The Fortunate Mistress full title: Born in France, from which her parents fled because of religious persecution, Roxana grew to adolescence in England. At the age of fifteen, she married a handsome but conceited man. After eight years of marriage, during which time her husband went through all of their money, Roxana is left penniless with five children. Another poor old woman whom Roxana had aided during her former prosperity adds her efforts to those of the old aunt and Amy. Finally, Amy plots to force the five children at the house of the sister of Roxana's fled husband, which she does.
The cruel sister-in-law will raise the five children, with the help of her kinder husband. Roxana is penniless and at the point of despair when Mr. Roxana, however, clings to her virtuous independence. This offer, however, Roxana refuses to consider. The two women talk much about the merits of the landlord, his motive in befriending Roxana, and the moral implications of his attentions. To show his good faith, he offers to share his wealth with her, bequeathing her five hundred pounds in his will and promising seven thousand pounds if he leaves her.
Finally Roxana, her conscience still bothering her, yields to his protestations of love and has sex with him. After a year and a half has passed and Roxana has not conceived a child, Amy chides her mistress for her barrenness. Amy does bear a child, which Roxana takes as her own to save the maid embarrassment. Two years later, Roxana has a daughter, who dies within six months. A year later, she pleases her lover with a son.
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There they live in great style until Roxana has a vision in which Mr. To reassure her he gives the case of valuable jewels he carries with him to her, should he be robbed. This ominous assertion proves true and was murdered by thieves after the case of jewels which he was rumored to always carry. Roxana moves up through the social spectrum by becoming the mistress of a German prince who came to pay his respects to her following the jeweler's murder. They live in Italy together for two years where she is gifted a Turkish slave who teaches her the Turkish language and Turkish customs, and a Turkish dress which will become central to her later character development.
Upon their return the Prince's wife, the Princess, become ill and dies. The prince, humbled and repentant, decides to no longer keep Roxana as a mistress and live a life closer to God. As a result Roxana decides to return to England, but being considerably richer than when she arrived thanks to the jeweler and the Prince, she gets in contact with a Dutch merchant who could help her to move her considerable wealth back to England.
Roxana wishes to sell the jewels in the case the jeweler had left her the day he died, and the Dutch merchant arranges for them to be appraised by a Jew. What happens when I have an item in my cart but it is less than the eligibility threshold? Should I pay a subscription fee to always have free shipping?
Lady Roxana by Daniel Defoe, Fb Editions, B. H. G. De Saint Heraye - Paperback
No, you will enjoy unlimited free shipping whenever you meet the above order value threshold. Lady Roxana" par Daniel Defoe. Daniel Defoe etait un ecrivain anglais Product Features: Paperback Language of Text: Daniel Defoe, Fb Editions, B. De Saint Heraye Publisher: This is the most psychological of Defoe's novels, and it exposes his weakness. On the plus side, though, there are some sexy parts. View all 3 comments. Sep 10, Amber rated it liked it Recommends it for: Recommended to Amber by: I read a passage in 18th century lit.
This book has the most modern, compelling and insightful argument about why women of were better to stay unmarried, which is an absolute must read and highlights all Roxana's strengths. If you're interested in checking it out, skip to the bottom spoiler tag. I'm not one of those people who DNF's books. And yeah, I abandoned The Oresteia but you would too if you had to read all those footnotes after you dropped the class If I was smart an This book has the most modern, compelling and insightful argument about why women of were better to stay unmarried, which is an absolute must read and highlights all Roxana's strengths.
And yeah, I abandoned The Oresteia but you would too if you had to read all those footnotes after you dropped the class If I was smart and if you are , I never would have finished this book. But it's weird and I'm glad I did. The story starts off, for lack of a better word, boring. I once read somewhere that a good story starts in media res in the middle of things , but we get a sense of who our narrator is from where she chooses to start the story.
I was born, as my friends told me, at the city of Poitiers, in the province or county of Poitou in France, from whence I was brought to England by my parents, who fled from their religionn about the year , when the Protestants were banished from France by the cruelty of their persecutors. Unfortunately, the story has nothing to do with any of this.
