Lady Roxana (Italian Edition)

Numerous commentators have attempted to clarify these blurred issues by concentrating on individual aspects and dealing with them in isolation.

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This approach seems to generate i t s own problems, however, for the studies which emerge from i t render i t increasingly d i f f i c u l t to arrive at any kind of agreement—even of a tentative sort—about the actual nature of Defoe's values. As an example of. Maximillian Novak and G. Starr does, just the opposite. While i t i s not my intention to denigrate these scholars, whose studies have certainly proven to be among. For even i f the novels are not clearly unified, each is nevertheless a totality whose meaning depends on a contextual qualification of everything in the novel.

Finally, however, i t must be admitted that i t is conceivable that, given the fact that the f i r s t four novels do not contain clear bases of formal structure, such efforts might well be fruit l e s s , and that, to be practical, studies of the kind Starr and Novak have undertaken w i l l be the most rewarding. But, I submit, this i s true only of the four novels which preceed Roxana, and that 6 the last novel, because i t contains a firm basis of formal unity, can successfully be approached with a view to discovering how Defoe's values qualify each other in context, or in other words, with a view to discovering the novel's total meaning.

Roxana is usually regarded as sharing the same deficiencies as the earlier novels, E. Anthony James, for example, has recently said that "structurally the novel is arranged in a clearly haphazard manner which sometimes suggests that more afterthought than premeditation governed Defoe's plotting','. Roxana, states that although this " i s the most nearly unified" of. Defoe's novels, i t is "structurally deficient. It i s , in fact, unfinished". Jane Jack also suggests that Defoe had a partial. Jack, "If Defoe had followed his. And so he adopted the b r i l l i a n t compromise of leaving her in physical safety and prosperity, yet in spiritual torment".

Jack's stance must be rejected, that the ending is not a compromise, 7 and that i t represents the best possible way in which Defoe could at once impress the reader with the proportions of Roxana's mental suffering and demonstrate the utter worthlessness of material wealth when i t is possessed by an unregenerate individual. I w i l l demonstrate that the ending becomes imminent early in the novel and is an integral part of Defoe's original design, and that, f i n a l l y , the novel i s a whole which clearly conveys Defoe's, themes and values.

The relative formlessness of Defoe's earlier novels seems to have conditioned the majority of his c r i t i c s to overlook the possibility of seeing Roxccna as a structurally. In "The Conclusion of Roxana: Fiasco or Tour de Force"? Hume finds that the events of the novel are "tightly integrated. In his opinion the major organizational device consists of "half a dozen distinct but related. As I w i l l point out below, Roxana sinks into sin by fa i l i n g to curb the growing influence of the character traits she manifested from her childhood and not because of necessity.

In light of this she becomes culpable much earlier than Hume suggests. This contention is based on an analysis of six structuring devices which conspire forcefully to transmit the same meaning. However, he too regards Roxana as an innocent at the outset of her 21 career and consequently, i n my o p i n i o n , misreads the nove l. Moreover, while I agree that foreshadowing i s a s t r u c t u r a l dev ice , I disagree that the examples Jenkins of fers a c t u a l l y cons t i tu te forecas t s.

F i r s t , I intend to demonstrate that Roxana has an extremely soph i s t i ca ted formal s t r u c t u r e , and that an examination of at l eas t s i x s t r u c t u r a l devices Defoe u t i l i z e d w i l l lead to an understanding of the nove l ' s themes and meaning. Among the devices Defoe used are two of those suggested by Jenkins-—foreshadowing and i l l u m i n a t i n g comparisons and contrasts between characters and between s i t u a t i o n s.

A t h i r d device i s Defoe's connotative use of geographical s e t t i n g , which emphasizes the d e t e r i o r a t i o n of Roxana's moral sense. A f i n a l device, also of major importance in creating the novel's structure, unity and meaning, is a consistently developed linear progression towards Roxana's moral deterioration which is coextensive and coterminus with a clear linear progression towards her increased prosperity. A detailed analysis of a l l the structural devices I have discovered in Roxana w i l l show that in this novel Defoe unified meaning and structure to an extent he did not achieve in any of his earlier novels.

This structural analysis w i l l comprise the greatest part of the paper. It w i l l illuminate the thematic concerns, i n the novel and w i l l guide us towards comprehending the novel's total meaning and not simply isolated themes. Secondly, this study is. While considerations of length w i l l not allow anything more'extensive. Finally, this analysis w i l l prepare the ground for a reappraisal of Defoe's stature as a novelist, for a reappraisal of his achievement.

