Arabella's inability to find and create relationships with women who share her worldview highlights issues with women's social roles in eighteenth-century England.
In The Female Quixote, Arabella exercises a unique kind of agency which she derives from the examples of the heroines in her romances, and incorporates into her own life. However, Arabella does not see herself as singularly possessing this agency but assumes that all women have the power to control men, assert their desires, demand respect, act nobly and courageously, and think about things which transcend the grounded, material interests of English social culture. Arabella carves out a very different space for women than was considered socially acceptable at the time. However, though she attempts to expand this alternative space, constructed through romances, to other women, Arabella meets resistance along the way.
It is clear that Arabella imagines herself as a part of the community of heroines that she develops based on her readings of romance. Her actions and commands are founded on the histories of the "illustrious" Cleopatra, Clelia, Mandana, and several others. She cites them before making her grand pronouncements of banishment and of healing, and invokes them as logical explanations for her preferences and behaviors (see the "Identity Formation" conclusions page). However, though Arabella sees herself as following in her heroines' footsteps, she also sees this space as being open to all women. For example, after "healing" Mr. Glanville from a serious illness by granting him permission to love her, Arabella explains her "power" as if it is natural:
“Really, Sir, replied Arabella, I pretend to no more Power, than what I presume all others of my Sex have upon the like Occasions; and since nothing is more common, than for a Gentleman, though ever so sick, to recover in Obedience to
the Commands of that Person, who has an absolute Power over his Life, I conceive, I have a Right to think myself injured, if Mr. Glanville, contrary to mine, had thought proper to die” (Lennox 145-6).
Here, Arabella shows that she believes all women have the power to call men back to life, and that the female authority of her idealized heroines is innate and efficacious within her "Sex." Arabella does not distinguish between class or rank in this moment, but rather innocently assumes that everyone is aware of the power and force of women. Arabella senses a connection between women, and tries to materialize this into female relationships at a few different points in the story.
For instance, near the beginning of the novel, it is revealed that Arabella “wished for nothing more passionately than an agreeable Companion of her own Sex and Rank…” (Lennox 67). Arabella expresses a desire for someone she can speak to as an equal, presuming that her female attendants, such as Lucy, do not posses the intellect Arabella has acquired from her vast reading of romance. A friend comes to Arabella in the person of Miss Groves. However, their relationship is not ideal, because Miss Groves is “so little qualified for partaking a Conversation so refined as Arabella’s, that her Discourse appeared quite tedious to her, since it was neither upon Fashions, Assemblies, Cards, or Scandal. Her Silence, and that Absence of Mind, which she betrayed, made Arabella conclude, she was under some very great Affliction” (Lennox 68). Arabella desires female companionship, but is disappointed in the shallow nature of Miss Groves, who presents an “absence of mind” in her desire to speak only of frivolous things. Arabella generously concludes that Miss Groves is modest about her adventures, or has suffered some severe misfortune, but actually, Miss Groves somewhat accurately represents what eighteenth-century female conversation consisted of, as further evidenced by the frivolity and superficiality of Miss Glanville.
When a relationship with Miss Groves does not come to fruition, Arabella immediately eagerly anticipates her cousin, Miss Glanville’s, arrival, in hopes of finding her a more “agreeable companion” (Lennox 79). However, Miss Glanville, recognizing Arabella’s lack of cultural prowess, takes more delight in watching Arabella fail in social contexts than in discussing serious matters and virtues. In her article “The Good Effects of a Whimsical Study: Romance and Women’s Learning in Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote,” Sharon Smith Palo contends that Miss Glanville’s name “has become almost synonymous with an intellectually stunted and superficial brand of femininity” (Palo 225). Similarly, the ladies Arabella is accompanied by before she jumps in the Thames speak only of “their Winnings and Losings at Brag, the Prices of Silks, the newest Fashions, the best Hair-Cutter, the Scandal at the last Assembly, etc” (Lennox 361). Palo argues further that “Arabella is disgusted by such talk, for it reveals women’s limited sphere of activity and the constraints this confinement places upon their intellectual development” (Palo 226).
