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''The Unsex'd Females, a Poem'' (1798), by Richard Polwhele, is a polemical intervention into the public debates over the role of women at the end of the 18th century. The poem is primarily concerned with what Polwhele characterizes as the encroachment of radical French political and philosophical ideas into British society, particularly those associated with the Enlightenment. These subjects come together, for Polwhele, in the revolutionary figure of Mary Wollstonecraft. The poem is of interest to those interested in the history of women, as well as revolutionary politics, for several reasons: it demonstrates the continued viability of the tradition of misogynist literature; it is an example of the British backlash against the ideals of the French Revolution; it is representative of the strategic conflation of women writers with revolutionary ideals during this period;〔Sharon M. Setzer, Introduction, ''A Letter to the Women of England and the Natural Daughter'', Mary Robinson, Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2003〕 and it helps illuminate the obstacles faced by women writers at the end of the 18th century. == Historical context == Responding to women authors according to presumptions about their sexuality has a long history; a comparison between the critical reputations of Aphra Behn and Katherine Philips, more than a century earlier, is instructive here as these two writers were virtually symbolic of the choices available to women writers in the 18th century: Behn's reputation as "shady and amorous"〔Virginia Woolf, Ch. 4, ''A Room of One's Own'', 1929.〕 continued well into the 20th century, whereas Philips — known as "The Matchless Orinda" — was considered an exemplar of proper femininity.〔"John Dryden, Henry Vaughan, Sir William Temple, Wentworth Dillon, the earl of Roscommon, and Roger Boyle, the earl of Orrery, are among the many who wrote poems of tribute to Philips." Paula Loscocco, "Manly Sweetness: Katherine Philips among the Neoclassicals," ''Huntington Library Quarterly'' 56.3 (Summer 1993): n.2.〕 Polwhele is hardly original in his opposition of "proper" and "improper" women writers and his criticism of Wollstonecraft is focused on her troubled and unconventional life as described in the frank biography by William Godwin〔William Godwin, ''Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman'' (1798)〕 as much as on her writing. ''The Unsex'd Female'' is complicated, however, by the tumultuous political situation at the time of its publication. The American Revolution had occurred only two decades earlier, the events of the French Revolution were even more recent, and the Haitian Revolution, the most successful of the African slave rebellions in the Western Hemisphere, was in process. Ideas about enfranchisement, liberty, and equality were widespread. To Polwhele and others who shared his perspective, these ideas were perceived as attacks on religion, the monarchy, and the government. Women's advocacy of access to education〔See History of Feminism〕 was confused with the most outrageous actions ascribed to the revolutionaries: free love, irreligion, and violent upheaval. Some commenters went so far as to blame the French Revolution on "a notorious dereliction of female principle" and "the dissipated and indelicate behaviour and loose morals" of French women.〔Jane West, ''Letters to a Young Lady, in which the Duties and Character of women are considered'', 3 vols. (London, 1806), I 58.〕 Many of those who had initially supported the French Revolution turned away from the excesses of the Terror, and Britain was gripped by a strong backlash against any ideas that seemed in the least revolutionary. Janet Todd writes that "Britain, once priding itself on being the most politically enlightened and liberal state in Europe, came to define itself in increasingly conservative, patriotic, and anti-French terms."〔Janet Todd, ''The Sign of Angelica: women, writing and fiction, 1600–1800'' (London: Virgo, 1989. 196.) See also John Bull.〕 "Gallic" and "French" came to mean, in the popular imagination, "revolutionary," so when Polwhele writes of "Gallic freaks" (l. 21) he is not merely describing fashions in clothing. Those Britons who sympathized with the French Revolution were known as "Jacobins." Those who opposed it were "Anti-Jacobins." ''The Antijacobin, or Weekly Examiner'' (1797–1798), the ''Anti-Jacobin Review'', and the ''British Critic'' (1793–1843), were among the conservative journals that grew up during this highly polarized period. Polwhele, a conservative member of the Anglican clergy, was himself a contributor to the ''Anti-Jacobin Review''. According to Eleanor Ty, although feminist thought had existed for decades, the women of the 1790s seemed "particularly threatening to the anti-Jacobins" because of "the outspoken claiming of their 'rights' shortly after and coinciding with the events in France that culminated in the Revolution."〔Eleanor Rose Ty, ''Unsex'd Revolutionaries: Five Women Novelists of the 1790s'' (University of Toronto Press, 1993. 4).〕 (See also ''A Vindication of the Rights of Woman''.) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Unsex'd Females」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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