While Defoe admittedly does show some aesthetic weaknesses in Roxana, the brilliance of the underlying structure is not impaired, and I suggest that we w i l l be compelled to raise our estimate of Defoe the novelist from that of a haphazard experimenter proceeding by " t r i a l and error" in the no-man's land between Bunyan and Aphra Behn, and Richardson and 10 F i e l d i n g , to that of a conscious a r t i s t who produced a novel as great s t r u c t u r a l l y — i f not a e s t h e t i c a l l y — a s any w r i t t e n i n the Eighteenth Century, with the obvious exception of Sterne's Tristram Shandy.

CHAPTER I The Nature and Funct ion of Foreshadowing i n Roxana One method of a r r i v i n g at some i l l u m i n a t i n g i n s i g h t s in to Defoe's composit ional techniques, and of construct ing an index to the degree of a u t h o r i a l c o n t r o l evinced i n Roxana i s to study h i s use of foreshadowing. I t w i l l be found that the foreshadowings i n Roxana axe strong evidence that Defoe had planned and was c a r e f u l l y developing h i s n a r r a t i v e , that at l a s t he was attempting to order events w i th in an o v e r a l l conception.

S u r p r i s i n g l y , no systematic analyses of the nature and funct ion of these foreshadowings have appeared. As one of the few. Anthony James takes a rather negative p o s i t i o n , s t a t i n g that.. Roxana, for ins tance , proves an inveterate foreshadower, and i t i s impossible not to t i r e of her constant ly s t a r t i n g on one n a r r a t i v e tack, h a l t i n g with an abrupt "of that more l a t e r , " and. Most of the instances of forecast i n Roxana do not serve any d i s c e r n i b l e a r t i s t i c purpose, and seem instead to r e f l e c t only the author's grave uncerta inty about the sequent ia l cons truct ion of h i s p l o t.

I t may be that the adumbrations in t h i s and s i m i l a r l y flawed works were se l f -addressed manuscript reminders to Defoe concerning the d i r e c t i o n he should take i n subsequent sessions of composit ion. But that he sometimes f a i l e d to heed these reminders i s evident i n the fac t that Roxana and some other narrators often f a i l completely to r e t u r n to events which they have promised to treat i n subsequent pages. I t must be a l i t t l e s u r p r i z i n g to the Reader to t e l l him at once, that a f ter t h i s , I never saw my Husband more; but to go f a r t h e r , I not only never saw him more, but I never heard from him, or of him, ne i ther of any or e i t h e r of h i s two Servants or of the Horses , e i ther what became of them, where, or which Way they went, or what they d i d , or intended to do, no.

Whether i t was. Moreover, three pages l a t e r Roxana.. While t h i s sentence does not const i tute a forecast i t does r e i n f o r c e the not ion that Defoe intended to mention the Brewer at a l a t e r time. I dwell on th i s example because i t i s prominent i n Roxana, and because i t suggests that Defoe's use of foreshadowing i s not haphazard and therefore demands more c r i t i c a l a t t ent ion than i t has so far rece ived. Jenkins takes a point of view opposite to James's when he designates foreshadowing as one of severa l s t r u c t u r a l devices which 13 c l a r i f y Defoe's values and guide the reader towards a moral judgment of Roxana.

Consider, for example, an instance which is typical of what Jenkins regards as foreshadowing. In his opinion, Roxana's debauching of Amy "serves to foreshadow the f i n a l crime, the murder of Susan. Iri both cases Roxana alleviates her own situation by sacrificing someone else; in both cases she has the same choice—to clear her conscience by acknowledging her sins and reforming, or to s t i f l e the accusing voice—and she chooses to s t i f l e the accuser". The scene's major purpose is to reveal Roxana'. Again, I submit, a detailed analysis of the foreshadowings in Roxana is called for.

It might seem that a logical starting point for considering the foreshadowings would be the novel's long-title and i t s preface. However, the preface is basically an apology and is not primarily concerned with the events in. The reader of Defoe's novelistic fiction should be aware that the long-titles are not accurate abstracts as are, say, the arguments which preceed the epistles in Pope's Essay on Man. In fact, they 14 often bear as l i t t l e relationship to the works as do the sensational and luring comments found on the covers of some pulp f i c t i o n.