Lady Roxana ou l'Heureuse Catin — Wikipédia
Roxana is merely relating the facts, and while she is clear and concise here, she only devolves as the story gets going and things start to get a little more The summary on Goodreads paints Roxana as a woman who "traded her virtue" and as the autobiography gets going, she attempts to paint herself as this. But because this is an autobiography, and she is the narrator-turned-author, you not only get a whole lot of "But to go on with my own story" when she digresses for even a SECOND about someone else, even her most intimate acquaintance and most beloved friend, Amy.
You also get a lot of this: I may call well call it languishing, for if Providence had not relieved me, I should have died in little time. But of that hereafter. As a modern reader, you can make the argument, well maybe they wrote differently back then. I can assure you, having read a decent amount 18th century literature, that this wasn't common.
You got 1st person mainly through letters, but it was more popular to write to the moment, or in chronological sequence, rather than dropping these annoyings hints of what's coming. Me, I can't stand it. I don't want your spoilers halfway through, I want the compelling evidence of not knowing what is coming. Because for most of the story, I was convinced Roxana is a terrible, terrible narrator. Even if you're not like me, you still get scenes like this, where she is so self-centered and removed from telling her story - which by the by, you never find out from what period she started narrating - that you have to struggle to keep going, because even the most excitingly awful things are glossed over: I had but small encouragement to give her, and indeed could say but very little, but I got her to compose herself a little and not let any of the people of the ship understand what she meant or what she said.
But even in her greatest composure she continued to express herself with the utmost dread and terror on account of the wicked life she had lived, and crying out she should be damned and the like, which was very terrible to me who knew what condition I was in myself. Yes, that is only two sentences. I can see from some of these lines that this book could seem very compelling with its selfish narrator, who being so selfish and self-absorbed, can at times get very unreliable, especially with her limited perspective.
But yet, I stand by my beliefs, which is that this book is not about deep, meaningful, poetic language. I haven't read any other Defoe, so I can't tell you if that's just his style, or if he was intending for something 'different' with this one. However, every now and then you get a line like this: This, however, shows us with what faint excuses and with what trifles we pretend to satisfy ourselves and suppress the attempts of conscience in the pursuit of agreeable crime, and in the possessing those pleasures which we are loath to part with.
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Which is absolutely beautiful. Roxana's true gift is in making us understand her thought process and why she did things. She continually repeats herself, yes, but that repetition is there to compel you, not only into believing her often how-is-this-possible story as fact, but also as a defense. Roxana wants you to accept the chain of life and say, "Well, if you acted like this and felt this way then, well, that makes sense Roxana's adventures would be perfectly acceptable and perhaps not as profitable in modern day.
And of course I'm all for a wicked heroine. But my beef with this story is that the original, well And that's a big problem. You see, this is the end of the story view spoiler [ Here, after some few years of flourishing and outwardly happy circumstances, I feel into a dreadful course of calamities, and Amy also; the very reverse of our former good days. The blast of Heaven seemed to follow the injury done the poor girl by us both, and I was brought so low again that my repentance seemed to be only the consequence of my misery, as my misery was out of crime.
Well, that's a really pathetic ending. Some people took fault with this, and so a much speculated person wrote a different ending. The problem with that ending is that it doesn't agree at all with the process of the story in many aspects. It takes Roxana, who is in Holland in the final paragraph, back to England, and starts her there. While it explains some things view spoiler [like what happened to Susanna if she wasn't really dead hide spoiler ] , it still breaks continuity in a bad bad way. It also doesn't agree with the final paragraph in that view spoiler [there were happy years in Holland before the calamities came - Roxana has none of that, Susanna comes right away and spoils all hide spoiler ].
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Now, as to why I enjoyed reading this, when it was so dull and awful and placid in the middle, was the end. Once you've read the various glories of Roxana, you're wondering, well, why is this worth telling. Because the last couple of pages bring, as described by another reader, a slow moving car crash. For me, that was the most compelling, page turning moment of the whole book. If Roxana had thought to include or not gloss over more moments of almost being burned, or having her cover blown, or just framing the instances that did happen properly, this book would be more compelling.
