Charlotte Temple:

By; Susanna Rowson

Page Number: 125

Originally published: 1791

a segment of Charlotte's letter to her father:

"If my child should be a girl (which heaven forbid) tell her the unhappy fate of her mother, and teach her to avoid my errors; if a boy, teach him to lament my miseries, bet tell him not who inflicted them, lest in wishing to revenge his mother's injuries, he should wound the peace of his father."

An 18th-century best-seller, Charlotte Temple portrays the story of a school girl of age fifteen whose life, upon meeting a soldier, changes drastically. Daughter of Mr. Temple and Mrs. Lucy Temple, Charlotte lives away from her family, in a girls-only boarding school. Compliant to her parents, Charlotte pursues an ordinary lifestyle of a schoolgirl of her time. Everything changes after her encounter with a soldier, Montraville, who is about to depart the country to serve in the military. The two become lovers, and in a short period, they elope. Charlotte, despite the initial optimistic anticipations of her future and Montraville's love, go through heartbreak after heartbreak upon Montraville's and Madam Du Pont's misconduct.

Rowson, when writing the story, reportedly aims for the further education of young girls of her time on topics of love and trust. The overall message is that the feelings of romance, in the end, bring great chaos and sorrow for the girl, thus she should protect herself from the gaze and affection of the male. Although she might be perceived as an advocate of women of her time with her publications being directed at female audiences, when you compare them to today's feminist ideologies, there is a lot that would indicate otherwise.

In the book, almost all women are depicted to be emotionally extremely sensitive. There is a constant portrayal of the female characters as being weak, unstable, and dependent. The main character rarely makes decisions for herself or has a say in how she will live her life because she never had the room to do so. The duties of each gender are harshly diverged, as women and men are portrayed to lack almost any similarities in their nature. The duty of man, it seems, is to be in charge of society in every aspect and be at the top of the hierarchical triangle that they implemented. Women, on the other hand, have the duty to go along with and support the system that men created. Man act upon their best interests, while women act upon men. A female's world, thus, revolves around her family and her partner. No more, no less.

On the other hand, unlike the works of other 18th century authors like Marie De France, Rowson does assign deeper characteristics and personality traits to them other than descriptions of their appearance. In old tales, women are described only by their beauty and relation to a male, however, Rowson seems to have moved away from it a little bit further to be able to write a tale about a girl who'd have a chance of education.

Of course, when her work is analyzed, the time period and social norms in which she wrote them in should always be kept in mind. While it is hard to describe her as a feminist of the 21st century, it is unfeasible to underestimate the importance that she had in shaping the mindset of so many young girls of her time.

personal rating of the book: 7/10