanep — 2020-09-20 20:46:52 UTC

I) Adaptation to life on the island
a) The discovery of the island:
He describes his experience with "I began to take a more particular survey of the island itself" (l.1). He repeats frequently "I found", which shows that he is in a total discovery phase. He also uses terms that shows that he is lost, such as "I search", "I could find none", "imperfect", "no conclusion", "distress". The fact that he uses time markers shows that he is counting the days.
b) The conquest:
The discovery is deeper than in the beginning of the chapter. Actually, we can see that it is easier for him to survive "I found different fruits, and particularly I found melons upon the ground, in great abundance", "I slept well".

II) The Colonial Aspect
a) The early colonial ideas:
CRUSOE finds a way to to use his discoveries wisely "I found an excellent use for these grapes". We can think that he dominates the island because he appropriates its agriculture. In fact, after discovering several kinds of fruit, we can see that they use agriculture to get more "looked like a planted garden".
b) Crusoe’s settlement
CRUSOE considers himself as the "king and lord of all this country indefensibly, and had a right of possession". This sounds like the definition of imperialism. He sees his affairs as a 'business", and thinks that he is the one who dominates the island.

ploucharde — 2020-09-21 09:34:55 UTC

Robinson Crusoe Chapter 7: How does Defoe represent colonialism through Robinson Crusoe’s tale? I- A detailed description of his arrival: a) A day-by-day account ->There is marks of time like in a diary “15th of July”, “The sixteenth”, “In the night”, in which he describes his day and discoveries. -> he exposes his feelings towards the land and its resources; lexical field of satisfaction; “pleasant”, exceeding glad”, “delicious vale”> he is exploring a new land and explaining how great the place is and how resourceful it is the more he explores it. b) Robinson takes his marks in the place: ->There is a strong sense of experience in the chapter; it is not the first time he ever discovered or explored a land; “I was in the Brazils”, “I was ashore in Barbary”. ->That experience could help him, for example he explains that “the eating of grapes killed several of our Englishmen”, and in order to not get sick, he turned them into raisins >once again the sense of satisfaction “wholesome and agreeable to eat when no grapes could be had” OR not; it also can explain his lack of knowledge. Indeed, in the other countries he explored, he did not pay attention to nature which is crippling in this situation of survival; “no notion of understanding”, “could not find out”, could find none, “contented myself”, “good for little to nothing”. a) His new home? ->He is starting to be familiar with the place “I went up the same way again” strongly because he is mapping the island > multiple use of the word “survey” = almost a scientific approach, “I Searched” + the lexical field of direction “still due north”, “hills on the South” “north side” “homewards”. -> He is indeed appropriating the land as his home; “my habitation” “home ([…]my tent and my cave) => He is approaching the new land as a colonialist; making an account of the place, mapping the place, exploring the possibilities of survival (food). II- An appropriation of the land and it’s goods a) A resourceful land; a sense of providentialism ->Robinson was looking for food to survive and found some after a day of research; “I found different fruits”, “melons […] in great abundance”, “clusters of grapes” “abundance of cocoa trees”… -> This enumeration of many natural and useful resources is described as holy; like the Eden Garden ; “it looked like a planted garden” > simile. Can also be a reference to a cornucopia with the several uses of the noun “abundance”. Therefore, the presence of a godly place can recall to a sense of providentialism; Robinson Crusoe was meant to ashore on this island and discover all those goods and “colonize it”. +There is also the sense of providentialism when he says “I might have it in inheritance as completely as any lord […]” > meaning that he simply inherited this place by god maybe? b) An imperialist and colonial way of thinking ->One of his first discovery of the island is “a great deal of tobacco”, but this is not a useful resources in a situation of survival, his mind is already thinking at his arrival, of a sense of commerce, of money ->Defoe uses several time the word abundance, “business”, “store”> As his journey continues, he is distancing himself from the survival situation, and approaching himself to a more colonialist and imperialist way of thinking; in order to make money or gain power out of this new land for example. -> Furthermore, this sense of power is accentuated in the chapter; he uses different words to describe that he now owns the place ; “this was all my own”, “right of possession”, “Home” >> He owns the place in a sense that he is alone and therefore has control over its resources and land, that’s why he describe himself as “King and lord of all this country” >> sense of political power in a place of wilderness where no power is needed since it appears to be alone.

How does Robinson Crusoe shows that colonisation is deeply rooted in his European mind through his discovery of the island ?

Anne_Maillot — 2020-09-21 11:45:25 UTC

The meticulous discovery if the island
An unknown land

The narrator uses the lexical field of ignorance, « which I had no notion of or understanding about » « which I could not find out », « I knew little ». It shows that he is lost and doesn’t know anything bout this new land.
We clearly see that he doesn’t know anything about this island and this is why on this whole extract he tries to map the land. > he « searched » he « saw » he « discovered » but most importantly he made a « particular survey » of the island.

b) the experience of the narrator

The narrator, as a navigator, knows a little bit about island and this is what saves him.

> we can see that with : « while I was in the Brazils », he is also « remembering that when I was ashore in Barbary »

- This knowledge is allowing him to find familiar thinks to survive such as tobacco, melons, lemon, oranges etc ….

II) the background of the narrator

guided by a colonial point of view

- Robinson views the land as his and tries to see what he can take from it. Indeed as he has had experiences with travelling he thinks he can appropriate and dominate the land.

The fact that he describes the island as a « planted garden » shows that he wants to change everything he can to make it look like his own home, something that could be found on his land.

- « to think that this was all my own; that I was a king and lord of all this country indefensibily »

This shows how the narrator isn’t just surviving on the island but also plans on exploiting it. This sentence also gives a political dimension to the text.

He also uses the lexical filled of trade and wants to exploit the island even more > « business », « store », « gather » ….

b) filled with religious references

This chapter is a great reference to the garden of Eden
It looks like Robinson thinks that everything is here because of God. Because of that he thinks he can use anything and make anything out if this island because he thinks god gave this ressources to HIM.

matthiastroude — 2020-09-21 14:18:28 UTC

How does Robinson’s appropriation of the island convey the British colonialism bias?

I] A first impression far from imperialism

a) The discovery of the island

Very detailed in time (diary) and space (indications). The loneliness (after a tragedy) in an unknown (lexical field of ignorance) and isolated place and the spiritual autobiography angle are far from putting the narrator in a position of domination.

b) Nature, yet so rich, has to be dompted

Nature description: dichotomy between luxurious (“abundance”, “very ripe and rich”, “so fresh, so green, so flourishing”, “wholesome”) and hostility (“fluxes and fevers” and last paragraph). The narrator both finds it beautiful and decides to make the most of it (exploitation and optimization).

II] A religious purpose

a) The religious references and connotations

God is the only reliable entity in this savage, still to be civilized, world. Echoes with Defoe’s religious background.

b) Religion is also where he derives his power on the land.

“king”, “right of possession”, “lord”, “as in England”: English monarchy model. The exclusivity of faith in God on the island justifies such a brutal transformation of the land, just like in colonies. After all, he is the only one to know that it’s all God’s gifts (providentialism).

III] The colonial justification

a) A scientific, almost innocent venture out of curiosity?

The lexical field of science and exploration. The rise of the adventure story genre. In the case of Robinson, the colonization of the island is not the first aim (he is lost there) and it tends to make the readers believe it wasn’t either for the colonists.

b) An overseas experiment responding to contemporary issues in the mainland

The establishment of private property: “Homo oeconomicus”. Accommodating religion and capitalism (link to Protestantism). England is too settled to experiment such reforms and improvements : sense of common good.

Jeanneberthe — 2020-09-21 14:30:14 UTC

How does the European colonialism is linked between Robinson’s state of mind and his tale?

I) Robinson’s European way of thinking

A) omnipresence of the religion

=> Crusoe thinks is here because of God and he hardly think the ressources were made for him to survive. God is guiding him through the tale.

=> All of the ressources he discovers are a reference to the eden garden

B) exploitation of the Island (mostly the ressources) in a colonial point of view

=> Indeed Crusoe thought God put all the fruits and ressources for himself « all my own »

=> Crusoe should survive but his main goal is to exploit the Island « Business, gather etc »

II) His arrival in the Island and it’s daily storytelling

A) The discover of the Island

=> Crusoe is discovering the Island through the point of view of an ignorant (lex field of ignorence). And he reports his journey as an epistolary novel

B) BUT there is a strong sense of experience

=> he refers to his trips (Brazil ans Barbary)

=> ability to map the Island cardinal points

How does the author demonstrate Colonialism through Crusoe’s Adventure story on the island?

kimferat — 2020-09-21 17:51:34 UTC

I)Crusoe’s discovery of the island

a)The diary

->Precise date like a diary. On the first line, “It was on the 15th of July that I began to take a more particular survey of the island itself”. Press on the fact that it is a discovery.