Baine has pointed out, " i t i s delusive to suppose that the t i t l e page of a Defoe novel reproduces his own suggested t i t l e and especially fallacious to expect that i t provides evidence of his original plan. The t i t l e page of a f i r s t edition was normally set last. In other words, the long-title and preface should not be regarded as integral parts of the novel. And so we must turn to the main text for With the exception of a few.

Roxana - Wikipedia

That i s , a character w i l l break off his discussion of a situation, an event, or another character, with a summary comment such as "but more of this later", or "I w i l l speak of this again". This distinguishes Defoe's type from the less overt, more suggestive forecast we normally find in later novels. To devise two broad categories, these forecasts may take the form of an ominous and pregnant prophecy, the f u l l significance of which is revealed only as the novel completes i t s e l f , as in Walpole's Castle of Otranto and Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables, or the form of a highly singular description of a person or thing which captures our attention and raises our expectations by hinting at but withholding a greater importance, as in the i n i t i a l 15 description of Jaggers in Dickens's Great Expectations.

Undoubtedly there are many permutations of these two categories. But the main point here i s that unlike those in the f i r s t category Defoe's foreshadowings are not given the encompassing role of determining the overall movement of the novel, and that, unlike those in the second category, Defoe's forecasts lack a subtle enigmatic quality—although, as the examples in Crusoe demonstrate, he was capable of producing one.

The foreshadowing in this novel is designed not only, with the narrow aim of holding plot together, but with the richer function of setting up expectations, and of providing f o c i i which not only draw together, but make the reader acutely aware of, the material between a forecast and it s resolution. Ultimately i t draws. The analysis of foreshadowing w i l l be comprised of four stages, 9 each of which i s necessary to supplement and qualify the others. Together they w i l l reveal the nature and function of the foreshadowings in Roxana and furnish a seminal picture of Defoe's conscious awareness of structure.

First a count of the number of forecasts w i l l be made and this, in turn, w i l l be cross-checked by a count of the number of resolutions. This w i l l yield at once a germinal impression of Defoe's craftsmanship. While a l l the foreshadowings are specific in nature insofar as they explicitly outline the subject to be referred to later 16 and demand resolutions which f a l l within extremely limited scopes of po s s i b i l i t i e s , although none is specific to the extent that the exact circumstances surrounding the resolutions are described , i t w i l l be found that a distinction can be made between those which are committal because promissory phrases such as "as you w i l l hear" are used, and those which are non-committal because of phrases like "as you may have an account hereafter".

At this point, then, the forecasts which do not oblige Defoe to provide resolutions must be studied to discover whether Defoe was merely, allowing himself f l e x i b i l i t y to work out what he had not predetermined, ;or whether he was using them for a r t i s t i c reasons. As well, the number'- of completely unresolved forecasts must be taken into account to aid further in determining the degree of Defoe's control..

The natures of the unresolved forecasts must then be considered to discover. This second stage, of the. The findings of this phase of the study w i l l be augmented by an examination of the dispersal of forecasts and resolutions to show—as the study of distance alone w i l l not—how much of Roxana is unified by foreshadowing and how cogently i t is unified.

Now, because the author can forecast and then abruptly incorporate an obviously contrived resolution at any point in the novel demonstrating nothing except, perhaps, that he had forgotten and then suddenly recalled his forecast and f e l t obliged to account for i t , the study of distance w i l l be followed by a fourth stage in which the 17 contexts in which the resolutions are introduced w i l l be studied to reveal whether the author intended to incorporate his resolutions where he did, or whether he introduced them arbitrarily.

If a resolution is introduced naturally and does not disrupt the texture i t w i l l be assumed-—and i t must be emphasized that we can do no more than assume—that Defoe had preconceived the situation in which the forecast is resolved. If the texture is broken or i f Defoe has to shape events to f i t the resolution in a noticeable way i t w i l l be assumed that he was not planning his narrative.

When they w i l l illuminate the discussion, comparisons w i l l be made with Defoe's earlier novels. The count of foreshadowings. By my count a total of thirty-five foreshadowings appear, in Roxana-'-or, in other words, although the dispersals do not occur with this frequency, one foreshadow-ing exists for approximately every nine pages of text. Of these thirty-five only four are unresolved, and in one of these cases Defoe has Roxana state that she "may", rather than " w i l l " , relate the story afterwards.

