GSC/HIST 469

3 Oct 01

Paper #1, Question 7a

Amy Sellers

Moving Beyond Sensibility: Ideas of Republican Motherhood, Marriage, and Sexual Relations: Charlotte Temple, Susanna Rowson’s Guide To Revolutionary Growth

Susanna Rowson’s novel Charlotte Temple addresses social concerns regarding sexual relations, marriage, and motherhood that affected her contemporary Eighteenth Century readers. The rise of the belief in sensibility and notions of the Republican mother created a conflicting need for women to value their emotions as a source of knowledge and, at the same time, to develop their own moral fortitude and independence of thought. Women could easily recognize their own moral dilemmas in Charlotte Temple, and Rowson’s didactic tone, narrative events, and direct address passages served as a much needed source of advice for these conflicted women and explains Charlotte Temple’s popularity.

Sexual relations had undergone significant changes during the course of the Eighteenth Century, moving from strict punishment both religiously and legally for fornication to a more relaxed sexual code that accepted pre-marital sex under specific circumstances. Cornelia Dayton’s record and analysis of Sarah Grosvenor’s abortion and subsequent death in 1742 noted that "in the 1740’s, amid shifting standards of sexual behavior and growing concern over the evidentiary impossibility of establishing paternity, prosecutions of young men for premarital sex ceased…[however], female kin and friends…became preoccupied with their guilt and the inevitability of God’s vengeance" (Dayton 93). By the end of the Eighteenth Century, sexual patterns had developed beyond this early double standard, and society had begun to accept new sexual standards and attitudes. An excerpt from Women’s Voices, Women’s Lives regarding sex and reproduction includes the lyrics of a song that presents a vivid picture of this changed, late Eighteenth Century sexuality. Rather than condemning pre-marital sex, the lyrics imply that sexual relations after a promise of marriage were acceptable between two betrothed. The female singer "turned the deafen’d Ear" (Berkin and Horowitz 17:2) and knew she "must deny…must deny…must deny" (17:7-8) until Harry, her admirer, declares, "To Yonder Church lets go he cried/ And there be made my charming bride" (17:23-4). Earlier in the century, sexual relations would not have commenced until after the nuptials, but this song suggests that once a pledge of marriage was received then the woman "though ‘twas folly to be shy/ And Own’s I could no more deny" (17:25-6). The narrative in Charlotte Temple directly parallels these song lyrics, thus signifying that this issue was a central source of confusion and debate for young Eighteenth Century women.

Charlotte, like the woman in the song, receives a similar pledge from Montraville. Montraville promises, "The moment we reach our place of destination, Hymen shall sanctify our love" (Rowson 44), thus placing Charlotte in a recognizable moral dilemma regarding the commencement of sexual relations. Susanna Rowson’s readers were privy to Charlotte’s intimate moral dilemmas and conflicts, and her fears of "infringing the laws of filial duty" (Rowson 42) voice the fears of society at the time. Charlotte further illuminates her conflicts of intellect and emotion when she declares, "…while discretion points out the impropriety of my conduct, inclination urges me on to ruin" (Rowson 44).

In the novel, Charlotte’s voice becomes the voice of many. As a "naturally delicate" (Rowson 59) woman of sensibility, Charlotte’s exclamation of "How shall I act?" (47) succinctly denotes conflicts of emotion and duty that faced contemporary women. Rowson’s responses both through the context of narrative action and through the author’s own narrative asides provide guidance for similar situations of moral dilemma. Condemnation of Charlotte’s decision to engage in a sexual relationship and to disregard familial duty abounds as the novel traces its main character through her lonely life and untimely death. Charlotte’s self-pitying states and musings provide a horrible picture of shame and betrayal. Charlotte describes herself, saying, "I have forfeited the good opinion of all my friends; I have forsaken them and undone myself" (Rowson 77), and this debased image is supported by the righteous landlady accusing Charlotte of being "a nasty, impudent hussey" (Rowson 103). This downtrodden portrait of Charlotte leaves little room for the imagining of glamour in the "incorrect" life of sin. Rowson delivers an interesting aside in her own voice early in the novel to protect young women from weakness on account of sensibility. Rowson states,

Sensibility, and a criticism of the over-emphasis of emotion, lurks within Rowson’s passage, and her rejection of love and romance highlights the changes in women’s roles as Republican wives and mothers from the emotionally and physically "weaker sex" into women of high morals and strength expected to nurture virtuous families. However, no words could more aptly teach an audience than Charlotte’s own. She concedes "that I loved my seducer is but too true!…powerful as that passion is when operating in a young heart glowing with sensibility" (Rowson 80).

Along with her critique of changing sexual relations, Rowson’s novel also examined marriage practices. Marriage at the end of the Eighteenth Century had begun to change, and in conjunction with the ideas of the Republican mother, the focus of marriage moved from monetary gain to virtuous motherhood. Rowson includes direct, explicit criticisms of former marriage practices within Charlotte Temple. Rowson describes the "legal prostitution" (Rowson 12) of Mr. Temple’s sisters into marriages for money and wealth, and Mr. Temple’s courtship of Miss Weatherby first undertaken because she, unlike Lucy, "ha[s] only an estate of three thousand a year and [is] more upon a level with [Mr. Temple]" (Rowson 23). Rowson further demonstrates the degraded state of marriage when, after Mr. Temple rejects Miss Weatherby, she "believed the surest method to revenge the slight put on her by the son, would be to accept the father: so said so done, and in a few days she became the Countess D---" (Rowson 25). These statements present a critique of women who marry for money or status, an idea that stands contrary to Republican motherhood.