As it stands, I had to give it 3 stars, simply because of the beginning. I really could have given this book up!
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The end was really closer to 3. Now would I recommend this? Maybe, if you are compelled by what you see here, enjoy classic literature, have previously enjoyed Defoe, and most importantly, know what you are getting into! I can't stress this enough, this is not the book I was promised. Roxana , Defoe's last novel, is the autobiography of a woman brought to the brink of survival.
In order to survive, she must sacrifice her virtue and honour for bread in the arms of another man. Many years later, when tragedy strikes the pair, she is offered the chance to do it all again, but this time as an undisguised mistress. Throughout, Roxana portrays herself as aloof, distant, and exotic - earning her the name she wins in England for her possession in equal parts of beauty, poise, and mystery. Often more composed than she should be, Roxana is a forgiving analyst of her own susceptibilities, begging the audience to understand how she was led down this path.
Endowed with a selfishness so deep that she is unmoved by anything around her, she is able to carry on her life of renown for many years and exult in the gain. Unlike Defoe's other penitent anti-heroes, Roxana never feels guilt, sorrow, or shame unless she believes it will save her from consequence. Defoe's achievement was to invent, in 'Roxana', a gripping story-teller, but what he succeeded in was an unreliable narratess whose single-mindedness makes the storytelling less predictable than modern readers are typically used to. Infamous passage of Roxana's views on marriage view spoiler [He was extremely disappointed in this article, and knew not how to manage for a great while; and as I dare say, if he had not expected to have made it an earnest for marrying me, he would not have attempted me the other way, so, I believed, if it had not been for the money which he knew I had, he would never have desired to marry me after he had lain with me.
For where is the man that cares to marry a whore, though of his own making? And as I knew him to be no fool, so I did him no wrong when I supposed that, but for the money, he would not have had any thoughts of me that way, especially after my yielding as I had done; in which it is to be remembered that I made no capitulation for marrying him when I yielded to him, but let him do just what he pleased, without any previous bargain.
Well, hitherto we went upon guesses at one another's designs; but as he continued to importune me to marry, though he had lain with me, and still did lie with me as often as he pleased, and I continued to refuse to marry him, though I let him lie with me whenever he desired it; I say, as these two circumstances made up our conversation, it could not continue long thus, but we must come to an explanation. One morning, in the middle of our unlawful freedoms—that is to say, when we were in bed together—he sighed, and told me he desired my leave to ask me one question, and that I would give him an answer to it with the same ingenious freedom and honesty that I had used to treat him with.
I told him I would. Why, then, his question was, why I would not marry him, seeing I allowed him all the freedom of a husband. He might easily see I had no aversion to him; and that, if I was with child by him, he should see a testimony of my kindness to the father, for that I would settle all I had in the world upon the child. He was mute a good while.
At last says he, "Come, my dear, you are the first woman in the world that ever lay with a man and then refused to marry him, and therefore there must be some other reason for your refusal; and I have therefore one other request, and that is, if I guess at the true reason, and remove the objection, will you then yield to me?
Now, if it be the first of these, my mouth will be stopped, and I have no more to say; but if it be the last, I am prepared effectually to remove the objection, and answer all you can say on that subject. I was indeed surprised at that part of his offer, and he might easily perceive it; it was not only what I did not expect, but it was what I knew not what answer to make to. He had, indeed, removed my principal objection—nay, all my objections, and it was not possible for me to give any answer; for, if upon so generous an offer I should agree with him, I then did as good as confess that it was upon the account of my money that I refused him; and that though I could give up my virtue and expose myself, yet I would not give up my money, which, though it was true, yet was really too gross for me to acknowledge, and I could not pretend to marry him upon that principle neither.