This frees Defoe from commitment and possibly demonstrates authorial control insofar as he was not binding himself too rigidly. It is conceivable that he was including material for possible development and to enrich the implications of certain narrative 18 events and to expand the f i c t i o n a l bounds, but was not committing himself to develop i t. Of the other three unresolved forecasts only two d i s turb the texture of the work,, but i n terms of the novel as a whole t h e i r e f fec t s are of minor importance only and are subsumed by the surrounding n a r r a t i v e f a b r i c.

Three of the remaining t h i r t y - o n e do not have the prec i se reso lu t ions one expects from the forecasts g iven , and these must be examined to see whether they serve a r t i s t i c funct ions or are simply evidence of loose composition. The number of foreshadowings alone creates the impression that Defoe was looking ahead, and the number of re so lu t ions s trongly suggests that he had an overview of h i s m a t e r i a l. Moreover, the nature ,of the reso lut ions to the non-committal forecasts u s u a l l y , as we w i l l.

Let us f i r s t consider the unresolved non-committal forecast which occurs when Roxana, speaking of the outcome of her l i a i s o n with the French P r i n c e , says: I found he appointed the C h i l d r e n a s e t t l e d Allowance, by an Assignment of annual Rent, upon the Bank of Lyons, which was s u f f i c i e n t for b r i n g i n g them handsomely, tho' p r i v a t e l y , up i n the World; and that not i n a Manner unworthy of t h e i r Fa ther ' s B lood , tho' I came to be sunk and forgotten i n the Case; nor d i d the C h i l d r e n even know anything of t h e i r Mother, to th i s Day, o ther , than as you may have an Account hereafter p.

But of that hereafter p. Perhaps Defoe excluded the resolution because he saw i t would destroy the novel's symmetry and distort i t s theme. However, the absence of any supporting evidence prevents speculation. It can be said, though, that this uncompleted foreshadowing is not evidence of a lack of planning in Roxana, The absence of a resolution disrupts the texture but does not affect the novel's main design. The next unresolved committal forecast appears when Roxana outlines part of the l i f e of the illegitimate son she had by the Prince: This Child liv'd to be.

Of which hereafter p. This is not true of the remaining unresolved committal forecast, however, which comes when Roxana advises us that I went about with a Heart loaded with Crime, and altogether in the dark, as to what I was to do; and in this Condition I languish'd near two Years; I may well c a l l i t languishing, for i f Providence had not reliev'd me, I shou'd have died in l i t t l e time: Clearly this forecast i s a blunder on Defoe's part, for i t suggests a direction which goes completely counter to the course of Roxana's l i f e.

Contrary to what this forecast suggests, she is not relieved by repentance but remains tormented by the awareness of her l i f e of crime. We are disturbed, then, by the nature of this forecast. But this does not explain why he included the forecast in the f i r s t place, and, f i n a l l y , we must regard this instance as a lapse in Defoe's craftsmanship. These faults occur only three times and their effects are ,more than countered by the high number of resolved forecasts and. I am not suggesting that we. But, curiously, because the instances I have pointed to do emerge clearly as errors they do not introduce destructive ambiguities which would obscure Defoe's meaning.

Moreover, the interest generated by Roxana's adventures draws our attention away from these forecasts and leaves the texture disrupted.. The three remaining cases do. But their effects make. The f i r s t instance appears when Roxana concludes, after describing her spiritual torment,, at some length, "But I shall perhaps, have Occasion to speak of all.. Although she does refer to the. Defoe's decision not to give a f u l l discussion of Roxana's spiritual state is part of the reason for the novel's abrupt ending, so disturbing to many c r i t i c s , but i t should be viewed as a strong display of dramatic 22 acumen.

Any expansion was unnecessary because we a r e , or should be, already aware of the proport ions of her s u f f e r i n g. This example, then, does not amount to a breach of design but , on the contrary , supports the not ion that Defoe had an overview of h i s novel. In view of the sketchy r e s o l u t i o n we can only speculate about why Defoe worded the forecast the. Two other cases, which r e l a t e to Susan's fa te have s t i l l to be considered. The f i r s t i s found towards the end of the novel when Roxana.. Impulse p r e v a i l ' d over my Thoughts, against i t ,.