->We know Time and Space of Crusoe’s discovery.

b) The discovery

->The lexical field of the discovery with the repetition of the word “discoveries” (l16,l28,l38).
->The repetition of the word ”I found” (l3, l7, l10, l23, l25, l31,l56).

->“I searched” (l13) “I saw”, “I came”. ..Shows the arrival and the discovery of the land.

->Hyperbole on Crusoe's discovery with “surprising discovery and exceeding glad” (l28).

II)Crusoe’s appropriation of the island.

a)The colonial aspect.

->The word “survey” (l1) expresses the idea of studying precisely the knowledge of the island.

->Appropriation of nature with plants and fruits. “There were diverse other plants, which I had no notion of or understanding about, that might, perhaps, have virtues of their own, which I could not find out”.(l11-12). “In this part I found different fruits, and particularly I found melons upon the ground, in great abundance, and grapes upon the trees” (l24-25)

->“...and the country appeared so fresh, so green, so flourishing, everything being in a constant verdure or flourish of spring that it looked like a planted garden.” This sentence is a graduation monosyllabic in order to

accentuate the appropriation of the landscape.

b)The idea of Imperialism

-> “That I was a king and a lord of all this country indefensibly, and had a right of possession:and if I could convey it, I might have it in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor in England” (l48,l49). He thinks that is the one who must control and dominate the island.
->The importance of trade and manufacturing in the 18th century. More and more important at this time. Crusoe knows how to manage with it:"I found now I had business enough to gather and carry home; and I resolved to lay up a store as well of grapes as limes and lemons..."(l56-57)

III)Religion dimension

a) God is always there to guide.

BaptisteLacroix — 2020-09-21 19:12:02 UTC

To what extent does this extract illustrate colonialism from the point of view of a dissenter ? I) A ‘survey’ of the island 1) A precise space and time ‘It was on the 15th of July’, ‘the sixteenth’, ‘in the night’ ‘up the creek’ ‘two miles up’ ‘On the banks of this brook’ → Realism 2) A report of his actions like a diary Use of the first person : ‘I began’ ‘I went’ ‘I brought’ ‘I found’… He enumerates everything he does → gives rhythm to the passage. 3) An empiricist discovery of the island He studies the island like a scientist, to use all of its resources to survive. ‘There were divers other plants, which I had no notion of or understanding about, that might, perhaps, have virtues of their own, which I could not find out’ → It gives the idea that he is appropriating this land for himself, idea that we can find again later, more clearly :’I was king and lord of all this country indefensibly, and had a right of possession; and if I could convey it, I might have it in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor in England ‘ II) A British vision of this land 1)A religious vision ‘in great abundance’, ‘so fresh, so green, so flourishing’ → ternary rhythm ‘everything being in a constant verdure or flourish of spring that it looked like a planted garden’ → garden of Eden. ‘distress’ → alone with God 2)An adventurer’s vision He has already travelled, and knows how to survive on his own ‘the cassava root, which the Indians, in all that climate, make their bread of’ ‘, I had made so little observation while I was in the Brazils’ → realism 3)An imperialist vision ’I was king and lord of all this country indefensibly, and had a right of possession; and if I could convey it, I might have it in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor in England ‘ → house of Lords: political power which is inaccessible for a merchant.

What influences Robinson Crusoe in his pursue of building himself a life in isolation surrounded by the unknown? I) Empiricism and science - Use of several scientific and logical terms throughout all the excerpt “conclusion”, “survey”, “observations” etc… - Basing his knowledge on his experience: knows not to eat too many grapes bc he saw people dying from them even tho emphasize on how good they look: alliteration in r “clusters of grapes were in their prime, very ripe and rich”. (paragraph 3) Hyperbole “I was exceedingly glad” (paragraph 3) emphasizing how happy he is to have found these opposed to “fluxes and fevers” couplet with alliteration. - Lack of knowledge bc of lack of experience (paragraph 2)  “I had made so little observation while I was in the Brazils, that I knew little of the plants in the field; at least, very little…”. Repetition of “little” to really underline how clueless he is (3 times in the same sentence “little observation”, “knew little”, “very little”) while at the same time, listing of all the plants he found, anaphora “I saw” to make his findings feel more abundant . - Tension between life in society and isolation: knows how and why to dry the grapes (paragraph 3) but not how to transport them (paragraph 8). Knows what to do with and by whom the cassava roots were used but doesn’t know what to do with any of the plants he found. II) Life in society - Keeping track of time, has a calendar/journal keeping, clearly states the date every morning and uses temporary markers such as “the next day”, “the day before”, “all evening”, “first night” etc… which indicate that he becomes more comfortable in the unknown. Even calls his place on the island “home” several times (paragraph 4, 7 and 8). - He familiarizes himself with the unknown which is depicted as something beautiful (which is not common throughout the book)  biblical/ religious references and undertones: “country appeared so fresh, so green, so flourishing” (paragraph 5) anaphora, almost hyperbolic. “everything being in a constant verdure or flourish of spring that it looked like a planted garden.”: References garden of Eden. - Geographical knowledge and lexical field “south”, “north”, “west”, “savannahs”, etc… - Seemingly engraved colonial tendency: simile in paragraph 6 comparing himself to any lord of manor from England. Also tension again between society and individuality can be sensed by the opposition of “pleasure” and “afflicting thoughts”.

maiwennporte — 2020-09-21 19:51:52 UTC

BaptisteLacroix — 2020-09-22 07:04:26 UTC

To what extent does this extract illustrate colonialism from the point of view of a dissenter ?

I) A ‘survey’ of the island

1) A precise space and time

‘It was on the 15th of July’, ‘the sixteenth’, ‘in the night’

‘up the creek’ ‘two miles up’ ‘On the banks of this brook’

→ Realism

2) A report of his actions like a diary

Use of the first person : ‘I began’ ‘I went’ ‘I brought’ ‘I found’…

He enumerates everything he does → gives rhythm to the passage.

3) An empiricist discovery of the island

He studies the island like a scientist, to use all of its resources to survive. ‘There were divers other plants, which I had no notion of or understanding about, that might, perhaps, have virtues of their own, which I could not find out’

→ It gives the idea that he is appropriating this land for himself, idea that we can find again later, more clearly :’I was king and lord of all this country indefensibly, and had a right of possession; and if I could convey it, I might have it in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor in England ‘

II) An English vision of this land

1)A religious vision

‘in great abundance’, ‘so fresh, so green, so flourishing’ → ternary rhythm ‘everything being in a constant verdure or flourish of spring that it looked like a planted garden’ → garden of Eden.

‘distress’ → alone with God

2)An adventurer’s vision

He has already travelled, and knows how to survive on his own

‘the cassava root, which the Indians, in all that climate, make their bread of’ ‘, I had made so little observation while I was in the Brazils’

→realism

3)An imperialist vision

’I was king and lord of all this country indefensibly, and had a right of possession; and if I could convey it, I might have it in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor in England ‘ → house of Lords: political power which is inaccessible for a merchant.

How does the letter depict the paradoxical point of view of Clarissa ?

jujuden2 — 2020-10-04 14:23:38 UTC

I. The Confession of a sad lady

A. She is writing a letter

> epistolary novel, this is the letter XVI of the novel
> she writes to Anna Howe who seems to be her friend because she says "O my dear friend"

B. She is detailing the story to Miss Howe

> she uses the punctuation '!' very often his the text to accentuate her story, narrative discourse, she is enumerating the events during breakfast, enumeration "he took the removed chair, and drew it so near mine, squatting in it with his ugly weight" because she wants to tell everything to her friend detail after detail to make it more real for her.

II. Her destiny against their decision ???

A. This event seen as an infamy ???

> she uses the same structure "trial upon trial, conference upon conference" to compare the breakfast as a judgment because she is feeling the pressure to marry Mr. Solmes from her family (particularly her father)
> she uses the words "odious", "creature" to describe Mr. Solmes to insist on the fact that she hates him and using the word creature reduces him as something non human.

B. She is hoping that her mother will help her ???

> she thinks that her mother would defend her and that she will not marry Mr Solmes with the help of her mother
> she uses the lexical field of good: "kindness", "goodness", "kindly" to describe her mother because she is the only person who could help her.

C. She tries to be a good daughter ???

> she tries to make a good impression to her father because that's him who want to marry her to Mr. Solmes and she doesn't want to disappoint him so she forces herself to be nice to Mr. Solmes even if she hates him. She uses the irony: "Proud spirits may be brought to!" because she asked questions about Mr. Solmes and seems to be interested while she is not because she hates this man.

