flirting with disaster (and consumption)

I have no yet determined to seduce her, though, with all her pretensions to virtue, I do not think it impossible [...] If she will play with a lion, let her beware of his paw… – Peter Sanford, The Coquette p.57, Oxford ed.

To associate, is to approve; to approve, is to be betrayed! – Lucy Sumner, p.168

After reading far too many early American documents, I have to say that Hannah W. Foster’s The Coquette is one of the most enjoyable books that I have read this semester.First published in 1797, The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton tells the story of the seduction and betrayal of Eliza Wharton through a series of letters written by Eliza, her friends, and the two men who seek to have her.

Recovering from, or celebrating, the death of Mr. Haly – a lover approved by Eliza’s family and friends, much to her chagrin – Eliza sets out to enjoy the second chance at youthful liberty that the end of her engagement granted her. Staying with friends, Eliza first meets the Reverend Boyer, a single man with a modest income, and Major Sanford, a well-known libertine with a penchant for living beyond his means and affecting a look of affluence. Unwilling to live in gloom, Eliza’s lively and free-spirited manners are taken for coquetry.

Pursued by Boyer and Sanford, Eliza finds herself in an unsettling situation, not ready to give up her freedom for the domestic bliss that Boyer wants, and uncertain of the rakish Sanford’s intentions.

Through the letters, the reader comes to understand Eliza’s true character, her ambivalence to settle down, and her feelings for the two men that pursue her. Also revealing Sanford’s ill-intent and skewed sense of love, the letters provide a multi-dimensional quality to an otherwise simple plot. The cautionary tale – girls guard your virtue – a used and abused motif in the eighteenth century writing, can take a very didactic turn, but The Coquette does not present the reader with a pedantic narrator to tell the “true” story of Eliza Wharton.

Like most cautionary tales, something has to go horribly awry, Eliza’s good intentions notwithstanding, but if you haven’t figured it out, I won’t give away the ending.

Tags: books, cautionary tale, early American fiction, novels