Nevertheless , Roxana does not describe Susan's murder and only t e l l s us that she be l i eved "Amy had made her away; and I b e l i e v ' d i t the more, because Amy came no more near me, but conf irm'd her G u i l t by 23 her Absence" p. Defoe's combination of e x p l i c i t commentary and suggestion again points towards a f ine dramatic s e n s i b i l i t y. It i s extremely reasonable to assume that Defoe knew exact ly what he was doing and.

Defoe commits r e a l f a u l t s only three times and. In the f i r s t episode alone-—that i s , the events extending from the beginning to the f i r s t appearance of the Jewel ler— s ix foreshadowings are inc luded and f i v e of these l i n k t h i s sec t ion to subsequent scenes or episodes i n the nove l. Compared with t h i s the f i r s t episode of Moll Flanders, which comprises the events up to and i n c l u d i n g the death of M o l l ' s f i r s t.

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We can conclude, t e n t a t i v e l y at any r a t e , that the greater number of foreshadowings i n Defoe's l a s t novel denotes an increased concern for s tructure on the author's p a r t , and that the dramatic and a r t i s t i c e f fec t s produced by t h i s manipulat ion of forecasts— p a r t i c u l a r l y those which are non-committal'--is evidence of an advance i n craftsmanship and a r t i s t r y. When the a n a l y t i c a l stages for the study of foreshadowing were out l ined above i t was stated that an examination of the distances between foreshadowings and reso lut ions would a f ford i n s i g h t s in to how far ahead Defoe was planning Roxana,- And indeed l i g h t w i l l be shed on the quest ion.

F i r s t i t w i l l show that foreshadowings and reso lut ions bracket and uni fy i n d i v i d u a l scenes, and provide l i n k s between scenes, and between-major episodes. In other words, i t w i l l show that Defoe was apparently planning scenes as wholes and had future scenes and episodes i n mind. Secondly, while the count of foreshadowings and reso lu t ions led to the conclusion that Defoe conscious ly incorporated foreshadowings as s t r u c t u r a l elements, th i s step of the ana lys i s w i l l deepen and p a r t i c u l a r i z e that impression by making i t obvious that 25 Defoe definitely understood the possibilities and limitations of this device, the effects i t could and could not produce.

Again we w i l l see Defoe as a conscious, aware, and subtle craftsman and ar t i s t. There are no set distances between foreshadowings and their resolutions in this novel; they range between one and one hundred and sixty-nine pages. But the distances are such that a sequence of events almost always takes place between a foreshadowing and i t s resolution, and this indicates that Defoe was projecting and was not using foreshadowing simply to introduce immediately following scenes and that he was not developing an ad hoc episodic narration lacking interconnections between scenes and episodes.

Later she connects this event. The distance involved is only four pages and yet, in compressed fashion, a complete unit of narration i s presented, Roxana manages to relate a f a i r l y detailed account of the decline of the Brewer's business concerns, his bankruptcy, and his departure, before she concludes this section by re-introducing the subject of her lost legacy.

The resolution is brought in to compound the picture of Roxana's poverty and i t is 26 f a i r l y obvious that Defoe planned this scene as a whole in order to exploit the f u l l dramatic potential of his materials. In other words, this example shows that Defoe was planning scenes as unities and was relying on foreshadowing to bind them together. In addition, foreshadowings and resolutions serve as links between scenes.

An example of this can be found when Roxana asks the rhetorical question, "What could I say to the Gentleman.. I the Jeweller] when he press'd me to yield to him, and argued the. But of that in i t s Place" p. The resolution is provided when Roxana actually becomes his mistress and announces that "Amy put us to-Bed" p, Internal cohesion between scenes within the major Roxana-Jeweller episode is provided by this foreshadowing-resolution pair. It appears, then, that Defoe was. More often the resolutions act as bridges between the major episodes. For examplewhen she concludes the discussion of her relationship with.

Later, in the f i n a l narrative episode, Roxana does hear from him indirectly via Amy, The purpose of the re-introduction w i l l 12 be discussed below, but i t suffices here to say that the foreshadowing and resolution show that Defoe was not planning one scene or even one major episode at a time, but was looking forward as much as four episodes—in this case from the end of the French Prince episode to the beginning of the f i n a l Dutch Merchant segment. Although distance w i l l reveal this much i t w i l l not disclose how much of the novel Defoe had in mind at the outset.