Then as to having him, and make over all my estate out of his hands, so as not to give him the management of what I had, I thought it would be not only a little Gothic and inhuman, but would be always a foundation of unkindness between us, and render us suspected one to another; so that, upon the whole, I was obliged to give a new turn to it, and talk upon a kind of an elevated strain, which really was not in my thoughts, at first, at all; for I own, as above, the divesting myself of my estate and putting my money out of my hand was the sum of the matter that made me refuse to marry; but, I say, I gave it a new turn upon this occasion, as follows: I returned, that while a woman was single, she was a masculine in her politic capacity; that she had then the full command of what she had, and the full direction of what she did; that she was a man in her separate capacity, to all intents and purposes that a man could be so to himself; that she was controlled by none, because accountable to none, and was in subjection to none.
So I sung these two lines of Mr. All he could say could not answer the force of this as to argument; only this, that the other way was the ordinary method that the world was guided by; that he had reason to expect I should be content with that which all the world was contented with; that he was of the opinion that a sincere affection between a man and his wife answered all the objections that I had made about the being a slave, a servant, and the like; and where there was a mutual love there could be no bondage, but that there was but one interest, one aim, one design, and all conspired to make both very happy.
The pretence of affection takes from a woman everything that can be called herself; she is to have no interest, no aim, no view; but all is the interest, aim, and view of the husband; she is to be the passive creature you spoke of," said I. How often have I seen a woman living in all the splendour that a plentiful fortune ought to allow her, with her coaches and equipages, her family and rich furniture, her attendants and friends, her visitors and good company hide spoiler ] The above is continued in the comments!
View all 6 comments. Jul 25, Natalie rated it it was amazing. It's so deliciously old! Sentences that stretch for paragraphs; seemingly random capitalization scattered about the pages! And yet, it is so human a story you can hardly believe the creature that called themselves humans in the s could have so much in common with you, your very self.
Everyone is so naughty! It makes being good seem garishly modern. Aug 13, kingshearte rated it it was ok Shelves: This one and Interview With The Vampire. Not because there are any vampires or anything obviously , but because of my feelings toward the respective protagonists. The main thing I remember about reading Interview is how much Louis annoyed me with his constant whining, and how much I wished he would just shut up and get over it.
Because, oh my god, she frets a lot. And always about the same thing. I feel like every single page features at least one paragraph where she moans about her chosen profession and what it means for her immortal soul or whatever, and it drove me crazy. If the wealth is important enough to you that you want to keep at it so you can get more, then do so and get over it. But either way, for the love of whatever, SHUT. The society in which she was brought up made that very clear to her.
The only thing worse than giving up your favours outside of marriage is profiting by it. Worst thing a woman could possibly do.
But really, sex pretty much was a matter of life or death for all women in that era. Whether you marry the dude or not, it basically still boils down to trading sexual favours and your reproductive system for food and shelter. Marriage simply makes it a more binding contract. So by that logic, every woman of that era should get a pass on this particular way of living. But then, of course, she finds herself having to admit that she enjoys it. She likes the attention and the admiration, and I want to say it was implied in at least one spot that she actually enjoys the act itself gasp!
The rest of the book carries on in a similar vein. She becomes mistress to a handful of men four, by my count, not counting her first husband, and she did eventually marry one of the four — not an unreasonable number , makes a pile of money, and frets about it all the whole way through. And I suppose I should address the final section. It is believed that it was actually written by someone other than Defoe, as there are some inconsistencies.
Furthermore, while, as mentioned above, I found much of the narrative tedious, the first part of the final section was painfully so. The details of their trip from London to Dover were related with such minute precision that it was maddening. And then I found my own reaction to this kind of fascinating. I guess it just comes down to narrative conventions. Good storytelling generally relies on conflict.
Someone would have to come up with a very compelling argument for me to read any more. Jul 03, Ben Doeh rated it really liked it. Defoe explores the role and viability of female Authority in a man's world, by narrating from Roxana's perspective. The book has many dull passages, but the fourth star is for the novel's dark drama, and its sometimes brilliant and morally complex passages - Roxana forcing her Roxanne!!!
The book has many dull passages, but the fourth star is for the novel's dark drama, and its sometimes brilliant and morally complex passages - Roxana forcing her maid into sex; her scathing account of marriage to fools; her reflections on "storm-repentance" at sea; her bedside debate with the Dutch merchant about marriage and blackly amusing comparison of being wife v mistress; and several more.