Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Summary

The accounts from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu were of her travels through the Ottoman Empire with her husband. She wrote to a variety of people during this time, and took pride in her letters; taking the time to review and edit each other and make sure that she was effectively recounting her interactions. For she felt that her documentations would be read throughout history. Lady Mary’s accounts speak of her encounters with the ottoman women and their contrast between the women back in Britain along with other members of society. Lady Mary was most fascinated by the liberation of the Ottoman women; it was nothing like that of the women of Western Europe. When recounting her visit of the bathes she discussed the brilliance of the bath house but also how women were everywhere, naked, how she could not easily …show more content…
Even the clothing of the women while at first glance seems to suppress their individuality by covering them from head to toe. She notes how beautiful the fabrics are, full of embodiment and other decorations. Allowing for them to still be able to express themselves, yet they can fulfill the needs of their religion. It was a strange detail to Mary, while in the bath house she saw many beautiful women, to a point where she was shock by just how many there were. This coverage also eludes to the idea that due to the hidden identity, that the women could get away with affairs, she even mentions how she knows of women who would call to their lovers and see them in the Jewish shops. The freedom these women had, did not keep them from participating in society, they could still go to market, they had the bathes and they participated in an interesting at home life. Men were allowed four wives, and if they were discreet they also had mistresses. The polygamy was shocking to Mary, she shares that this kind of behavior was sin and would keep them from