'The Coquette' by Hannah W. Foster is about a young woman, Eliza Wharton, who has a penchant for flirtatious behavior. The story is a series of letters that warn Eliza of the danger of her life choices, which are primarily a choice between two men, Reverend Boyer and Major Sanford, to court and perhaps soon marry. The two men have very polarized characteristics: the first is a renowned and serious reverend and the other is openly known as a libertine. Eliza's life is subject to the pressure of the expectations of the women around her. The main theme revolves around contemporary American society and the freedom of female choices within a restricted selection; anything that is not part of the selection is considered morally meaningless by society. Eliza's life is a clash of competing ideas, vertical social construction versus horizontal social construction. In the end, Foster justifies the destruction of coquetry by Eliza's death. “La Coquette” is clearly a cautionary tale. However, there are aspects of the book that criticize society's impossible expectations of women. The main question Foster asks is whether the story, to what extent, supports the prevailing social morality? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Foster articulates the social morality expected of a woman through the character of Lucy Freedom. Lucy is Eliza's primary confidante, who also insists that Eliza be a woman who lives up to social expectations. Unlike Eliza, Lucy is not blinded by love, nor "charmed" by Sanford's "rhetoric" (Foster, 36), which makes her voice trustworthy to the reader because she is an outside observer of love for three. Many of Lucy's letters to Eliza show her urgent denial of her relationship with Sanford – "Beware of the illusions of the imagination!" , 51) – the multiple use of exclamation points shows the urgency of his warning. The words “illusion” and “infatuated” show the extent to which Eliza is under Sanford’s spell. His flirting is associated with the "magical arts", implying bad intentions. The verb “to lead” shows Eliza’s helplessness as she is unable to make sensible decisions under his spell. Foster wants to associate the freedom of love with the depravity of decorum. Lucy's defamation of Sanford is also justified by reason: "His taste is intact, his manners untainted", "Major Sanford is certainly destitute" (Foster, 26). The use of extreme adjectives such as "undebauched" and "tainted" to amplify his despicability in the eyes of a feudal society. She acknowledges Sanford's deprivation to emphasize the importance of a woman's financial dependence on her husband, a key aspect of a vertical, feudal relationship. Furthermore, Lucy cares about Eliza's long-term stability, not a love that is trapped. at first glance: “Remember that you are acting for life; and that your happiness in this world, perhaps in the other, depends on your present choice!' (Foster, 58 years old). This quote clearly shows Lucy's modernist belief in cause and effect and that time travels in a linear, progressive order. Additionally, modernity also believes that a person's social ranking can easily be corrupted if they do not adhere to the expected social decorum. The sayings “next” and “present” show the chronology of time. Overall, Lucy urges Eliza to enter into a marriage with a well-polished man for her own stability and investment. Foster warns against manipulation ofcoquetry through Sanford's interaction with Eliza. When they first meet, Sanford clearly wants to sneakily take advantage of Eliza's flirtatious and talkative behavior in the hopes that she will return his attention. Sanford reveals that he will “avenge my sex, by retaliating for misdeeds,” “to play with his own artillery, by showing insignificant bravery” (Foster, 18). Initially, his “insignificant” flirtations are just short-term frivolous “misdeeds”. Eliza, however, sees this first conversation as “a conversation perfectly suited to my taste”. She believes they both share a common mentality that sparks the sparkle of first love. This is not true since their conversation is carefully crafted by Sanford to win her heart. Her incomprehension proves that Eliza's coquetry is associated with stupidity, which leaves room for manipulations both gentle and evil. Consequently, their bondage has developed to the point that Eliza misperceives it as “loving tenderness” (Foster, 21). It's like Eliza is a puppet in Sanford's entertainment. Their meetings turn into a courtship between the two. When Sanford discovers that she is also courting Boyer at the same time, jealousy rises within him. As a result, he pursues Eliza relentlessly to fulfill his conquest of female affection and sexual intercourse, which Eliza mistakes for love. Once Sanford successfully sleeps with Eliza, he is overcome with joy. He expresses their sexual intercourse as a “full possession of my adorable Eliza” (Foster, 139). The diction “possession” shows its vertical relationship between man and woman, where the woman is devalued to the point of being objectified, even enslaved. He then reveals that all this flirting with Eliza is part of an engineered game: “I have never yet been defeated in my plan” (Foster, 139). “Defeated” shows Sanford’s view that this relationship is like a power play between winning and “losing.” Sanford is a man of great contradiction in his virtues and intentions which makes his character terrible, he is vertical in marriage due to his poverty, and horizontal in companionship, which allows him to be with two women both (his wife and Eliza). This makes the reader feel like Eliza is being deceived because she is completely horizontal and expects the same from Sanford. Sanford's coquetry and the sexist society that allows Sanford to act this way while shaming Eliza's are the cause of his tragic end. Her out-of-wedlock pregnancy makes her unbearable to society, while Sanford is only slightly shamed. Overall, the patriarchal society that allows Sanford to behave flirtatiously while being intentionally evil is certainly out of Eliza's control, making her feel like a victim in the novel. This is one of Foster's few allusions that the novel defames traditional, sexist values ​​and the burdens women carry. However, Eliza's downfall is also due to her stubborn behavior - she does not listen to the warning signs of the women in her life: "I am convinced that her passion for me was sincere, however deceptive it may have been being with others” (Foster, 100). This further justifies the fact that Eliza's death is caused by her persistence in living according to her flirtatious will. These women insist that they become a virtuous woman by rejecting flirtatious behavior. and that they find happiness in their domestic, constrained lifestyle Eliza fights the battle between female freedom and social expectations. If she were to marry, she would want to find a balance between loving companionship and marriage. a relationship with a like-minded man However, Foster creates. :.