Likewise, near the end of the novel, Arabella comes close to finding another woman who actually lives in her world. She finds Cynecia weeping and sighing, and as she listens to her story, realizes she is fluent in the language of romance, and is involved in a true romance plot. Arabella eagerly designates her a "friend" and desires to help her in any way possible. However, Cynecia is not what she appears, but is in fact, an actress hired by Sir George to cause a rift between Arabella and Mr. Glanville. Arabella comes to close establishing a like-minded female relationship, but it is a complete hoax. "Cynecia" is an imposter. So while Arabella tries to create a female relationships which resist the superficiality of eighteenth-century England and embrace the laws of romance, she finds herself failing repeatedly because other women are simply not fluent in her "language" and are unfamiliar with and mystified by her worldviews, as is the case with Miss Groves and Miss Glanville, or are simply not authentic, as is the case with Cynecia.
However, despite the lack of meaningful female relationships, Arabella still believes that women have the potential to do great, heroic, and courageous acts. After the Cynecia incident, when Arabella is prompted by her romances to believe “ravishers” are coming for her and her female companions, her romances, Clelia in particular, provide the way out:
“The Action we have it in our Power to perform will immortalize our Fame, and raise us to a Pitch of Glory equal to that of the renown’d Clelia herself.
Like her, we may expect Statues erected to our Honour: Like her, be propos’d as Patterns to Heroines in ensuing Ages: And like her, perhaps, meet with Sceptres and Crowns for our Reward.
What the beauteous Roman Lady perform’d to preserve herself from Violation by the impious Sextus, let us imitate to avoid the Violence our intended Ravishers yonder come to offer us.
…Once more, my fair Companions, If your Honour be dear to you, if an immortal Glory be worth your seeking, follow the Example I shall set you, and equal with me the Roman Clelia.
Saying this, she plung’d into the Thames, intending to swim over it, as Clelia did the Tyber” (Lennox 363)
Arabella certainly feels the threat of the horsemen upon her, but it is only two pages earlier that Arabella is frustrated with her companions’ shallow discourse. Though the threat of ravishment and the influence of Clelia both cause Arabella to jump into the river, perhaps it is also her annoyance with the superficiality of her “sex” which causes her to earnestly and sincerely exhort her female companions to jump in and undertake this brave act with her, by which they will all achieve “immortality.” Of course, Arabella is the only one who takes the plunge while the other ladies merely scream, wring their hands, and tear their hair (Lennox 363).
Arabella is an extreme character, but her exaggerated claims and actions force the reader to think about a woman’s social role differently, as Arabella is frequently contrasted with other quite “normal” women. Palo contends that by pitting “the customs of the fictional world of romance against those of eighteenth-century English society,” Lennox puts pressure on “the power of custom, evidenced in the refusal of individuals to question the rules by which they and others are expected to live…” (Palo 216). As Pamela, in Samuel Richardson's novel, needs to represent the pinnacle of virtue in order to provide a clear picture of female innocence and purity, Arabella needs to represent the height of social difference in order to effectively portray what is wrong with eighteenth-century English culture.
So what is Lennox doing here? Arabella clearly has both intellectual ambition and a desire to live an important, heroic, memorable life, but none of her other female friends or acquaintances possess these traits. The Countess seems to have a measure of intelligence based on her familiarity with romance, but even she has succumbed too easily to marriage and domesticity. Though Arabella desires to form a female community based on the elevated examples of her romance heroines, she is ultimately unsuccessful because she possesses what no one else in the book has: a sincere dedication to romances and to the way of life they advocate. The very beginning of the novel makes clear the unique and thorough nature of her education, which in turns leads to her engagement with the French romances. It is the romances that set the foundation for Arabella’s valor and "wit" (a trait Mr. Glanville frequently attests to), and since Arabella is singular in this respect, it is no surprise that she is "rehabilitated" so quickly at the end of the novel. Palo reads this abrupt ending as a "forceful critique of the limitations imposed upon educated women within a culture that restricts their ability to fully exercise their intellectual and creative powers" (228). Lacking a network of strong women confident in their ability and intellect, Arabella therefore succumbs to the social norms of her day.
