References to Cassandra in The Female Quixote
Volume I
Book I:Chapter VII
Early in the text, Arabella believes that young man hired by the Master Gardener is a suitor, of noble birth, of hers who has disguised himself as a gardener to be close to her.
"Having discerned so many Marks of a Birth far from being mean, she easily passed from an Opinion that he [the gardener's assistant] was a Gentleman, to a Belief that he was something more; and every new Sight of him adding Strength to her Suspicions, she remained, in a little time, perfectly convinced that he was some Person of Quality, who, disguised in the Habit of a Gardener, had introduced himself into her Father's Service, in order to have an Opportunity of declaring a Passion to her, which must certainly be very great, since it had forced him to assume an Appearance so unworthy of his noble Extraction.
Wholly possessed with this Thought, she set herself to observe him more narrowly; and soon found out, that he went very aukwardly about his Work; that he sought Opportunities of being alone; that he threw himself in her Way as often as he could, and gazed on her very at∣tentively: She sometimes fansied she saw him endeavour to smother a Sigh when he answered her any Question about his Work; once saw him leaning against a Tree with his Hands crossed upon his Breast; and, having lost a String of small Pearls, which she remembered he had seen her threading as she sat in one of the Arbours, was persuaded he had taken it up, and kept it for the Object of his secret Adoration...
he appeared much thinner and paler than he used to be; and she concluded, therefore, that he must in time sink under the Violence of his Passion, or else be forced to de∣clare it to her; which she considered as a very great Misfortune; for, not finding in herself any Disposition to approve his Love, she must necessarily banish him from her Presence, for fear he should have the Presumption to hope, that Time might do any thing in his Favour: And it was possible also, that the Sentence she would be obliged to pronounce, might either cause his Death, or force him to commit some extravagant Action, which would discover him to her Father, who would, perhaps, think her guilty of holding a secret Correspondence with him."
In Cassandra, Oroondates disguises himself as a gardener in order to be closer to Statira while her father's kingdom is occupied by Alexander (Lennox 24, 390). While this scene highlights one of the more obvious flaws in Arabella (her tendency to see everyone as either an enemy or a lover), it is also interesting in that it develops Arabella's understanding of her own importance. While she is mocked in this passage, at the same time, this level of self-worth is essential to Arabella's ability to command authority.
Chapter XI
Arabella tells Glanville it is an " unpardonable Crime to tell a Lady you love her," explaining that:
"The Question, said Arabella, is not whether I ought to be offended at being loved, but whether it is not an Offence to be told I am so.
If there is nothing criminal in the Passion it∣self, Madam, resumed Glanville, certainly there can be no Crime in declaring it.
However specious your Arguments may appear, interrupted Arabella, I am persuaded it is an unpardonable Crime to tell a Lady you love her; and, tho' I had nothing else to plead, yet the Authority of Custom is sufficient to prove it.
Custom, Lady Bella, said Glanville, smiling is wholly on my Side; for the Ladies are so far from being displeased at the Addresses of their Lovers, that their chiefest Care is to gain them, and their greatest Triumph to hear them talk of their Passion: So, Madam, I hope you'll allow that Argument has no Force.
I don't know, answered Arabella, what Sort of Ladies there are who allow such unbecoming Liberties, but I am certain, that Statira, Parisatis, Clelia, Mandana, and all the illustrious Heroines of Antiquity, whom it is a Glory to resemble, would never admit of such Discourses" (Lennox 45).
In this scene, Arabella is able to refuse a conversation about love and marriage that she is uncomfortable. Her careful study of these romances gives her ample evidence of the type of devotion necessary before any professions of love are made, and she refuses to hear discussion of love from someone who has not proved that they genuinely care about her. Being able to control the discourse of marriage is essential to her being able to avoid a marriage that she is not ready for. Moreover, as Christine Roulston argues, The Female Quixote becomes a battle for control over language and meaning. Through the model of her romances, Arabella wrests control of discourse from the men in her life.
