{"id":556,"date":"2015-06-25T09:53:04","date_gmt":"2015-06-25T08:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/?p=556"},"modified":"2015-06-25T09:53:04","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T08:53:04","slug":"vipers-and-treacherous-men-moral-tales-in-the-ladys-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/2015\/06\/25\/vipers-and-treacherous-men-moral-tales-in-the-ladys-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"Vipers and Treacherous Men: Moral Tales in the Lady\u2019s Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The moral tales in the Lady\u2019s Magazine<\/em> form a distinct genre that consists of short, often illustrated, didactic stories intended to convey a lesson or moral to the reader. One might imagine that such a genre communicates a consistent or coherent ideology, but the fictional content of the moral tale varies widely in both instructive message and writing style \u2013 even in works by the same author.<\/p>\n

\"fatal<\/a>

LM XXII (March 1781): 117. Image \u00a9 Adam Matthew Digital \/ Birmingham Central Library. Not to be reproduced without permission<\/p><\/div>\n

The prolific correspondent \u2018R\u2014.\u2019 contributed moral tales for well over a decade, penning stories such as \u2018Surgi, or the Stoic\u2019 (LM <\/em>IV [April 1773]: 193), \u2018The Unexpected Meeting\u2019 (LM <\/em>IV [May 1773]: 233) \u2013 which takes place in Margate \u2013, \u2018Alphonso; or the Cruel Husband\u2019 (LM <\/em>V [April 1774]: 183), \u2018Celadon and Florella; or the Perils of a Tete-a-tete\u2019 (LM <\/em>V [February 1773]: 65), \u2018Penelope, or Matrimonial Constancy\u2019 (LM <\/em>V [September 1774]: 457) and \u2018The Unwary Sleeper\u2019 (LM <\/em>V [May 1774]: 233). All of these tales have accompanying engravings and \u2018R\u2014.\u2019 also contributed essays, opinion pieces, and serial fiction.<\/p>\n

\"unwary<\/a>

LM V (May 1774): 233. Image \u00a9 Adam Matthew Digital \/ Birmingham Central Library. Not to be reproduced without permission<\/p><\/div>\n

Because I would like to spend further time on this topic in future blog posts, I will only discuss two of the tales here. \u2018The Unwary Sleeper\u2019 and \u2018The Fatal Wreath\u2019 (LM <\/em>XII [March 1781]: 117). In \u2018The Unwary Sleeper\u2019 the female character, Dulcetta, describes herself thusly: \u2018My figure gave pleasure, but the readiness with which I imbibed the instructions of my teachers, recommended me more strongly than my personal accomplishments\u2019 (233). In contrast, her friend Amelia\u2019s : \u2018mode of education was different from mine; she could sing, and play well on her guitar and spinet, but could neither stitch a wristband, or read an English author with propriety. An adept at quadrille, but totally ignorant of the first rudiments of religion\u2019 (233), Amelia allows \u2018liberties\u2019 from men that shock her friend. After she elopes with Mr. D\u2014 it is revealed he is already married with \u2018a family of half a score children\u2019 (234).<\/p>\n

\"unwary<\/a>

LM V (May 1774): 233. Image \u00a9 Adam Matthew Digital \/ Birmingham Central Library. Not to be reproduced without permission<\/p><\/div>\n

Dulcetta\u2019s religious and moral education has saved her from her friend\u2019s fate, but the tale doesn\u2019t conclude here, as it easily could. Instead, it transports Dulcetta one month forward to her father\u2019s house three miles away. After this apparently insignificant alteration in time and location, Dulcetta feels removed from normality, a distance likewise experienced by the reader due to a shift from the earlier, matter-of-fact narration to a tone similar to a fairytale. The estate, \u2018in the midst of a wood, and [. . . ] entirely by itself\u2019 affords her no companion and so she wanders alone, picking wildflowers and reading. Laying down under a large tree, she is \u2018immediately transported into the land of dreams. I thought that I was in a solitary place, and that a person was attempting to be rude with me. I shrieked\u2014the shriek waked me\u2014and who should stand before me but the treacherous Mr. D\u2014,\u2019 (234). Dulcetta is saved by one of her father\u2019s servants and the incident causes her to conclude that \u2018the fall<\/em> of the sex is generally owing to their vigilance\u2019s being asleep <\/em>when it should be awake<\/em>\u2019 (234).<\/p>\n

The pointed observation feels ill-suited to the preceding passage given that the moral female protagonist was sleeping when attacked and only fortuitously saved by an improbably located servant. If even a virtuous and properly educated female risks a \u2018fall\u2019 by falling asleep, R\u2014. seems to suggest luck, more than vigilance, is needed to save one\u2019s virtue.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>

LM XXII (March 1781): 117. Image \u00a9 Adam Matthew Digital \/ Birmingham Central Library. Not to be reproduced without permission<\/p><\/div>\n

R\u2014.\u2019s March 1781 tale \u2018The Fatal Wreath\u2019 features another slumbering character, but this time the sleeper is the (would-be) seducer of the luckless Almira. Celadon, \u2018fond of dissipation\u2019, persuades Almira into frequent meetings in a grove decorated with a statue of Diana, goddess of chastity, where Almira makes \u2018concessions [. . .] which she wished that she had not made\u2019 (118). When she finds him asleep in the grove one summer\u2019s evening, she places chaplet of flowers on his head. Suddenly fearing the statue of Diana is animated, \u2018that she even pointed her shaft against her\u2019, Almira flees, but \u2018a viper bit her heel \u2013 she sunk \u2013 she died \u2013 she might have met with a worse, had Celadon awoke, when she placed the flowery wreath on his temples.\u2014Let the sex beware of innocent advances and liberties; advances and liberties are dangerous\u2019 (118).<\/p>\n

\"fatal<\/a>

LM XXII (March 1781): 117. Image \u00a9 Adam Matthew Digital \/ Birmingham Central Library. Not to be reproduced without permission<\/p><\/div>\n

Again, the moral is intriguingly elusive. R\u2014. states that \u2018advances and liberties are dangerous\u2019 but it is unclear just how far the liberties between Celadon and Almira have gone. By suggesting that had Celadon awoken Almira would have met with a fate worse than death, R\u2014. implies that she has not already had sexual intercourse with Celadon in spite of allowing some \u2018concessions\u2019. The viper bite saves Almira from what might have been, rather than punishing her for what has already occurred. The \u2018what might have been\u2019 fate could also have befallen the virtuous Dulcetta in the \u2018The Unwary Sleeper\u2019 yet she was saved by luck. Regardless of the potential danger of liberties, advances, and slumber, what R\u2014. depicts as the actual, physical dangers to unwary or unguarded women are vipers and, of course, treacherous men.<\/p>\n

Dr Jenny DiPlacidi<\/p>\n

University of Kent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The moral tales in the Lady\u2019s Magazine form a distinct genre that consists of short, often illustrated, didactic stories intended to convey a lesson or moral to the reader. One might imagine that such a genre communicates a consistent or coherent ideology, but the fictional content of the moral tale varies widely in both instructive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39798,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39798"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":572,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions\/572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}