It is clear that Arabella imagines herself as a part of the community of heroines that she develops based on her readings of romance. Her actions and commands are founded on the histories of the "illustrious" Cleopatra, Clelia, Mandana, and several others. She cites them before making her grand pronouncements of banishment and of healing, and invokes them as logical explanations for her preferences and behaviors (see the "Identity Formation" conclusions page). However, though Arabella sees herself as following in her heroines' footsteps, she also sees this space as being open to all women. For example, after "healing" Mr. Glanville from a serious illness by granting him permission to love her, Arabella explains her "power" as if it is natural:
“Really, Sir, replied Arabella, I pretend to no more Power, than what I presume all others of my Sex have upon the like Occasions; and since nothing is more common, than for a Gentleman, though ever so sick, to recover in Obedience to
the Commands of that Person, who has an absolute Power over his Life, I conceive, I have a Right to think myself injured, if Mr. Glanville, contrary to mine, had thought proper to die” (Lennox 145-6).
Here, Arabella shows that she believes all women have the power to call men back to life, and that the female authority of her idealized heroines is innate and efficacious within her "Sex." Arabella does not distinguish between class or rank in this moment, but rather innocently assumes that everyone is aware of the power and force of women. Arabella senses a connection between women, and tries to materialize this into female relationships at a few different points in the story.
For instance, near the beginning of the novel, it is revealed that Arabella “wished for nothing more passionately than an agreeable Companion of her own Sex and Rank…” (Lennox 67). Arabella expresses a desire for someone she can speak to as an equal, presuming that her female attendants, such as Lucy, do not posses the intellect Arabella has acquired from her vast reading of romance. A friend comes to Arabella in the person of Miss Groves. However, their relationship is not ideal, because Miss Groves is “so little qualified for partaking a Conversation so refined as Arabella’s, that her Discourse appeared quite tedious to her, since it was neither upon Fashions, Assemblies, Cards, or Scandal. Her Silence, and that Absence of Mind, which she betrayed, made Arabella conclude, she was under some very great Affliction” (Lennox 68). Arabella desires female companionship, but is disappointed in the shallow nature of Miss Groves, who presents an “absence of mind” in her desire to speak only of frivolous things. Arabella generously concludes that Miss Groves is modest about her adventures, or has suffered some severe misfortune, but actually, Miss Groves somewhat accurately represents what eighteenth-century female conversation consisted of, as further evidenced by the frivolity and superficiality of Miss Glanville.
When a relationship with Miss Groves does not come to fruition, Arabella immediately eagerly anticipates her cousin, Miss Glanville’s, arrival, in hopes of finding her a more “agreeable companion” (Lennox 79). However, Miss Glanville, recognizing Arabella’s lack of cultural prowess, takes more delight in watching Arabella fail in social contexts than in discussing serious matters and virtues. In her article “The Good Effects of a Whimsical Study: Romance and Women’s Learning in Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote,” Sharon Smith Palo contends that Miss Glanville’s name “has become almost synonymous with an intellectually stunted and superficial brand of femininity” (Palo 225). Similarly, the ladies Arabella is accompanied by before she jumps in the Thames speak only of “their Winnings and Losings at Brag, the Prices of Silks, the newest Fashions, the best Hair-Cutter, the Scandal at the last Assembly, etc” (Lennox 361). Palo argues further that “Arabella is disgusted by such talk, for it reveals women’s limited sphere of activity and the constraints this confinement places upon their intellectual development” (Palo 226).