Chapter XII
Early in the text, Glanville tells Arabella that he would be happy to read any of the romances that are so important to her. Arabella has her maid bring out Cleopatra, Cassandra, Clelia, and the Grand Cyrus out of her library for him, ir order that readings them might "improve" his behavior toward her (50). Arabella tells him of Oroondates resolving to die after affronting Statira by professing his love to her. Glanville aimlessly points to a specific passage within Cassandra and laughs at Statira's harsh treatment of Oroondates, who claims that hopefully once he is dead he will not longer bother her.
"Upon my Soul, said Glanville, stifling a Laugh with great Difficulty, I cannot help blaming the Lady this sorrowful Lover complains of, for her great Cruelty; for here he gives one Reason to suspect, that she will not even be contented with his dying in Obedience to her Commands, but will hate him after Death; an Impiety quite inexcusable in a Christian!" (Lennox 50).
Arabella corrects him on his mistake and explains Statira's kindness in commanding Oroondates not to die. Arabella asks Glanville to read a certain passage of Cassandra to better understand. He only pretends to read it, and once she discovers this lie, she banishes him from her presence:
"The Shame and Rage she conceived at so glaring a Proof of his Disrespect, and the Ridicule to which she had exposed herself, were so great, that she could not find Words severe enough to express her Resentment; but, protesting that no Consideration whatever should oblige her to converse with him again, she ordered him instantly to quit her Chamber; and assured him, if he ever attempted to approach her again, she would submit to the most terrible Effects of her Father's Resentment, rather than be obliged to see a Person who had, by his unworthy Behaviour, made himself her Scorn and Aversion" (Lennox 51-52).
While the language here makes Arabella seem ridiculous in her trust in the standards set by the romances, at the same time, in this scene she is able to set a standard of behavior for herself and remove from her presence those that do not live up to it. Glanville disrespects her and she forces him to leave her alone until he can make it up to her in some way. She also dictates the way that Glanville is allowed to speak to her. Using the romance as a guide, Arabella refuses conversation about love and marriage, allowing her to avoid for some time a marriage that she is not sure she wants.
Book III: Chapter VI
Truly, said she, the Sense of your Offence ought so mortally to afflict you, that you should invent some strange kind of Penance for yourself, severe enough to prove your Penitence sincere.—You know, I suppose, what the unfortunate Orontes did, when he found he had wronged his adored Thalestris by an injurious Suspicion.
Arabella here explains to Glanville that he should be "mortally afflict[ed]" by his offense toward her, that he must invent some kind of penance to make amends. This scene provides another clear example of Arabella's expectations from the men that attempt to be close to er.
Book III: Chapter VI
"By your Discourse, Miss, replied Arabella, one would imagine, you knew as little in what the good Reputation of a Lady consists, as the Safety of a Man; for certainly the one depends intirely upon his Sword, and the other upon the Noise and Bustle she makes in the World. The Blood that is shed for a Lady, enhances the Value of her Charms; and the more Men a Hero kills, the greater his Glory, and, by Consequence, the more secure he is. If to be the Cause of a great many Deaths, can make a Lady infamous; certainly none were ever more so, than Mandana, Cleopatra, and Statira, the most illustrious Names in Antiquity; for each of whom, haply, an hundred thousand Men were killed: Yet none were ever so unjust, as to profane the Virtue of those Divine Beauties, by casting any Censures upon them for these glorious Effects of their Charms, and the heroic Valour of their Admirers" (Lennox 128).
Here Arabella implies that the good reputation of a Lady is related to the "noise" she causes in the world as well as the number of deaths that she causes, though these ladies are never to blame for the "glorious effects of their charms." This stands in opposition to the typical expectations of women's behavior and roles and foregrounds for the reader what Arabella seeks in her own life.
Chapter VII
Arabella believes that she can command Glanville to get over his illness, and finds him incredibley stuborn when he does not immediately get well, as the heroines of Cassandra command others to live. She tells Miss Glanville:
"A few kind Words, spoken by the fair Princess of Persia to Oroondates, recalled him from the Gates of Death; and one Line from Parisatis's Hand, which brought a Command to Lysimachus to live, made him not only resolve, but even able, to obey her."