That i s , when we consider the resolution involving the French Prince just referred to, 27 we can say with assurance that Defoe had at l eas t an i n c i p i e n t not ion of the novel up to the point of r e s o l u t i o n. But i t i s equal ly poss ib le that he may have had the e n t i r e novel planned. Although sect ions of the novel may have been planned at the outset or even before the beginning, an i n d i c a t i o n of planning might not be given u n t i l w e l l on i n the nove l.

I t may seem gratui tous to p r a i s e Defoe for avoiding something which i t i s commonsensical to avo id , but when i t i s remembered that he appears to have been very conscious of s t ruc ture i n th i s work and that s t r u c t u r a l devices were something of a novel ty to him, i t i s not unreasonable to expect obtrus ive and mechanical uses of s t r u c t u r e. But that we do not f i n d these suggests that Defoe was aware of the l i m i t a t i o n s of foreshadowing. That Defoe was a lso aware of. Rather than construct ing a crude frame, Defoe created an i n t r i c a t e network of interwoven threads to uni fy and strengthen the nove l and to produce an a e s t h e t i c a l l y p l eas ing texture.

Although forecasts are introduced with great frequency, the distances between forecasts and between forecasts and resolutions are a l l varied so a cogent but unmechanical unity is effected. At no point in the novel i s there a lapse in the use of forecasting; the entire narrative i s affected by the device. Defoe's structural sense and subtle dramatic sense are also exhibited when he leads up to a resolution with several foreshadowings to produce an incremental build-up.

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Consider, for example, the foreshadowings which lead to the debauching of Amy. The f i r s t comes when Roxana says "tho' I acknowledg'd her [Amy's] Kindness and Fidelity, yet i t was with but a bad Coin that she was paid in at last, as w i l l appear in i t s Place" p. Structurally, these repetitions bind a section of the narrative together.

The build-up also gives some psychological depth to the heroine, for the reader i s given some idea of the enormity of the impression this act has made on Roxana. As well, a mature and sustained response i s demanded of the reader when he realizes that Defoe was not relying on simple shock tactics, for when the resolution comes the reader is shocked with the act i t s e l f and this response i s deepened when he realizes that he has been prepared for the act.

A picture of Defoe's increasing maturation as an artist emerges when this scene i s compared with the revelation of Moll's incestuous 29 relationship. The absence of forewarning in the earlier novel suggests two things: This second result may have been against Defoe's wishes, or perhaps he was totally unconcerned with psychological depth,, but, nevertheless, because Moll's responses take place almost in a void, as i t were, without a pattern of stimulii and motivations..

Other examples, of incremental repetition include the foreshadowings of Susan's'death, which have been discussed above, and the longer, more complex, build-up to Roxana's dance before the King at P a l l Mall. This is closely, linked to the use of iterative imagery and w i l l be treated fully, in the discussion of imagery in Chapter I I I.

This aspect of foreshadowing could be dealt with at greater length, but enough has been said. From the study of distance came the impression that Defoe was planning Roxana at least several major episodes in advance and that 30 he was concerned both with the construction of individual scenes and with the unification of a l l narrative segments. A look at the contexts surrounding the resolutions further substantiates this impression and adds to the view that Defoe was unifying his novel as an a r t i s t , that he was creating i t as an organic unity rather than as a series of narrative blocks mechanically linked together.

Whether the resolutions stand out from the contexts or are continuous with the texture, whether they merge naturally or emerge unnaturally, will suggest the presence or absence of a controlling creative consciousness and w i l l reflect on the quality of the a r t i s t i c performance. Length does not permit an analysis of every context, and such a discussion would involve a great deal of duplication, so three contexts only w i l l be considered: The f i r s t resolution to be discussed occurs in a unit of narrative which is brief enough to allow the scene to be dealt with as a whole.

Thus, not only the context of the resolution, but the f u l l function and effect of the forecast-resolution pair can be outlined. The scene follows immediately after Roxana's marriage to the Dutch Merchant and is devoted, in part, to describing the entertainment the Quaker provides for the couple. This, to begin with, is a plausible outgrowth from the marriage. As the Quaker's entertaining proceeds she finds herself without sufficient plate—another reasonable inclusion in 31 view of the relative austerity of Quakers and the fact that she is in reduced financial circumstances..

And so the events flow smoothly and the forecast is naturally introduced: She was only at a loss for Plate, which she gave me a Whisper of; and I made Amy fetch a large strong Box, which I had lodg'd in a. The post-wedding scene also pictures Roxana and her husband settling their financial and domestic aff a i r s.