To what extent does this letter illustrate the evolution of gender equality in the 18th century?

kellycoral — 2020-10-04 17:46:18 UTC

I) The Man, a dark and controlling figure towards women

A) A tense atmosphere
• atmosphere in this text -> dark and tense
- frequent use of dashes = breath-taking
o last paragraph: “I courtesied – Your servant sir […] – but away I went – to find my brother, to save my word” (l. 54-55)

B) The Dominant and confident male

• men appear really confident and dominant in this letter, symbol of the patriarchal society of the 18th century
- anaphora of “man” l. 22-23
- repetition of “the man is (a) very confident” (l. 22-23)
= shows the dominance of the male figure in the family and how the conversation always involves them

C) The characterisation of men, seen as violent and disturbing

• the characterization of the male characters in this text illustrate their violence towards women
- lexical field related to them: pejorative
o ex : “displeased”, “angry” (l. 29), “some airs of insults” (l. 48), “indifferent” (l. 55)
- the consequences of their actions and claims are harmful for Clarissa
o ex : telling = “trembling”, “my face […] all in a glow” (l. 31-32), “offended” (l. 25)
= men use their dominance towards women to subdue them

II) The rise of feminism and gender equality

A) The submission of women

• the mother = the only feminine character who has a voice in this letter after Clarissa
- yet : doesn’t say an explicit word about the father yelling at her daughter or Solmes’ embarrassing actions = submissive, women can’t say what they think and must obey to the male figure
o instead : got around the subject discreetly
 ex chiamus : “Make tea, child, said my kind mamma; sit by me, love, and make tea.” (l. 33)
= symbol of women’s submissions to their husbands

B) The praise of the woman figure

• characterization of the woman = positive and encouraging
- the mother = the only feminine character who has a voice in this letter after Clarissa
- device used to express that: showing
o lexical field when talking about the mother: very positive
 ex : “kindness”, “condescension” (l. 39) “encouraging goodness” (l. 41)
o chiasmus (l. 33), its effects = musicality in her voice = positive and relaxing
 “Make tea, child, said my kind mamma; sit by me, love, and make tea.”
= mother : symbol of women’s solidarity

C) Clarissa, a symbol of feminism’s awakening

• 17th Century : Puritanism increased the patriarchal control in the family
- women lost legal personhood upon marriage
- women had nothing to say concerning the choice of their husbands
o it was the role of the parents

• 18th Century : Age of Enlightenment
- gender equality and feminism were becoming popular
- tolerance was advocated towards women
o could have a bigger role in choosing their partner

• this shift of thinking is illustrated in the text with :
- rhetorical question (l. 2-3) “but what law, what ceremony, can give a man a right to a heart which abhors him more than it does any living creature?”
- litote (l. 16) : “those we love not, cannot do anything to please us”
= symbol of the awakening of feminism

How does the writer convey the inner conflict of Clarissa’s character so clearly to the reader?

maiwennporte — 2020-10-04 17:58:56 UTC

I) Clarissa as the narrator

- Epistolary novel. In this excerpt Clarissa is narrating her day, (first person singular) à the reader can therefor clearly tell how she feels and has access to her thoughts. “very uneasy heart” (l.11) for example or “I removed with pleasure” (l. 34).

- Imagery of Clarissa’s isolation and struggle to fit somewhere. From paragraph 4 to 7, the writer gives the reader the unpleasant impression of being cornered through the writing of Clarissa’s character, desperately trying to escape Slomes.

- Parallelism and repetition “trial and trial, conference upon conference” à suggests the length and exhausting character of what she’s going through. Really seems to take a tole on her and her well-being. Also anaphora of what in “what law, what ceremony ?” emphasizes how desperate she is.

- Aphorism: “those we love not, cannot do any thing to please us.” Fact tone, makes her opinion sound like a general truth, trying to convey sense and wisdom.

II) Clarissa and the others

- Solmes as the worst person that’s ever existed in Clarissa’s eyes à Solmes negative lexical field of ugliness and non-humanity: “creature”, “ugly weight”, “wretch”, “odious”.

Alliteration in s: “odious Solmes, sitting asquat”, suggests snake like qualities, also negative.

Hyperbole and exaggeration: “which abhors him more than it does any living creature”. Really highlights her hatred towards Solmes.

- Her Mom’s positive lexical field and descriptive words: “kind”, “encouraging goodness”, “kindness”, etc really contrast her attitude towards Solmes.

- Her father is also referred to as having spoken “kindly”. She even gets over her aversion for Solmes and asks questions only to make peace with her Father.

- The individual versus society à Doesn’t want to disappoint her father and overall family but also absolutely doesn’t want to marry Solmes which is really clear with the contrast between the description of her family and Solmes.

To what extent Clarissa is constrained to do what she does not want to do in the excerpt ?

baptisteleverrier — 2020-10-04 19:23:53 UTC

I) She does not love Mr. Solmes
a) She depreciates Mr. Solmes.
> Enumeration of degrading terms regarding Mr Solsmes: « Odious » ; « wretch » ; « ugly weight ».When she talks about him it is just to say that Mr. Solmes is a horrible person as much as his behaviour, as his face and as his personnality is concerned.
b) She tries to avoid him
> Every time that Mr. Solmes tries to approach her Clarissa flees or rather intends to flee because her father recalls her to let him do when he comes. It is finally at the 3rd opportunity that she succeed when everybody have gone. Creates feelings of scare.

c) He frightens her
At the beginning of the letter Clarissa uses the lexical fields of justice « trial » ; « conference » ; « law » ; « ceremony ». Those relevant terms points out the fact that she faces something very formal and worrying as if she was in court and had to sue her torturer in justice. She expresses many times that she « hopes » as if she had made everything to stop her struggle and that now it was not anymore up to her. She evokes about Mr. Solmes that he is « bold » and makes a discrepancy with her which seems to scare her. She qualifies him as a « staring man » on line 2 as if was paying attention to her in order to hurt her whenever he could.
II) She does not want to confront her father
a) She does whatever her father asks
Clarissa is very submitted to her father whom is an authoritarian figure in the passage he talks a little but when he does it is to give orders to his family. Her father is such authoritarian that he just needs to pronounce Clarissa's full name and she obeys to what he wants.
b) She tries to shelter herself from her father thanks to her mother
Her mother is a shield against her father and she has high-esteem for her she is the only
person in the room who has the priviledge to be well-described on line 18 « My mother was all kindness and condescension. »

samrivet1 — 2020-10-04 21:11:45 UTC

To what extent the patriarchal society of the 18^th century is depicted in this letter?

I/ The vision of Men in the 18^th century

a) The characterization of Clarissa’s father

· Violent, degrading

· Seem cold and impressive: gradation: l.22 and 23: “But this was not enough to daunt him. The man is a very confident, he is a very bold, staring man!—Indeed, my dear, the man is very confident”

· Choleric temperament: l.29 and 30: “my father was excessively displeased. When angry, no man's countenance ever shews it so much as my father's. Clarissa Harlowe! said he with a big voice”

· Superior, dominant, intimidating, stronger to women:

o Clarissa nicknamed his father: “the man”: anaphora: “the man is (a) very confident” (l. 22-23), “pleased” (l. 39-40), “but” (l. 55)

b) The heavy Setting

· Amosphere = ominous, threatening: Clarissa is afraid by his father:

o Father = described as “bold” and “confident” l.22

o Anaphora of “very” l.22 and 23 = show that men do not question themselves as women do.

o Internal focalization of the eponymous hero: l.11 “uneasy heart”, l.31: “trembling and courtesying”, l.55: “I went—to find my brother, to save my word”

II/ Women place during the 18^th century

a) Women: allegory of wisdom ???

· Kind sweet: lexical field of love + compassion through a chiasmus: “make tea, child, said my kind mamma; sit by me, love, and make tea”, l.39: “My mother was all kindness and condescension”

· Clarissa = main protagonist + intradiegetic + homodiegetic narrator = melancholy temperament + agrees to do whatever her family members ask her to do: hyperbole: l.38: “with an air of triumph and scorn: but I did not mind her”, l.40 and 41: “she was pleased with all I did. I was very proud of this encouraging goodness”

· Clarissa compares her mom to god to qualify her kindness: l.41: “this encouraging goodness”

b) The submission of women

· Clarissa has to obey to her father asks her to do:

o Ex: she put a chair closer to M. Solmes otherwise her father gets angry: l. 30 to 32: “Clarissa Harlowe! said he with a big voice […] and put my chair nearer the wretch, and sat down”

· Women can’t say what they really think

III/ Clarissa breaks the 18^th century codes

a) Clarissa shows her discontent toward men in her letter

· Clarissa doesn’t understand men’s attitude towards women

o So: she is looking for answers: rhetorical question: l.2 and 3: “But what law, what ceremony, can give a man a right to a heart which abhors him more than it does any living creature”

· She begins to feel more and more contempt for men: hyperbole: l.14 and 15 “the odious Solmes”, Euphemism: l.17 to 19: “Had the wretch kept his seat, it might have been well enough: but the bend and broadshouldered creature must needs rise, and stalk towards a chair, which was just by that which was set for me.”

b) Clarissa differentiate herself from women of the 18^th century

· Clarissa’s father argued with her when she moved away from M. Solmes with her chair

· Clarissa has no pity for men as she left alone M. Solmes because it is above her strength: hyperbolic metaphor: l.55: “to save my word”

= Clarissa = the figure of feminism

Why does this extract is the depiction of the position of the women in the 18th century ?