In Cassandra, Lysimachus is put into after attacking his rival for Princess Parisatis, Hephestion and is attempting to starve himself to death until Parisatis sends him a letter commanding him to live (Lennox 132, 399). Arabella's romance reading allows her to develop a very clear sense of her own importance as well as her own authority, which she attempts to use over Glanville, and other men, throughout the text, even to the point of commanding life and causing death.
Volume II
Book V: Chapter IV
In this scene, Sir George imitates the actions of Lysimachus, offering himself up to die at Arabella's feet but for her command to live for having offended her.
"This Criminal, with whom you are so justly offended, comes with an Intention to die at your Feet, and breathe out his miserable Life, to expiate those Crimes of which you accuse him: But since your severe Compassion will oblige me to live, I obey, oh! most divine, but cruel Arabella! I obey your harsh Commands; and, by endeavouring to live, give you a more convincing Proof of that Respect and Submission I shall always have for your Will."
Arabella then states that:
"I expected no less from your Courage and Generosity, said Arabella, with a Look of great Complacency; and since you so well know how to imitate the great Lysimachus in your Obedience, I shall not be less acknowleging then the fair Parisatis; but will have for you an Esteem equal to that Virtue I have observed in you" (Lennox 195)."
As the text notes, Parisatis, although she will obey her grandmother and marry Hephestion, still tells Lysimachus how much she esteems him "as much as she does her future husband, if not more" (403).
Here again we see Arabella's firm belief in her own importance and her power over the men that "love" her. Moreover, Although Sir George is not the man that she initially think he is, in this scene Arabella is able to find a mode of expressing her feelings that is appropriate to her. Moreover, it shows that those who wish to take part in the conversation must learn the references through which she makes her feelings known. Eventually though, Arabella realizes Sir George is not who she thinks he is when he mentions his own past adventures and how he was swayed from his ways by her. Interestingly in the romances, the heroines often have a husband before the can be with the hero of the story. However, the men are expected to remain constantly faithful, again very different from eighteenth-century standards.
Book VIII: Chapter IV
Arabella references the heros of Cassandra as examples of the sovereignty of love over bonds of friendship, family, or duty to country, stating:
"Arabella...went on to prove the independent Sovereignty of Love, which, said she, may be collected from all the Words and Actions of those Heroes who were inspir'd by this Passion. We see it in them, pursued she, triumphing not only over all natural and avow'd Allegiance, but superior even to Friendship, Duty, and Honour itself. This the Actions of Oroondates, Artaxerxes, Spitridates, and many other illustrious Princes sufficiently testify
Love requires a more unlimited Obedience from its Slaves, than any other Monarch can expect from his Subjects; an Obedience which is circumscrib'd by no Laws whatever, and dependent upon nothing but itself.
I shall live, Madam, says the renowned Prince of Scythia to the divine Statira, I shall live, since it is your Command I should do so; and Death can have no Power over a Life which you are pleas'd to take Care of—" (321).
Book IX: Chapter IX
"Arabella construing the Silence with which her Companions heard these Assurances, into a Doubt of their being so favoured by Fortune, proceeded to inform them of several Instances wherein Ladies met with unexpected Relief and Deliverance from Ravishers.
She mention'd particularly the Rescue of Statira by her own Brother, whom she imagin'd for many Years dead; that of the Princess Berenice by an absolute Stranger, and many others, whose Names, Characters and Adventures she occasionally run over; all which the young Ladies heard with inconceivable Astonishment. And the Detail had such an Effect upon Arabella's Imagination, bewilder'd as it was in the Follies of Romances, that 'spying three or four Horsemen riding along the Road towards them, she immediately concluded they would be all seiz'd and carry'd off."
Here Arabella seeks to comfort (from a danger she imaged) the ladies she is out walking with by mentioning the rescues of Berenice and Statira. However, it seems to be that these reflections lead to her flight from the horseman she see and her decision to try to cross the river.