Likewise, near the end of the novel, Arabella comes close to finding another woman who actually lives in her world. She finds Cynecia weeping and sighing, and as she listens to her story, realizes she is fluent in the language of romance, and is involved in a true romance plot. Arabella eagerly designates her a "friend" and desires to help her in any way possible. However, Cynecia is not what she appears, but is in fact, an actress hired by Sir George to cause a rift between Arabella and Mr. Glanville. Arabella comes to close establishing a like-minded female relationship, but it is a complete hoax. "Cynecia" is an imposter. So while Arabella tries to create a female relationships which resist the superficiality of eighteenth-century England and embrace the laws of romance, she finds herself failing repeatedly because other women are simply not fluent in her "language" and are unfamiliar with and mystified by her worldviews, as is the case with Miss Groves and Miss Glanville, or are simply not authentic, as is the case with Cynecia.
However, despite the lack of meaningful female relationships, Arabella still believes that women have the potential to do great, heroic, and courageous acts. After the Cynecia incident, when Arabella is prompted by her romances to believe “ravishers” are coming for her and her female companions, her romances, Clelia in particular, provide the way out:
“The Action we have it in our Power to perform will immortalize our Fame, and raise us to a Pitch of Glory equal to that of the renown’d Clelia herself.
Like her, we may expect Statues erected to our Honour: Like her, be propos’d as Patterns to Heroines in ensuing Ages: And like her, perhaps, meet with Sceptres and Crowns for our Reward.
What the beauteous Roman Lady perform’d to preserve herself from Violation by the impious Sextus, let us imitate to avoid the Violence our intended Ravishers yonder come to offer us.
…Once more, my fair Companions, If your Honour be dear to you, if an immortal Glory be worth your seeking, follow the Example I shall set you, and equal with me the Roman Clelia.
Saying this, she plung’d into the Thames, intending to swim over it, as Clelia did the Tyber” (Lennox 363)
Arabella certainly feels the threat of the horsemen upon her, but it is only two pages earlier that Arabella is frustrated with her companions’ shallow discourse. Though the threat of ravishment and the influence of Clelia both cause Arabella to jump into the river, perhaps it is also her annoyance with the superficiality of her “sex” which causes her to earnestly and sincerely exhort her female companions to jump in and undertake this brave act with her, by which they will all achieve “immortality.” Of course, Arabella is the only one who takes the plunge while the other ladies merely scream, wring their hands, and tear their hair (Lennox 363).
Arabella is an extreme character, but her exaggerated claims and actions force the reader to think about a woman’s social role differently, as Arabella is frequently contrasted with other quite “normal” women. Palo contends that by pitting “the customs of the fictional world of romance against those of eighteenth-century English society,” Lennox puts pressure on “the power of custom, evidenced in the refusal of individuals to question the rules by which they and others are expected to live…” (Palo 216). As Pamela, in Samuel Richardson's novel, needs to represent the pinnacle of virtue in order to provide a clear picture of female innocence and purity, Arabella needs to represent the height of social difference in order to effectively portray what is wrong with eighteenth-century English culture.
So what is Lennox doing here? Arabella clearly has both intellectual ambition and a desire to live an important, heroic, memorable life, but none of her other female friends or acquaintances possess these traits. The Countess seems to have a measure of intelligence based on her familiarity with romance, but even she has succumbed too easily to marriage and domesticity. Though Arabella desires to form a female community based on the elevated examples of her romance heroines, she is ultimately unsuccessful because she possesses what no one else in the book has: a sincere dedication to romances and to the way of life they advocate. The very beginning of the novel makes clear the unique and thorough nature of her education, which in turns leads to her engagement with the French romances. It is the romances that set the foundation for Arabella’s valor and "wit" (a trait Mr. Glanville frequently attests to), and since Arabella is singular in this respect, it is no surprise that she is "rehabilitated" so quickly at the end of the novel. Palo reads this abrupt ending as a "forceful critique of the limitations imposed upon educated women within a culture that restricts their ability to fully exercise their intellectual and creative powers" (228). Lacking a network of strong women confident in their ability and intellect, Arabella therefore succumbs to the social norms of her day.