As part of their plans they decide to reward the Quaker for her. For, following her husband's suggestion to allot the woman sixty pounds This reference keeps the forecast in mind and.. During a conversation, between the two women Roxana gives the Quaker the plate. Immediately following the description of this act Roxana t e l l s us why she wanted her ownership of the plate concealed: Thus the resolution is synthesized with the preceeding narrative, and this lends support to the notion that the scene was conceived as a unit—'and the logical progression of events throughout the scene compounds this impression.

Yet because of the forecast and resolution, because these are specifically concerned with Roxana's plate, her desire to be r i d of i t , and her reasons for concealing her ownership of i t from her husband, the scene takes on a much more significant function. In combination with the Turkish dress, the plate formed a focal point for the P a l l Mall scenes. Roxana informed the reader that while furbishing her rooms she bought a handsome Quantity of Plate, necessary to have served a l l the Side-Boards, but the Gentlemen would not suffer any of i t to be us'd; telling me, they had bought fine China Dishes and Plates for the whole Service; and that in such Publick Places they cou'd not be answerable for the Plate; so it was set-up in a large Glass-Cupboard in the Room I sat in, where it made a very good Show indeed p.

Re-introduced later the plate takes, on. These associations act as foils, to. Roxana's present l i f e - s t y l e and emphasize her deceit and hypocrisy by showing that inwardly no change has occured although she has altered her outward appearances; that she has made no attempt to make amends for or to repent of her former l i f e.

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Her eagerness to dispose of the plate is consistent with her desire to obscure the past and begin a new l i f e , but this again emphasizes her fundamentally. The discrepancy between appearances and true nature is. Roxana's c h a r i t a b l e gestures are completely undercut and her dissembling and immorality are f o r c e f u l l y exposed by her husband's exemplary m o r a l i t y , h i s ingenuous good f a i t h , and h i s speech on C h r i s t i a n v i r t u e s.

The second example depicts. Roxana dispos ing of her jewels and c l a r i f i e s why she regret ted keeping.! At the end of the French Pr ince episode Roxana resolves,.. The "dress was extraordinary fine indeed Yet she is never mis-identified as a " Mahometan ," even when she wants to be. Her exoticness is never complete, and this allows her to maintain the social prominence she would not have had as merely a " Mahometan. Both the slave and the dress, as we have already seen, are also delivered to Roxana through the agency of imperialist agression - by the acts of a "Malthese Man of War" Significantly, Roxana, who is without Amy on her travels throughout Italy, uses her slave as a means to put the dress, with its various accouterments, on her body.

In other words, she learned how to cover herself in the dress of the exotic with the aid of an exotic. Roxana also learned from her slave the " Turkish language," their "way of Dancing, and some Turkish , or rather Moorish Songs, of which," as Roxana says, she made "Use" of "some years afterwards" This is a penultimate example of the methodology of imperialist expansion, since such a process was often used in mining, agriculture, and manufacturing as a common means to gain control over the labor values of colonized peoples.

Defoe, like many of his contemporaries during the early eighteenth century, was ambivalent about the issue if it can even be called an issue at this early date of slavery. In other words, Defoe was no abolitionist. Nonetheless, in his Reformation of Manners , Defoe did class the traffic in Africans as offenses similar to adultery and drunkeness. Defoe further describes it as a trade where the:. Defoe also characterizes American slavery as a "reproach to Christianity," and as a "unnatural" commerce, based upon excessive luxury, corruption, and materialism.

However, despite his strong literary sympathies, Defoe nevertheless demonstrated his ambivalence toward the slave trade by generally giving it strong support in his political writings. Apparently the moral questions surrounding this unnatural commerce never outwieghed the profits of the commerce itself. And slavery was profitable in the eighteenth centruy. Like Defoe, it seems that Roxana was also interested in what profits she could reap from the slave trade.

But contemporaries implied that Alexander, aged 28, also lost his heart. A wedding-feast for the two of them was arranged high on one of the Sogdian rocks. Alexander and his bride shared a loaf of bread, a custom still observed in Turkestan. Characteristically, Alexander sliced it with his sword. Jean-Antoine Julien, known as Julien de Parme, is now recognised as one of the precursors of Neoclassical painting. Born in Switzerland, he settled in Rome in after a short sojourn in Paris.

In gratitude to the court of Parma, the artist decided to use the name Julien de Parme.