Book I:Chapter VII
Early in the text, Arabella believes that young man hired by the Master Gardener is a suitor, of noble birth, of hers who has disguised himself as a gardener to be close to her.
"Having discerned so many Marks of a Birth far from being mean, she easily passed from an Opinion that he [the gardener's assistant] was a Gentleman, to a Belief that he was something more; and every new Sight of him adding Strength to her Suspicions, she remained, in a little time, perfectly convinced that he was some Person of Quality, who, disguised in the Habit of a Gardener, had introduced himself into her Father's Service, in order to have an Opportunity of declaring a Passion to her, which must certainly be very great, since it had forced him to assume an Appearance so unworthy of his noble Extraction.
Wholly possessed with this Thought, she set herself to observe him more narrowly; and soon found out, that he went very aukwardly about his Work; that he sought Opportunities of being alone; that he threw himself in her Way as often as he could, and gazed on her very at∣tentively: She sometimes fansied she saw him endeavour to smother a Sigh when he answered her any Question about his Work; once saw him leaning against a Tree with his Hands crossed upon his Breast; and, having lost a String of small Pearls, which she remembered he had seen her threading as she sat in one of the Arbours, was persuaded he had taken it up, and kept it for the Object of his secret Adoration...
he appeared much thinner and paler than he used to be; and she concluded, therefore, that he must in time sink under the Violence of his Passion, or else be forced to de∣clare it to her; which she considered as a very great Misfortune; for, not finding in herself any Disposition to approve his Love, she must necessarily banish him from her Presence, for fear he should have the Presumption to hope, that Time might do any thing in his Favour: And it was possible also, that the Sentence she would be obliged to pronounce, might either cause his Death, or force him to commit some extravagant Action, which would discover him to her Father, who would, perhaps, think her guilty of holding a secret Correspondence with him."
In Cassandra, Oroondates disguises himself as a gardener in order to be closer to Statira while her father's kingdom is occupied by Alexander (Lennox 24, 390). While this scene highlights one of the more obvious flaws in Arabella (her tendency to see everyone as either an enemy or a lover), it is also interesting in that it develops Arabella's understanding of her own importance. While she is mocked in this passage, at the same time, this level of self-worth is essential to Arabella's ability to command authority.
Chapter XI
Arabella tells Glanville it is an " unpardonable Crime to tell a Lady you love her," explaining that:
"The Question, said Arabella, is not whether I ought to be offended at being loved, but whether it is not an Offence to be told I am so.
If there is nothing criminal in the Passion it∣self, Madam, resumed Glanville, certainly there can be no Crime in declaring it.
However specious your Arguments may appear, interrupted Arabella, I am persuaded it is an unpardonable Crime to tell a Lady you love her; and, tho' I had nothing else to plead, yet the Authority of Custom is sufficient to prove it.
Custom, Lady Bella, said Glanville, smiling is wholly on my Side; for the Ladies are so far from being displeased at the Addresses of their Lovers, that their chiefest Care is to gain them, and their greatest Triumph to hear them talk of their Passion: So, Madam, I hope you'll allow that Argument has no Force.
I don't know, answered Arabella, what Sort of Ladies there are who allow such unbecoming Liberties, but I am certain, that Statira, Parisatis, Clelia, Mandana, and all the illustrious Heroines of Antiquity, whom it is a Glory to resemble, would never admit of such Discourses" (Lennox 45).
In this scene, Arabella is able to refuse a conversation about love and marriage that she is uncomfortable. Her careful study of these romances gives her ample evidence of the type of devotion necessary before any professions of love are made, and she refuses to hear discussion of love from someone who has not proved that they genuinely care about her. Being able to control the discourse of marriage is essential to her being able to avoid a marriage that she is not ready for. Moreover, as Christine Roulston argues, The Female Quixote becomes a battle for control over language and meaning. Through the model of her romances, Arabella wrests control of discourse from the men in her life.
