Notes on a Scandalous Life

Last night, I finished reading Charlotte Temple. This book was never exactly at the top of my reading list, but it was assigned to me for school. Sometimes, I get this weird urge to actually do my homework.

The story is frustrating, but at least it's simple - Charlotte is an unsuspecting innocent who, under the influence of a sketchy French schoolteacher and a manipulative suitor, makes the mistake of eloping to America. As a result, she dies. The book is sort of a Puritanical cautionary tale - young women, says the author, are not fit to decide whom they should and should not marry; that's up to the parents. Men, you see, are sneaky bastards, and will ship you off to America, get you pregnant, and then leave you. Forget finding another man once you're there, by the way, because, once you've lost your chastity, no man will take you seriously again. Ever.

Overlooking not-too-subtle message of "disobeying your parents and having premarital sex automatically leads to pregnancy and death", Rowson's warning to young women DOES have its roots in some sound reason. There weren't many autonomous women at that time, and, so, women depended on either their parents or husband for support. Breaking the ties between you and your parents left you entirely at the mercy of your significant other, so, if that failed, you probably would have pretty much just been screwed.

In America today, women do not suffer so much from a lack of potential to obtain autonomy (or birth control), but some people still cling to the method of finding a mate that Rowson proposes in her book. It's called courtship, and, in theory, it keeps you from having your heart broken by the dating game, because you'll never spend any time alone with your significant other until you're married. Rather, your parents will supervise all your interaction, and, ultimately, determine whether you can or cannot marry the person you are "courting". In Charlotte Temple, we see where the ideology behind courtship is rooted: young women are ruled by their emotions, and, so, their parents ought to guide them in choosing a mate. Otherwise, men will surely take advantage of us, and, heaven forbid, have sex with us, and we will get pregnant and die.