Anne_Maillot — 2020-10-05 13:12:38 UTC

The portraits of men in the extract

a) Clarissa’s relationship with the patriarchal figure in her life

her father isn’t nice with her as a paternal figure could be now > he is very violent towards his daughter. He is depicted as a bold, cold man > no trust in the relationship
The father is filled with anger > they seem to find it normal > eg : l29, l30-32
The fact that Clarissa always calls her dad « the man » in the extract shows that they do not have a father/daughter relationship but a superior to inferior relationship

b) The depiction of the 18th century males.

Repetitions of the words « man » , especially line 22-23 shows how they are the focus point of the conversations.
Clarissa is afraid Mr Solsmes > he seems to still be doing anything he wants around her > we can find an enumeration of adjective around the lexical filed of disgust
She finds comfort and a possible shelter from the men in the only woman in her life : her mother > it shows how men in the 18th century are dominant

II) The woman’s portait in in the extract

The submission

Clarissa seems to be doing anything her father wants and wants to do nothing to displease him

> she does whatever she is told to do, she can’t think or do something by herself

Even if her mother could disagree with Clarissa’s father, as her mother she couldn’t possibly stand up for clarissa or give her opinion

> woman submission to their father, their husbands and male in general

b) Early feminism

a positive lexical fiel is associated to women in the extract opposed to the violent lexical fiel given to men.
The fact that she shows her unhappiness in the letter is important : it gives Clarrisa a voice that she couldn’t possibly have + she is the narrator in her story
L41 : her mother is godlike > important in the novel

How does this extract represent 18th century literature in the United Kingdom ?

elizabethchauvel — 2020-10-05 18:52:50 UTC

I. Quite different characters

1. The narrator

A girl who knows what she wants but must behave according to the society (has to obey her father for instance)

2. The father

A respectable man, who wants the best for his family, and wants his daughter to marry Mr. Solmes (he probably has money)

3. Mr. Solmes

Seems pretty hateful, as described by the narrator, who does not want to marry him (she does not like him at all).

II. A basic ??? scene in the context of the time

1. The theme of the arranged marriage

This theme was very often used at that time, especially the girl who does not want to get married to a man she does not like.

2. The opposite attitudes of the parents

The mother is kind and a bit erased behind the posture of her husband, who rules the house.

3. The attitude of the rest of the family

Her brother and sister do not try to help her out with this situation. They obey the father and do not interfere with his intentions.

III. A typical English background

1. The letter used as a confession

The narrator tells her "adventures" to a friend ; she writes to her friend. At that time, people were writing a lot and telling stories through letters is a method used by several writers.

2. The breakfast

This scene takes place during breakfast, as often in books of this time (such as in Pride and Prejudice). They serve tea and talk in the living room.

3. The respect??? between the characters

The characters respect one another. The girl does not disobey her father directly and do not contradict him in public. Mr. Solmes calls the narrator "Madam" which creates some respectful distance for instance.

What does the author use to illustrate gender roles in the 18th society?

kimferat — 2020-10-05 19:30:17 UTC

I) An epistolary novel

The narrator of this letter.

->Clarissa, a young lady, is writing a letter to her friend Miss Howe. “O my dear friend” l1.
->She is the protagonist of this letter, she is in the center: “I have had a sad conflict” l1, “I concluded my last in a fright” l7 and the repetition of “I” in the whole letter indicates that the reader follows Clarissa’s feelings, thoughts and actions.

2. The realism of the letter.

->The letter seems really realistic because we have the precise date “FRIDAY, MARCH 3”.

->The reader follows Clarissa in her real life with her family and her relations between them. “I hope my mother will be able to prevail for me” l6. The reader is in Clarissa’s privacy which makes the letter absolutely realistic.

II)The representation of women in the 18th society.
1.The young lady’s distress.

->The use of repetitions on this letter is important. ”Trial upon trial; conference upon conference! But what law, what ceremony, can give a man a right to a heart which abhors him more than it does any living creature ?” l1-2.

This sentence expresses Clarissa’s distress with the repetition of “trial” and “conference” and “what”. This sentence also lists the lexical field of justice with “trial”, “law” and “right”.

->”uneasy heart” l12, “unluckily” l14. The repetition of the prefix “un” points out Clarissa's opposition to M Solmes.

2. The young lady’s mother.

->Clarissa’s mother is described by Clarissa as kind. “Make tea, child, said my kind mamma; sit by me, love, and make tea” l12 and “My mother was all kindness and condescension” l18. The word “kind” in the two sentences demonstrates that Clarissa’s mother is a loving and affectionate mother.

III)The representation of men in the 18th society.

1. The young lady’s father.

->“But this was not enough to daunt him. The man is a very confident, he is a very bold, staring man!—Indeed, my dear, the man is very confident” l22-l23

Clarissa called her father “the man” which shows that Clarissa is intimidated by her father.

The word “very” is to accentuate her father’s description.

->“my father was excessively displeased. When angry, no man's countenance ever shews it so much as my father's. Clarissa Harlowe! said he with a big voice” l19-l30

This sentence shows the aggressive behaviour and superiority of her father.

2. Mr Solmes.

-> A degrading term to describe Mr Solmes, “the odious Solmes” l15. Clarissa is not interested in him.

In what way does this extract illustrate the opposition between the position of men and women in the 18th century?

BaptisteLacroix — 2020-10-05 20:12:51 UTC

I) A woman as main character

1) A female narrator

Epistolary novel → the narrator is the person writing the letter. Here, the narrator is Clarissa. This letter is about her, and about an event that occurred during the day.

2) A precise context

Precise date: ‘FRIDAY, MARCH 3’

Addressee: Clarissa’s friend ‘Miss Howe’ ‘O my dear friend’

→ Realism

II) The position of men as dominant beings.

1) Mr. Solmes as Clarissa’s suitor
Mr Solmes is presented as ‘very confident’. She insists on that point: ‘with so much assurance in his looks!’ (l.15), ‘ The man is a very confident, he is a very bold, staring man!-Indeed my dear, the man is very confident.’ (l.22-23)

→ He frightens her.

2) Clarissa’s father as the dominant figure of his family.
Clarissa’s father is presented as an angry man. ‘my father was excessively displeased. When angry, no man’s countenance ever shews it so much as my father’s’. She is scared of him. ‘trembling’ (l.10).

=> men are scary and dangerous to Clarissa, but she knows how to flatter them: ‘all blew over, as I hoped, between my father and me; for he also spoke kindly to me two or three times’.

III) The position of women as dominated but united beings

1) Women as dominated beings
In this scene, women seem to be dominated by men. Clarissa is the target of Mr. Solmes’ advances, but she pushes him away → her father gets irritated because she wasn’t supposed to resist ‘I saw that my father was excessively displeased’ (l.8)→ theme of arranged marriage: her father decided that Mr. Solmes was a good match for Clarissa, and didn’t expect her to be disrespectful.

2) Women as united beings.
When Clarissa resists from Mr. Solmes’ advances, her mother is kind to her ‘my kind mamma’ (l.13), ‘My mother was all kindness and condescension’ (l.18), ‘she was pleased with all I did’ (l.19).

→ ‘I was very proud of this encouraging goodness’ = The support of her mother makes the situation easier for her.