Chapter XII
Early in the text, Glanville tells Arabella that he would be happy to read any of the romances that are so important to her. Arabella has her maid bring out Cleopatra, Cassandra, Clelia, and the Grand Cyrus out of her library for him, ir order that readings them might "improve" his behavior toward her (50). Arabella tells him of Oroondates resolving to die after affronting Statira by professing his love to her. Glanville aimlessly points to a specific passage within Cassandra and laughs at Statira's harsh treatment of Oroondates, who claims that hopefully once he is dead he will not longer bother her.
"Upon my Soul, said Glanville, stifling a Laugh with great Difficulty, I cannot help blaming the Lady this sorrowful Lover complains of, for her great Cruelty; for here he gives one Reason to suspect, that she will not even be contented with his dying in Obedience to her Commands, but will hate him after Death; an Impiety quite inexcusable in a Christian!" (Lennox 50).
Arabella corrects him on his mistake and explains Statira's kindness in commanding Oroondates not to die. Arabella asks Glanville to read a certain passage of Cassandra to better understand. He only pretends to read it, and once she discovers this lie, she banishes him from her presence:
"The Shame and Rage she conceived at so glaring a Proof of his Disrespect, and the Ridicule to which she had exposed herself, were so great, that she could not find Words severe enough to express her Resentment; but, protesting that no Consideration whatever should oblige her to converse with him again, she ordered him instantly to quit her Chamber; and assured him, if he ever attempted to approach her again, she would submit to the most terrible Effects of her Father's Resentment, rather than be obliged to see a Person who had, by his unworthy Behaviour, made himself her Scorn and Aversion" (Lennox 51-52).
While the language here makes Arabella seem ridiculous in her trust in the standards set by the romances, at the same time, in this scene she is able to set a standard of behavior for herself and remove from her presence those that do not live up to it. Glanville disrespects her and she forces him to leave her alone until he can make it up to her in some way. She also dictates the way that Glanville is allowed to speak to her. Using the romance as a guide, Arabella refuses conversation about love and marriage, allowing her to avoid for some time a marriage that she is not sure she wants.
Book III: Chapter VI
Truly, said she, the Sense of your Offence ought so mortally to afflict you, that you should invent some strange kind of Penance for yourself, severe enough to prove your Penitence sincere.—You know, I suppose, what the unfortunate Orontes did, when he found he had wronged his adored Thalestris by an injurious Suspicion.
Arabella here explains to Glanville that he should be "mortally afflict[ed]" by his offense toward her, that he must invent some kind of penance to make amends. This scene provides another clear example of Arabella's expectations from the men that attempt to be close to er.
Book III: Chapter VI
"By your Discourse, Miss, replied Arabella, one would imagine, you knew as little in what the good Reputation of a Lady consists, as the Safety of a Man; for certainly the one depends intirely upon his Sword, and the other upon the Noise and Bustle she makes in the World. The Blood that is shed for a Lady, enhances the Value of her Charms; and the more Men a Hero kills, the greater his Glory, and, by Consequence, the more secure he is. If to be the Cause of a great many Deaths, can make a Lady infamous; certainly none were ever more so, than Mandana, Cleopatra, and Statira, the most illustrious Names in Antiquity; for each of whom, haply, an hundred thousand Men were killed: Yet none were ever so unjust, as to profane the Virtue of those Divine Beauties, by casting any Censures upon them for these glorious Effects of their Charms, and the heroic Valour of their Admirers" (Lennox 128).
Here Arabella implies that the good reputation of a Lady is related to the "noise" she causes in the world as well as the number of deaths that she causes, though these ladies are never to blame for the "glorious effects of their charms." This stands in opposition to the typical expectations of women's behavior and roles and foregrounds for the reader what Arabella seeks in her own life.
Chapter VII
Arabella believes that she can command Glanville to get over his illness, and finds him incredibley stuborn when he does not immediately get well, as the heroines of Cassandra command others to live. She tells Miss Glanville:
"A few kind Words, spoken by the fair Princess of Persia to Oroondates, recalled him from the Gates of Death; and one Line from Parisatis's Hand, which brought a Command to Lysimachus to live, made him not only resolve, but even able, to obey her."