Though women in the late Eighteenth Century were still governed by laws of coverture, forbidden to vote, and allowed a restricted role in political and larger social matters, the role of the wife and the mother assumed a new importance in light of Republican ideals. Women were just beginning to gain access to education, and Linda Kerber’s analysis of post-revolutionary documents reveals that

This type of motherhood relied upon women as "wives and mothers who were well-informed, ‘properly methodical,’ and free of ‘invidious and rancorous passions’" (Kerber 118). Susanna Rowson’s Charlotte Temple provides clear examples of a Republican mother and an unsuccessful mother, and her condemnations and commendations guided women of the Eighteenth Century.

Several passages in Charlotte Temple address the "proper" role of a wife and mother, while Charlotte’s own example of motherhood and her lacks confirm the "correct," acceptable ideas of the mother under a republican system. In a lengthy passage, Rowson praises and defends the mother who "attended to all your wants and wishes from earliest infancy to the present day" (Rowson 54), but her emphasis on Charlotte’s lacks as a mother and a Republican woman of "autonomy and self-realization" (Kerber 117) provide a more striking example of the undesired opposite of the Republican woman. Charlotte never marries Montraville, and unlike "the duteous, faithful wife [who], though treated with indifference, has one solid pleasure…that she has ever fulfilled the duties of her station with the strictest exactness" (Rowson 66), she has no pride or uplifting moral certainties and "shame bows her to the earth, remorse tears her distracted mind, and guilt, poverty, and disease close the dreadful scene" (67). Charlotte’s illegitimate child provides further example of her oppositional status in regards to the Republican mother. Rather than being born a virtuous citizen of the republic, Charlotte’s child is "an innocent witness of …guilt[,] heir to infamy and shame" (Rowson 81). Even Charlotte’s work ethic is undeserving of the title of self-sufficient or proud. The landlady chastises Charlotte’s innocence regarding monetary concerns and exclaims, "why go to the barracks and work for a morsel of bread; wash and mend the soldiers clothes, an cook [emphasis mine] their victuals, and not expect to live in idleness on honest people’s means" (Rowson 103-4). This harangue accentuates Charlotte’s inadequacies at the roles expected of women, Republican or not, within the home.

In their early teens, girls were expected to acquire the skills of productive women. Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Fuller’s diary, written in 1791, provides an example of an industrious New England lifestyle more typical of dutiful, semi-autonomous, Republican woman. Elizabeth acquired labor skills, and she notes in her diary that she "[was] picking wool" (Blake 85), "broke four Pounds of blue Wool" (85), "card[ed] and [did] the household work" (85), "wove" (87), and "spun" (88). Elizabeth’s industriousness presents a positive image of an American woman. Her diary also presents evidence of the rise of women’s education that Kerber recognizes as part of the duty of the Republican mother. Several of Elizabeth’s entries relate her status in her studies. She reports that "I am passing Grammar" (Blake 85), "I am studying today," (85) and denotes an awareness of political and community affairs when she states, "Pa [went] to Lieut. Miricks to assist [in a hearing between two men]…it is called a rule of law" (Blake 84). This comprehensive involvement in a variety of tasks whether educational or industrial, the usefulness of Elizabeth’s education stands in stark contrast to Charlotte Temple’s seemingly frivolous education based upon "attain[ing] a greater proficiency in my Italian and music" (Rowson 31). Using Elizabeth Fuller as an example of a virtuous, fledgling Republican wife and mother, one is able to gain a more comprehensive idea of the women to whom Charlotte Temple was addressed.

Charlotte Temple is Rowson’s attempt to educate women and to guide them in their attempts to become worthy, upstanding, morally virtuous Republican women ready to nurture and to educate a new generation of Americans. The character Charlotte Temple does not seek to teach these values by example, but rather Charlotte’s character stands in opposition to the progressive changes occurring at the end of the Eighteenth Century. Charlotte harkens back to ideas of sensibility and the image that resulted is one of feminine weakness, dependency, and ineptitude. Her emotions and the undue amount of emphasis placed upon emotional judgments and reactions emphasize the absurdity of a belief of sensibility within the changing American nation and society. Only through condemnation and critique did Rowson present a more contemporaneous portrait of the growing Republican woman and the virtues and moral fortitude needed to progress towards this ideal.

The popularity of Charlotte Temple rests upon the uncertainty that must have faced woman of any age during these revolutionary times. By providing guidance in an almost motherly fashion through advice and examples, Rowson leads the charge as a progressive Republican mother and enabled her novel to reach a vast audience. Issues of morality, virtue, and "correct" behavior become clear and defined through the progression of the narrative, and Charlotte Temple borders upon a satire, a sentimental satire perhaps, that warns against the excess of emotion that impairs right, moral, patriotic decisions. Charlotte Temple is a novel of its confused, revolutionary, life-changing times, and Susanna Rowson’s educational purposes cemented her novels place within the hearts, spirits, and minds of the new Republican women.

Works Cited

Rowson, Susanna. Charlotte Temple. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.