To what extent does Richardson depict the gender roles of the 18th C? I. The letter of a Young Women a) An epistolary excerpt>Lexical field of time; “Friday, March 3”, “whole night”, “yesterday afternoon”…>First person singular (aka use of I in the whole letter)> We know that we are going to follow the story of a young 18th century girl in the familial cocoon, and therefore, have access to her feelings.>Use of parenthesis to show her exact thought of the moment; “(all I had heard, as I said, in my head)”b) Clarissa’s conflicted letter>She seems desperate; lexical field of her own negativity “sad conflict, “very uneasy heart”, “offended”= their parents “forced” her to take Mr.Solmes as husband, and she is in a tough situation because she does not like him at all (we’ll see that later on).>Repetition+ anaphora “Trial upon trial; conference upon conference!”> for the readers, it shows how desperate she is and how she is strangled by the situation>Tense atmosphere> in the end of the text there is a lot of pauses; “[…]in an approaching posture.—I will save my brother the trouble of bringing to me his curiosity, said I. I courtesied—Your servant, sir—The man cried, Madam, Madam, twice, and looked like a fool.—But away I went—to find my brother, to save my word.—But my brother […]” = she is either very emotional of the unwanted situation, or she had to finish like she could her letter (because as long has she didn’t agree to marry Mr. SOlmes, she wasn’t supposed to write letters)II. Depreciation of the male figureI. Described and dominant and annoying>As for Solmes;There is the repetion of “this man is very confident”; his presence is overwhelming in a bad way apparently.Bad lexical field of the man ;” odious Solmes”, bend and broad- shouldered creature…>several uses of “man”>> the man in this text is dominant, Solmes plays an annoying game with the chairs, and his father has a voice in Clarissa’s letter ; “Clarissa Harlowe! said he with a big voice”II. Threatening patriarchal figureAs said above, his father is important; he is a figure of the violent father in his words at least;  Lexical field of violence; “excessively displeased, angry, “big voice” Therefore, Clarisssa is afraid of her dad, and we may say of the dominant position of men in general; she’s “trembling and courtesying”> a binary feel. Lexical field of Justice> trial, “law”,”right”> the man is stating how she should live and she’s imprisoned in that way until she marries Mr.SolmesIII. The position of the women in the text, feminism ?a) Women’s praise>Her mother is the only one described positively, she may embody women’s solidarity (later used in Girl power movements?)>positive lexical field ;” encouraging goodness”, kindness and condescension, “kind mamma”.>She also has a voice in this letter, meaning that she’s also an important figure, but opposed to the violent figure of the father, she’s is the nice parent (the nice gender according to Clarissa??)b) Women have to be nice (or so-called submissive)>Clarissa is a good young woman that obeys her father; she moves her chair after her father asked so ; […]and put my chair nearer the wretch, and sat down[…]”. >Her mom doesn’t defend her daughter after being yelled at because she didn’t want to site aside her supposed “future husband”; indeed she only change conversation by asking her to make tea “Make tea, child, said my kind mamma; sit by me, love, and make tea.”. But it can also be a way for her mother to help her in disguise of her husband, by letting her sit close to her .

ploucharde — 2020-10-05 21:46:20 UTC

How does Richardson lay the foundation for more modern forms of romance (as defined by Walter Scott) ?

hugoshummartin — 2020-10-07 16:36:28 UTC

I Epistolary narration

a Intradiegetic eavesdropping

*The form of the letter

It would not suffice for a reader to be told 'this is a letter' and then be served something that looks identical to any other piece of prose. The mentioning of the letter's sender and recipient, with an effet de réel (Barthes) time statement in square brackets, and proper dating contribute to creating a more perfect epistolary illusion.

*All discourse and narrative discourse

No quotation marks 'Clarissa Harlowe' l9 & 'Mae tea, child [...] sit by me, love, and make tea' l12 & 'Proud spirits may be brought to!' l16 and many more. Perhaps, I daresay, a prefiguration of stream of consciousness?

*Implied relatability over reliability...

'I could not help it. - I knew not what I did' implies weakness and lack of control, uncharacteristic of a narrative voice, traditionally meant to organise a tale. Dashes & interruptions galore solidify idea that this is an account, drawn from a memory doing its best to reconstruct event lived through, w constant reminder through anaphoric 'I' at the beginning of several sentences & indeed paragraphs of the directly personal involvement of the narrator in the narration -> appeal to emotions rather than to reason for justifying the veracity of the tale told.

b Homodiegetic eaveasdropping on the eavesdropper

*... but is a god that reliable in the first place?

The idea that the authority of a particular narrator may be disputed leads to the question of the legitimacy of the traditional omniscient narrator, whose overarching perspective imperceptibly lulls the reader into a false sense of certainty. Hence, as much as the reader would not question the latter, so is he invited to give credence to the former.

*Narrative potentiality made evident

It is a consequence of the previous point that any character may be made to be the narrator of a version of the story told, rendering the quest for the one fair judgment and the one truthful account of events a futile one. Hence does the interest of Clarissa lie in the novelty of its female narrator, building up from, say, Mme de La Fayette's La Princesse de Clèves, a narrative w a female protagonist and a likely female narrator, but still a detached, omniscient one.

*The particular voice standing up to the whole

The abundance of exclamation marks engages the reader, and the abundance of interruptions, of non sequiturs adding details to the information provided, convey a sense of urgency, fleshing out a character incapable of the calm a detached omniscient narrator could afford. Contrary to convention, the angel is in the details.

c Voyeuristic eavesdropping on the eavesdropper's eavesdropper

*We are not meant to be reading this

The reader does not question how the author is meant to have come in possession of these letters, presented as genuine, much like Montesquieu's Lettres Persannes. Of course the reader does not mistake Clarissa for non-fiction, but the implied narrator he is to reconstruct is as ungentlemanly as they come, when it comes to discretion and respecting one's privacy, contributing to an early deconstruction of the narrator's authority and paving the way for unreliable narration, such as in Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier.

*Novelty comes at a price: that of moral sacrifice...

The reader who continuously engages in reading Clarisse in spite of the aforementioned moral gripe is complicit w the implied narrator, acting as a coup de grace to the epic or folk's tale genre, made to be told orally before an assembly or at least a familiar public, and paving the way for the near-soliptic intimacy that would define romanticism in literature.

*... paving the way, perhaps, for a new moral order

Going into particulars, although an implied woman's privacy is impliedly being violated, this yang comes w the yin of being made aware of the existence of a female perspective period, which may not have been the case for the layman at the time - see II.

II Human hearts laid out bare

a The heart of man

*Callous and insensitive

The misbehavings (from Clarisse's perspective) of each man involved were severe enough that they led to her reporting them in this desperate letter as essential to be brought to the knowledge of the friend Miss Howe. This includes the harassing Solmes & the complicit brother and father. Father both 'excessively displeased' and man of 'countenance' -> antithesis suggests contradiction in the authority men think themselves entitled to.

*Persistent and oblivious

Repeat former argument but focusing on Solmes alone, who is the subject of the entire letter, with his harassment succeeding, in a way, as the character's obession w Clarissa leads to Clarissa having to demonstrate obsession w Solmes back as a precondition to fighting it back. In the words of Epictetus: 'You who would not suffer to have s.o else take hold of your body, why do you let them take hold of your mind?' The answer to which lies in the social situation of Clarissa, whose family's main goal w her is to get her married. Solmes' assurance of his getting what he wants is thwarted by Clarissa escaping his company ('the man cried, Madam, Madam, twice, and looked like a fool'), demonstrating that although her mind is made to be chained to his thought, she can still subtract her body away from him.

*Reflected in man's entire being

Character of Solmes described as 'odious', 'wretch' & 'creature', as a person of 'ugly weight'; depreciative vocabulary which point to physiognomonic considerations, as the character's moral failings are reflected in their physical appearance, but also an early deconstruction of physiognomony to an extent, as this is merely the effect of the tale being told from the non-reciprocating character's point of view, and another version of the text, written either from Solmes' perspective or that of a character more favourable to them, may not conjure up such an image of the man.

b The heart of woman

*A truth universally acknowledged by the narrator

Develop and elaborate on gnomic 'But you know, my dear, that those we love not, cannot do any thing to please us.'

*A truth universally acknowledged period

Develop and elaborate on woman's knack for social observation.

*Cheek and gibes can break man's yoke

l35-6 'A plain case, that he had left his curiosity w me, & designed to shew me no other' Thinking woman nurtures her mind and defiance against those who would arrange her fate through wit and the sharing thereof w a fellow woman (Miss Howe).

c The heart of kin

*Immediately supporting mother

'Kind mamam'; Build onto women's knack for social observation, add same sex cohesion and support to the mix. Essentially a combination of the two last points of 2-b with an insinuation that familial bonds are stronger than the war of the sexes so as to lead to the last point of 2-c in opposition w the second point of 2-c.

*Hostile brother and father...

Repeat the first point of 2-a, question familal bonds' relative strength as introduced in the previous point.

*... but father and brother still

'No man's countenance' bit still compliment in a way, as although suggested to be a bad thing, the father is still superlatively the best of all men in enforcing his authority, plus 'and all blew over, as I hoped, between my father and me; for he also spoke kindly to me two or three times'; 'My brother gave himself some airs of insult, which I understood well enough; but which Mr. Solmes could make nothing of' brother still at least one step above in the hierarchy of awful. Restore the pre-previous point to its glory while adding some ambiguity in reminding that going against Clarissa's mind might be perceived by the family as a whole as beneficial and doing her good in spite of herself.