In Cassandra, Lysimachus is put into after attacking his rival for Princess Parisatis, Hephestion and is attempting to starve himself to death until Parisatis sends him a letter commanding him to live (Lennox 132, 399). Arabella's romance reading allows her to develop a very clear sense of her own importance as well as her own authority, which she attempts to use over Glanville, and other men, throughout the text, even to the point of commanding life and causing death.
Volume II
Book V: Chapter IV
In this scene, Sir George imitates the actions of Lysimachus, offering himself up to die at Arabella's feet but for her command to live for having offended her.
"This Criminal, with whom you are so justly offended, comes with an Intention to die at your Feet, and breathe out his miserable Life, to expiate those Crimes of which you accuse him: But since your severe Compassion will oblige me to live, I obey, oh! most divine, but cruel Arabella! I obey your harsh Commands; and, by endeavouring to live, give you a more convincing Proof of that Respect and Submission I shall always have for your Will."
Arabella then states that:
"I expected no less from your Courage and Generosity, said Arabella, with a Look of great Complacency; and since you so well know how to imitate the great Lysimachus in your Obedience, I shall not be less acknowleging then the fair Parisatis; but will have for you an Esteem equal to that Virtue I have observed in you" (Lennox 195)."
As the text notes, Parisatis, although she will obey her grandmother and marry Hephestion, still tells Lysimachus how much she esteems him "as much as she does her future husband, if not more" (403).
Here again we see Arabella's firm belief in her own importance and her power over the men that "love" her. Moreover, Although Sir George is not the man that she initially think he is, in this scene Arabella is able to find a mode of expressing her feelings that is appropriate to her. Moreover, it shows that those who wish to take part in the conversation must learn the references through which she makes her feelings known. Eventually though, Arabella realizes Sir George is not who she thinks he is when he mentions his own past adventures and how he was swayed from his ways by her. Interestingly in the romances, the heroines often have a husband before the can be with the hero of the story. However, the men are expected to remain constantly faithful, again very different from eighteenth-century standards.
Book VIII: Chapter IV
Arabella references the heros of Cassandra as examples of the sovereignty of love over bonds of friendship, family, or duty to country, stating:
"Arabella...went on to prove the independent Sovereignty of Love, which, said she, may be collected from all the Words and Actions of those Heroes who were inspir'd by this Passion. We see it in them, pursued she, triumphing not only over all natural and avow'd Allegiance, but superior even to Friendship, Duty, and Honour itself. This the Actions of Oroondates, Artaxerxes, Spitridates, and many other illustrious Princes sufficiently testify
Love requires a more unlimited Obedience from its Slaves, than any other Monarch can expect from his Subjects; an Obedience which is circumscrib'd by no Laws whatever, and dependent upon nothing but itself.
I shall live, Madam, says the renowned Prince of Scythia to the divine Statira, I shall live, since it is your Command I should do so; and Death can have no Power over a Life which you are pleas'd to take Care of—" (321).
Book IX: Chapter IX
"Arabella construing the Silence with which her Companions heard these Assurances, into a Doubt of their being so favoured by Fortune, proceeded to inform them of several Instances wherein Ladies met with unexpected Relief and Deliverance from Ravishers.
She mention'd particularly the Rescue of Statira by her own Brother, whom she imagin'd for many Years dead; that of the Princess Berenice by an absolute Stranger, and many others, whose Names, Characters and Adventures she occasionally run over; all which the young Ladies heard with inconceivable Astonishment. And the Detail had such an Effect upon Arabella's Imagination, bewilder'd as it was in the Follies of Romances, that 'spying three or four Horsemen riding along the Road towards them, she immediately concluded they would be all seiz'd and carry'd off."
Here Arabella seeks to comfort (from a danger she imaged) the ladies she is out walking with by mentioning the rescues of Berenice and Statira. However, it seems to be that these reflections lead to her flight from the horseman she see and her decision to try to cross the river.