Defoe's Roxana and the Discourse of Marriage
Roxana: The Unfortunate Mistress and the Discourse of Marriage
“...I thought a woman was a free agent, as well as a man, and was born free, and cou’d she manage herself suitably, might enjoy that liberty to as much otherwise as the men do; that the laws of matrimony were indeed, otherwise, and mankind at this time, acted quite upon other principles; and those such, that a woman gave herslef entirely away from herself, in marriage, and capitulated only to be, at best, but an upper-servant, and from the time she took the man, she was no better or worse than the servant among the Israelities who had his ears bor’d, that is, nail’d to the door-post...” (p. 187).
In a patriarchal age when it was a husband's role as governor of his family and household, one woman refuses to except the role given to her by society. In Daniel Defoe’s novel Roxana, Roxana finds herself in the same unhappy and inevitable situation as most women of her time. Continually instructed that their spiritual and social worth resided above all else in their practice of and reputation for chastity, unmarried virgins and wives were to maintain silence in the public sphere and to give unquestionable obedience to both their father and their husband. It was her responsibility to cook, clean, and administer medicine to her family. However, though not was free-willed as their men, widows were granted many more freedoms than those of wives and virgins. They were allowed more control of making their own decisions and managing their affairs, than married women, whose husbands were allowed sole control of their estate. Throughout the story of Roxana, the union of marriage is continuously coming into play. Though courted by many, Roxana continues to avoid the act of marriage and the wifely role, which she habitually equates to servitude, slavery and imprisonment. She justifies her aversion to marriage on the basis of her unhappy and misfortunate union with her first husband, the brewer. Born to
“...I thought a woman was a free agent, as well as a man, and was born free, and cou’d she manage herself suitably, might enjoy that liberty to as much otherwise as the men do; that the laws of matrimony were indeed, otherwise, and mankind at this time, acted quite upon other principles; and those such, that a woman gave herslef entirely away from herself, in marriage, and capitulated only to be, at best, but an upper-servant, and from the time she took the man, she was no better or worse than the servant among the Israelities who had his ears bor’d, that is, nail’d to the door-post...” (p. 187).
In a patriarchal age when it was a husband's role as governor of his family and household, one woman refuses to except the role given to her by society. In Daniel Defoe’s novel Roxana, Roxana finds herself in the same unhappy and inevitable situation as most women of her time. Continually instructed that their spiritual and social worth resided above all else in their practice of and reputation for chastity, unmarried virgins and wives were to maintain silence in the public sphere and to give unquestionable obedience to both their father and their husband. It was her responsibility to cook, clean, and administer medicine to her family. However, though not was free-willed as their men, widows were granted many more freedoms than those of wives and virgins. They were allowed more control of making their own decisions and managing their affairs, than married women, whose husbands were allowed sole control of their estate. Throughout the story of Roxana, the union of marriage is continuously coming into play. Though courted by many, Roxana continues to avoid the act of marriage and the wifely role, which she habitually equates to servitude, slavery and imprisonment. She justifies her aversion to marriage on the basis of her unhappy and misfortunate union with her first husband, the brewer. Born to