III The theatre within

a Imperishable poesy

*Prose is never quite prose - list all stylistic devices

l15 Alliteration as mentioned in the lesson, w last syllable of 'odious' resonating

l22-3 'Small accidents these, my dear, to trouble you with; only as they lead to greater, as you
shall hear.' dissect how rhyme-sounding this line is

l1-2 'The man is a very confident, he is a very bold, staring man! - Indeed, my dear, the man is very confident.' repetition, a device to drill words into the reader's head, a purpose shared w the rhythm and rimes of rhymes

etc.

b Discreet drama

*Like characters upon a stage

The entire last paragraph is a succession of dialogues and stage directions.

*Caricatural characters

Identify Solmes to Pantalone, brother to Arlecchino, father to Il Dottore.

*Layers of eavesdropping

The conversation 'overheard'; repeat the whole of part I, putting it all under the aegis of theatre.

c A bourgeois tragedy

*Woe is the hero

Vocative 'O' taken straight from Ancient Greek, hubristic protagonist who want to deport themselves away from their condition, and their terrible tribulations.

*The romance hero subverted

In medieval romance, Solmes would be the hero doing all that is in his power to have his one-way love reciprocated by the fair lady; in Clarisse, the fair lady is the hero doing everything in its power not to have to pretend reciprocate the one-way love of which she is the object.

*Much ado about not much

No gory deaths by the thousands or brave souls crippled by the gods? This comfortable, high-class main character does not have it so bad.

Ccl
*Pioneering modernity
*Good literature makes man more cognizant of the heart and its whereabouts (Johnson)
*Pioneering not only novel-writing as a whole, but a more acute romance-writing

How does Wollstonecraft compare the vision of the woman in the society and the role of the men ?

elizabethchauvel — 2020-10-12 16:10:34 UTC

I. The artificial vision of the woman in the society

1. An artificial way to see women
They are forced to look perfect > makeup, clothes, behaviour, body etc.

2. The practical role of the woman
She is the one speaking when allowed, taking care of the children, making sure everything is fine for them and her husband -> she does not have the right to work

3. A slave to sensibility
The woman has to know where she belongs, what is her place. -> stay quiet, looks like almost an object

II. The lack of virtue

1. The woman looks like a decoration
She has to know how to behave with the others, how to speak, etc.

2. Lying to protect appearances
they look perfect but when nobody's around they can criticize and insult people behind their back BEcAUSE society wants them not to tell the truth

3. No power makes them weak
they cannot use the same rights as their husbands, they are forced to keep quiet, they don't have anything else than their family. That makes them powerless against the society

III. The defense of the women by the author

1. They should have access to the truth
Women shouldn't be kept apart from what people truly think of them, and they should be able to enlarge their knowledge.

2. Wollstonecraft denounces the lack of rights that women have
They are considered inferior to the men
They should know their "faculties" and "strength"
They should be able to work

3. The criticism of men's power
The author says the men have too much power, that's the tragedy of a woman's life. The fact that they have to disappear behind their husband is what makes them vulnerable.

How does Mary Wollstonecraft lay out, in a nearly-prophetic polemic tone, plans not only for women’s independence, but also for the progress and embetterment of mankind as a whole?

hugoshummartin — 2020-10-12 18:21:46 UTC

I A pamphlet to strike the minds

a) Starkly-held positions
Not narration, but discourse, made to catch the reader’s attention through opinionated turns of phrase (L7-8 ‘I will, go further, and affirm, as an indisputable fact’), hyperbolic formulations (L12 ‘the baneful consequences’), several gnomic statements about the nature and condition of man and woman, & a mixture of recent and classical references (the famed philosopher himself; L29 ‘Sybarites’; L1 ‘Roman Emperors’) sure to pique reader’s interest, ready to ridicule the grandeur of the form, should the substance lack in turn, or adhere to the latter, should it be on par w the former

b) The misanthrope’s posture
Begins w the first person & a wisecrack at an enlightenment philosopher, as intrusive and indeed sarcastic L1 ‘probably’ suggests: bold irreverence goes hand in hand w the critical eye of the critical ‘I’; §3 personal outraging anecdote, commonplace among hotheaded orators seeking to grant substance to their indignation; last § -> false hypothetical concealing a certitude introduced by rhetorical ‘perhaps’, pessimistic statement about the present condition of man as immensely perfectible (that is to say, much worse than he could and perhaps ought to be), which coincides w Rousseau’s revised perception of Molière's atrabilaire amoureux

c) Struggle against imposture
It is in the chapter’s title, ‘the prevailing opinion’, to be understood as ‘against the prevailing opinion’; deconstruction invites cheek, hence the seemliness of the author’s unseemliness; a counter-argument to the style being too testy, without going even a bit into the crux of Wollstonecraft’s philosophy, would be that it would be as absurd to develop such ideas as hers in a poised and detached manner as it would have been for Demosthenes to have attempted to embolden the Greeks against the tyrans from Macedon w treatises on mathematics

II Feminist indignation

a) Calling out the cruel queens in cages...
The majority of the excerpt through, the behaviours of men are denounced in a smaller quantity than those of women, and whereas the former’s are evasively suggested as a collective or represented by such categories as L1 ‘Roman Emperors’, the latter’s are made all the more vivid by how the clearly-identified characters of §3 apostrophise the female reader on a more personal level; this text conveys not so much a struggle against the male reader as it does a call for the female reader to rally the struggle

b) ... who are the instruments of perpetuating patriarchy
§3

c) Nurture corrupts nature
L6-7 'Girls and boys, in short, would play harmless together, if the distinction of sex was not inculcated long before nature makes any difference'

III Positivist prophecy

a) C'est la faute à Rousseau
‘Women are everywhere in this deplorable state’ heavily reminiscent of the very first lines from The Social Contract ; Wollestoncraft aims to turn not only Rousseau the misogynist's view of women on its head, but also Rousseau the dark man of the Enlightenment's backwards thinking as a whole, unknowingly denouncing in anticipation the retrograde/obscurantist irrationality of the partly-Rousseau-bred romanticism of the following century

b) Temet nosce
Biblical reference in the last paragraph: evil men know yourselves, ye 'Roman Emperors' or copycats thereof, for as you free the thousands upon thousands who must suffer under your libido dominandi, so, too, will you liberate yourselves therefrom; L18-20 dichotomy proved to be a yin and a yang, as mutely announced by L6-7

c) γνῶθι σεαυτόν
L4-5 turn more modern understanding of ‘innocence’ on its head in favour of an etymological understanding: they who do not know; 'wild' women alone being led to becoming 'rational creatures' is no contradiction, but an expression of the indisputably retrograde nature of keeping a woman (or a man) in ignorance, thereby preventing their edifying themselves as human beings, making females (and males) out of them, perhaps, but never women (or men)

Ccl
*Mary Wollstonecraft is an accomplished pamphleteer
*Mary Wollstonecraft is also the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Men
*Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindications are anti-Frankenstein

To what extent does the author demonstrate that women are regarded as distinct from men?

kimferat — 2020-10-13 09:10:14 UTC

The observation of the author ??? good point but awkward title: observation < experience < John Locke

1) At the beginning of the text, the author uses twice the word “observation”

l1:”I have, probably, had an opportunity of observing more girls in their infancy than J.J. Rousseau.”
->Jean Jacques Rousseau liked to use absurd arguments about women.

l8:”I will, go further, and affirm, as an indisputable fact, that most of the women in the circle of my observation…”

2) The author points out a few examples with women that she knows.

l8-9 “That most of the women in the circle of my observation”

l21-22 “I once knew a weak woman of fashion, who was more than commonly proud of her delicacy and sensibility”

2. False characterization of Women

1)Good wife, or mother

l13-15 “... dependence of body naturally produces dependence of mind; and how can she be a good wife or mother, the greater part of whose time is employed to guard against or endure sickness…”

2)Notions of beauty

l16-17 “...if artificial notions of beauty, and false descriptions of sensibility, have been early entangled with her motions of action.”

l19-20 “... but genteel women are, literally speaking, slaves to their bodies, and glory in their subjection.”

->The author thinks that the body and the mind must be developed together.

3. Education : fake?

1) Women’s Education

l37-39 “Women are everywhere in this deplorable state; for, in order to preserve their innocence, as ignorance is courteously termed, truth is hidden from them, and they are made to assume an artificial character before their faculties have acquired any strength.

l39-41“Taught from their infancy, that beauty is woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison”

2) Men’s Education develop the pt: space vs confinement

l41-44 “Men have various employments and pursuits which engage their attention, and give a character to the opening mind; but women, confined to one, and having their thoughts constantly directed to the most insignificant part of themselves, seldom extend their views beyond the triumph of the hour”

->The effects of societal domination of men, limited women activities and opinions.

