An Analysis of a Review of Foster's The Coquette

Ian Finseth in "A Melancholy Tale: Rhetoric, Fiction and Passion in The Coquette" brings up the concept of language and its importance in Foster's novel. He describes the history of language and how its development impacted the political, social and literary world. America was a new concept and it needed a new language to represent the new ideas. The new language became a political symbol for America. Socially, language became important as well. Language became a proper medium for gender roles. Men courted women through their words and women protected their reputation by their responses. At the same time, language was being questioned by authors. Words were being considered based on their "true meaning" and not their definition. Language serves an important role in The Coquette. Finseth proposes that The Coquette is not about marriage, but about language and the failure of communication between the characters.

When Foster wrote The Coquette, language was in a birthing stage. America was trying to define itself as a separate entity from England and needed a language that was purely American.

Memos were sent out asking the public's opinion on such matters, thereby making everyone involved in the new way of communicating. Political agendas were being solved through language, a nation was building a new democracy on language. Language was in itself a revolution, questioning the political, national, social, and personal roles everyone knew and loved.

Communication in The Coquette brings about issues of political and social change. As language was becoming a new way of communicating America's rights, it also was becoming a way to deceive others. One could speak eloquently but think dastardly. Foster used this deceit in her novel. By stating the falsehood of words in a novel, Foster challenged the public to think of the falsehood of words in the nation which was beginning to build a new government on a new language. Ironically enough, Foster also challenged her readers to question the validity of her own words. Through this act, Foster made a social commentary not only on the institution of marriage, as she did in writing The Coquette, but also of everyday speech. She questioned gender roles in the text, but feminine and masculine language by writing the text. Foster's novel, and the manner in which the novel was written, changed the perception of the American reader.

The history of language in the eighteenth century shows how novels like Fosters impacted the American public. Language became about referentiality, the idea that language was closely related to reality and that there is a difference between rational and passionate language. Foster shows the difference between these two types of language in her characterization throughout The Coquette. Eliza speaks mainly from her heart, giving into uncommon declarations of modernism, while her friends and family chide her to speak reason. Her friends and family speak of the older values and the proper way of communicating. The major dichotomy in The Coquette lies between the head and the heart, between rational and passionate language.

Language was an idea that was becoming radical and taboo. Authors of the day were suggesting radical ideas such as looking at the meaning of words and not the definitions. Many authors were viewing the cloudiness of meanings and proposing that words meant more than symbols on a page. One theory suggested that if language could be stated in a clear and concise manner than all the questions surrounding the meaning of language would be answered. One has to ask though, if language was as controversial as it appeared to be, how would one know if it was ever being stated in a clear and concise way?

Foster creates the crack through two major themes in The Coquette, conversion and treachery, both of which are initiated through language. Three reverends exist in The Coquette and each one play their own part in converting Eliza into society. Ministers were known for their persuasive religious speeches and converting people to their religion. In The Coquette, the main characters try to convert Eliza through language. However, it is also through language that Eliza sees the flaws in society and rejects their conversion. She sees the imperfections and will not sacrifice her language to fit in with their roles. Finseth theorizes that language not only served as a conversionary tactic in The Coquette, but as a tyrannical way of tricking a defenseless woman into false phrases of love. The magical flow of words entice characters to give into feelings they do not really feel. Sanford woos, silences and deceives Eliza with his words. Finseth states that powerful emotions cannot be expressed with words, leaving Eliza silent. This silence also appears to be a sign of madness which everyone makes her suppress, again, remaining silent. They silence her, taking away her language which was her only way of staying outside the society and remaining true to herself. By silencing Eliza the main characters convert her to their view of society and, eventually, to her own downfall.

When Foster wrote The Coquette, language was a major thread in the developing institutions. Literature and history developed together in this time, building all of its foundations on language. Socially and historically, language was taking a major place in the new world. Authors were searching for the real meanings in words. Language was discovered as the key for literature. Through language the authors could express inner emotions and feelings of the main character. Finseth argues that Foster used all of the popular ideas on language when writing The Coquette, therefore making the novel an outcry against language rather than a revolution against the social institution of marriage.