Firing the Canon Themes

female desire

The Royal Mischief- Homais

Egerton- narrator desires liberty

Love in Excess- focus on male desire, D’Elmont learns to desire in “right way",” Alovisa

The Fair Jilt- Miranda

relationships between women

Katherine Phillips- friendship takes on romantic tone

Art of Ingeniously Tormenting- anti-friendship

Convent of Pleasure

Love in Excess- friendship gone bad

Millennium Hall- familial friendships, business model

religion

Hoskens/Beaumont/Cotton + Cole- religion as alternative to disappointing material world

Millennium Hall- Christian philanthropy, redeeming slavery out of commitment to good deeds (rug factory)

beauty

Jonathan Swift/Mary Evelyn- materialism

The Royal Mischief- Homais, motif of portraits

Oroonoko- Imoinda (compare with Homais)

The Rover- Angellica, motif of portraits

Millennium Hall- Mancel (beauty both empowering and source of vulnerability)

Pamphilia to Amphilanthus- paints beauty as curse, contrast with trad. sonnets

clothing

Clifford- aware of her clothes/visual appearance

The Fair Jilt- Miranda falls in love with Francisco when he is wearing plain clothes, Alcidiana saved by her dress

Montagu- Turkey, naked women in bath, bridal clothing

epistolary form

letters between a nobleman and his sister- Philander attempts to rewrite history/make excuses for impotence

Millennium Hall framed as letter from one man to another

Montagu’s letters- tavels, seduction through letters