How does Mary Woolstonecraft explain women's condition and their lack of education in the 18th century?

jujuden2 — 2020-10-14 09:23:27 UTC

I) Division between sexes

A) Separation in the infancy

Distinction between “girls and boys” as if they were raised differently and two different human being difference between two human beings
Sybarites reference > Greek and Italian > only searching for pleasure and women are seen only as an object to bring pleasure to men

B) Women are raised to become perfect

lexical field of sensibility, delicacy, weakness(repetition 5 times)
women are raised “to be a good wife or mother” as if women were only acknowledged for their quality as women (cooking, giving birth to children)
The importance of appearance of women as the only tool to succeed in life
“exquisite sensibility” of women > oxymoron of 2 words to reinforce the sensibility of women seen as a good thing because it allows men to evolve and women to be stopped by their sensibility in their lives.

II) Women’s submission to men and their lack of education

A) Women are hiding their true self

* critique of these women who do not stand for themselves > hyperbole of “the heigh of the human perfection” women should rebel to gain equality between men and women > right to vote which could bring the equality as its paroxysm and right to vote can give women education about politic because they are seen as stupid because they don’t have access to education because limited by men
women have to become dependent of the body, sensible,
women reduced to “artificial beauty” and by their body > discredit their potential power against men
> “false description of sensibility” > they are playing a role (like in theatre) to prove their weakness in order to submit to men

B) Men are stopping women’s evolution in order to be the strongest

men compared to the “fair sex” as the only sex who can be acknowledge, reference to the world “men” representing human beings in general
men describe as “evil” > Bible reference because the unable women to evolve in the world
men describe as “tyrant” > political reference because men are running the political world to enable women to do it, to have the monopole of the world

2020-10-18 16:59:50 UTC

To what extent does this letter praise charity through a humorous narrative?

kellycoral — 2020-11-07 10:14:58 UTC

I) An epistolary novel

A) Realist elements

• reference to realist places
- “London”
- “Marlborough Downs”

• temporal elements
- “Tuesday last”

B) Theatrical details

• elements in brackets can be interpretated as “stage directions” in theatre, that is to say, indications about the performance of actors in a play, and those elements are present through the entire letter
- “cried she”, “replied the ‘squire with a sarcastic smile”
- “who had likewise quitted his horse”, “cried my uncle, still laughing”

II) A humoristic travel

A) The singularity of the journey

• sarcastic and useless details given concerning Tabitha in the accident
- “who had lost her cap in the struggle”
= superficial representation of Tabitha
- also: doesn’t care about anyone but Chowder in the accident

• reference to the theme of the body in the accident
- Matthew Bramble using Winifred’s posteriors to get out of the carriage
o “having made use of poor Win’s posteriors as a step to rise in his ascent”

B) The struggle about Chowder

• contrast between Tabitha’s point of view about Chowder and the others’
- Tabitha
o use of an elaborative diacope “Chowder! Chowder! my dear Chowder! my poor Chowder is certainly killed!”
o anaphora “I know” : “I know your mind—I know the spite you have to that poor un- fortunate animal! I know you intend to take his life away!’” (very dramatic aswell)
- Matthew’s sarcastic opinion on Chowder
o “an object so amiable and inoffensive”
- Footman : speech mannerism and swearwords
o “damn the nasty son of a bitch”

III) A life lesson: Matthew Bramble, a charitable hero

A) A report of the poor social class…

• survey of social classes and especially the poor embodied by Humphry Clinker and the theme of the body
- pejorative description of his body
o “sickly yellow complexion”, “his looks denoted famine”, “the rags that he wore could hardly conceal what decency requires to be covered” (reference to social manners)
- description of the living conditions of Humphry Clinker and his illness that ruined him
o “I have had the fever and ague these six months, and spent all I had in the world upon doctors”
o “to keep soul and body together”
- landlord of the inn symbolizes the higher classes who denigrate the poor and don't lift a finger to help them
o ‘I pay the poors’ rate, (replied the other) and I have no right to maintain idle vagrants, either in sickness or health; besides, such a miserable object would have brought a discredit upon my house”
= feeling of pity and compassion for the readers

B) … who only needs a little charity embodied by Matthew Bramble

• charity embodied by Matthew Bramble
- trying to save everyone from the accident + characterized as a hero
o “ran about in the cold”
o “most astonishing agility”
o a hero who suffered from collateral damages
 “Chowder, after having tore my uncle’s leg in the confusion of the fall”
- giving money to Humphry Clinker so that he buys some clothes
o “put a guinea into the hand of the poor fellow, who stood staring at him in silence, with his mouth wide open”
 reaction of Humphry Clinker symbolizes the fact that charity is not very common at the time
- defends Humphry Clinker despite the repercussion on the relationship with his sister
o alliteration “discard your four-footed favourite or give me leave to bid you eternally adieu”

How many levels of mise en abyme is Smollett on in HC, Jerry, London May 24th?

hugoshummartin — 2020-11-09 16:53:55 UTC

I A microcosm for the entire novel (the novel within itself)

a) Among the long letters

Jerry's perspective, consistently depicted as the man on the outside looking in of the family, reporting at length the quaintness of his kinsmen for fellow men of culture to peek into after effective mise en bouche such as: 'WITHOUT waiting for your answer to my last'; litotes 'which has not been wholly barren of adventure' -> constantly-renewed promise of interesting adventures

b) Everyone is here and the star appears

All main characters mentioned as eponymous-ish Humphry Clinker at last introduced, with this titular character's two plot points reflecting the burlesque bosom of Smollett's themes: naked in a carriage accident; comical misunderstanding of Tabitha's canine sarcasm into an immensely farcical fall

c) Playful foreshadowing and raunchiness galore

Matt playfully welcoming Humphry into 'family' when unknowingly to all, he already is, is an instance of dramatic irony; female buttocks (Win's) and male cocks (Humphry's) makes the combination complete; everything to do with the dog is characteristic of 'the most laughable story that has ever been written since the goodly art of novel-writing began'

II All le monde's a stage (the theatre within itself)

(as in "société des hommes, une partie de cette société")

a) Dramatically ironic double meanings, sardonic criticism of hypocrisy

Dramatic irony 'Am I to be affronted by every mangy hound that you pick up on the highway ?'; the bad petty Christian and the good capable simpleton

b) (Dis)united family, orphan bastard welcomed in
All are satellites to the patriarch, who dictates the hour of ire (raising voice against Tabitha) and the hour of 'concord' both; the familial unit prepasterously welcomes a connectionless man into it, only for his actually belonging to the family being revealed in the end -> kin recognized, a stock situation of tragedy (see Electra recognizing Orestes)

c) Clothes do make the man

Humphry Clinker is 'transformed' through buying himself some clothes, the same way Wilson becomes a middle-aged Jew in an earlier letter and Viola becomes Cesario in Twelfth Night

III A model for novel-writing as a whole (the genre within itself)

a) Episodes within episodes

Typical of novels à la Don Quixote with an entire self-contained story unrelated to the main plot (curing Matt's gout); Jerry's introduction to the letter reminiscent of such eyecatchers as "La vie très horrifique du grand Gargantua, père de Pantagruel, jadis composée par M. Alcofribas abstracteur de quintessence. Livre plein de Pantagruélisme"

b) Joseph Andrews reference

The episode of the naked man in gentlemanly company is taken straight from Fielding's novel, which also bears a long-version title in "The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams"; a novel rehashing of this episode, considering Humphry is as much of a main character as Joseph in this case, but the Brambles also are, as opposed to the company Joseph finds himself in after being literally robbed, whereas Humphry was figuratively robbed of his opportunity to enter society beforehand by circumstances in spite of his good nature

How does Smollett frame Lydia's falsely naive impressionable Londonian epicurianism with a rationally moralist perspective in HC, Lydia, London, May 31?

hugoshummartin — 2020-11-16 20:33:28 UTC

I A vibrant female voice

a) One of the girls' longer letters

Most longer letters in HC are written by either Matt or Jerry. The convent-taught Lydia comes across as half as erudite as the two learned males of the family, as evidenced by such a turn of phrase as 'one's head grows giddy', level of language of which lies somewhere betwixt refinement ('one's' rather than 'your') and ordinary talk ('giddy' may have come out as 'dizzy' instead, or even 'vertiginous' in Matt's or Jerry's words). As such, Lydia is, at this point in the narrative and the character's fictional life, a creature to be determined in terms of definite characterization, and one of the better candidates for Bildungsroman types among the protagonists. The inexperience of this narrative voice is only matched by its intellectual spongeity and the full-of-life reflections among the horizon d'attente such a character implies.

b) Many an enumeration, exaggeration general

In this excerpt, the several instances of enumeration illustrate overwhelming wonder before too many things to tell with a pot of ink and a handful of letter paper. Whether to describe a single thing with many aspects (you see three stupendous bridges, joining the opposite banks of a broad, deep, and rapid river; so vast, so stately, so elegant') or many things with many more aspects ('the Arabian Night's Entertainment, and the Persian Tales, concerning Bagdad, Diarbekir, Damascus, Ispahan, and Samarkand' among other possible quotes), anything which has elicited forceful feelings is amalgamated orderly in a series of lists, for lack of time to ponder when the next stop is already envisaged as Jerry refuses to stay the winter. Hyperbole is also a major trait of this excerpt, with such instances as 'the most ravishing delight of musick', 'I really thought myself in paradise' & 'an infinite number of lamps', which serves as emphasis for the elements analysed in the previous point.

c) The sensual sound and the festive fury

There are good noises (the sound of music) and there are bad noises (the riffraff's hollering). Loudness is the common factor, and equally as synthetic is the sound of cheery streets before its popular pomp devolves into capharnaumly cacophony at the end of the boat trip.

II The Town of Mirth

a) Continental orientalism

The second example of enumeration mentioned earlier illustrates the exotification of Britain's heart and core, and how post age of exploration England, the 'metropolis' (the word appears in the text) of Europe, is also a capital of the world, but in a much better way in Lydia's mind than Matt's experience of Egyptian gales. The British Grand Tour is in fact a British World Tour, which comes with the peculiarity of incorporating anything outside the isles into orientalism, as illustrated with the Italian castrato's opera house being described as the 'palace of a genie' prior to his introduction, mixing continental European fine culture with oriental mystique.

b) Paradise Found

Using an aforementioned quote again, Lydia believes she has found paradise in this postlapsarian world half of the cast spend half of their time deploring both the state and evolution (until they reach Scotland at least). This bliss consists in pleasure of the senses, of which there is plenty in this excerpt, though in a fine arts way more than in an indecorous way, such as the promiscuity Tabitha attributes to her servants in one of the very first letters. As such, the character depicts itself as more of a eudemonist than a hedonist, illustrated all the more by the recurring wariness over going 'giddy', the implied coarse of which has been explained above, as has been Lydia's duality as a both a lusty and a learned character.

c) In a moralist frame (not moralistic, mind you)

'Giddiness', again. Lydia herself attributes her excitement to her inexperience, granting the narrative voice more self-awareness than would have been assumed prior. Plus, this excerpt is not lacking in critiques (not condemnations) of fashionable society, such as the hairdressing episode, the absurd length of which is mentioned and which turns out a high effort, low reward endeavour as Lydia and Tabitha especially are the laughing stock of the elegant salon they attend for being 20 years behind the times, to the pointless Proteanity of good society. At Mrs Griskin's house, tout le monde il est beau, tout le monde il est gentil, everyone is white and no one in black, strangers and kin both; yet the onomastics behind Griskin's name might perk some attentive ears and be understood as a grey influence, with unseen layers concealed beneath the skin, or which could greyen kin, turn family bad, over time, with Matt sensing the ill and seeking to cure his gout under better auspices (which end up being Scotland). Smollett's manner is that of 17th century French moralist writers, who say things as they are, neither saying them as they ought to be nor worsening them artificially.

III An intellectual and a sage's novel

a) Complex polyphony

Something something Matt's pov transpires through Lydia's, metaleptic acknowledgment of polyphony through aforementioned allusion to Matt's difference of pov and unenthusiastic take on London. Polyphony within polyphony, both imitating and going further than Rabelais.

b) Epistolary deontology

A following letter is foreshadowed in a paragraph on another subject matter entirely than that which is developed in this excerpt, reminding the reader of the implied constraints the implied author of the letter is put under, which is food for thought.

c) More hurdles than conflicts

The boat incident is an illustration of the rational & honest bourgeois novel entailing episodes rather than adventures in a post-Don Quixote intellectual landscapes.

---

Would also like to honourably mention how the three bridges' description reminded me of that of the Halles in Le Ventre de Paris as a vestige of eons gone by for the modern bourgeois eye (which is nearly everyone's eye nowadays) to read the same way Hugo's perspective worked when he wanted to share it through Notre-Dame de Paris and the same way future generations will have similar literature should it burn anew.

Using the hybridly theatrical and literary model of the written imaginary argumentative dialogue, how does Smollett pugnaciously challenge stereotypical takes on Scotland to jump on prejudice's case as a whole in HC, Matt, Sept 20?

hugoshummartin — 2020-11-23 17:22:13 UTC

I A political dialogue

a) Direct speech and stage directions galore
Little narration in the beginning & end; in-between, huge swathes of discourse in quotation marks with speech verbs in parentheses.

b) The quaint case of Lt Lismahago and Mr Clinker
Those two main characters do not write letters themselves, yet are the focus of the plot in several letters. Much like Clinker's religious stances, Lismahago's political stances are expressed through the homodiegetic narrator, whose letters are not solely means of communicating their own thoughts and opinions, but also of transcribing those of others: the letter-writer can be not only an emitter, but also a transmitter.

c) Matthew Bramble as a double for the reader
Matt's opinions are understood by the implied extradiegetic author to be those of the majority of the English population. As such, Matt's arguments are to be understood as covertly metaleptically inspired by the implied reader, and Lismahago's answers, as covertly metaleptically directed at the readership as a whole as well as to the fictional receiver. Matthew Bramble wrong and refuted is the reader wrong and refuted, whence how personally one can assume the implied reader at the time would have taken Matt's concession to the Scottish having gotten the short end of the stick with the Acts of Union being attacked as well, with the winning argument being that England effectively got the long end of the stick. Matt's concession in bad faith that initiated this in the first place ('what has England got by this union?') illustrates the double bind the character and reader are faced with to which there is only one, unsavoury solution: England does not have the moral high ground when it comes to discussing the Acts of Union. Also, see Lismahago's distinctio on the Scottish representatives voting for the majority.

II A patriot para doxa

a) The patriot
'The spirit of rambling and adventure has always been peculiar to the natives of Scotland'

b) The prophet
Many an enumeration like a man possessed. Lismahago described as 'solemn' and a spouter of 'gospel'. People naturebound to reject luxury -> moral argument (making a virtue of necessity?) against luxurious English lifestyle. Reminiscent of the first Christians' being slaves and molding a moral & cosmic order around their condition, leading to Nietzsche's deprecating term 'slave morality' in reference to an ethnic born of want masquerading as contentment, sth akin to Aesop's sour grapes.

c) The philosopher
Literally called one by Matt. Introduced as a 'free thinker' in an earlier letter. Back to food with bad food & Matt's body solicitude echoing Rabelais bawdy philosophy -> the oatmeal bit makes transparent allusions to humour theory, with the word 'distemper' outright appearing in the text. Para doxa as in beyond common opinion, common sense standing corrected rather than the one disregarding it for once.

III A point which goes beyond Scotland

a) Apolitical dialogue
The fictionalization of a political dialogue with farcical characters allows for the safer formulating of controversial statements. Besides, this localized political dialogue is a thin veil for an international (see the enumeration of countries) moral one. Following Thales' theorem, the relationship between the English and Scottish food is the same as that between the French and British food. The virtues of primal people are extoled much more than those of any polis, although the word ('police') is used early on as misdirection.

b) Deconstructing stereotypes
The argumentative form is the most efficacious of forms for that purpose. Stereotypes are as harmful to those who formulate them as to those towards who they are formulated, as the ignorant anglophile turns out an unknowing anglophobe (because Scottish interests have become English interests). South Britain Scots -> One only holds stereotypes about what one does not know (actually 'sober, orderly & industrious Scots), and even that which one learns to know (ditto), one still holds stereotypes about (Matt's later-refuted idea that those 'sober, orderly & industrious Scots' bring their wealth back to Scotland eventually, which in most cases they do not). A warning not to take all stereotype-breaking at face value, though, as 'gospel' - a beau mentir qui vient de loin.

c) The best of both worlds
Tout finit par des chansons. And with marriages. Reminiscent of Jerry's end-of-incident 'concord' in the trip-to-London letter w the encounter w Humphry Clinker. Pride vs wealth -> rather than one or the other being the vice of the two and the other the virtue of the two, why not take up both? Rather than Lismahago being wrong in his associating Rome with righteous austerity considering its advent (by the flourishing Etruscan civilization) and downfall (post-hellenization enculturing then decadence), why not concede to his being correct on civilization at a given point in time (although Arcadia is something of an urban myth), but on which one should not linger once it has done its time and progress must be adapted to? Rather than either Lismahago being wrong about the quality of Scottish food or humour theory being thrown-out-the-windowable, why not concede to Scotland being a nation not gallbladderly youthful, but spleenly adult?