Paper 2: “Roxana”
Setting: The term “setting” in literature, refers to the environment or surrounding in which a story takes place. There are three major components in setting; social environment, place, and time. This paper will explore the integral setting- setting that influences theme, character, and action in a story, of Daniel Defoe’s “Roxana”. Continuing on the subject of setting, this paper will also cover how the protagonist, Roxana responds to her setting, how setting changes the character of Roxana, and the extent of which Roxana depends on setting for her sense of identity.
The protagonist of the novel “Roxana” is Roxana. In the beginning the social environment of County of POICTOU, France forces Roxana and her parents to flee to …show more content…
While a woman’s role is to manage the household and children. If Roxana had control over the family’s fortune, she, believes they never would have gone broke, “I lost the last Gift of my Father’s Bounty, by having a Husband not fit to be trusted with it; (p.9). Due to the absence of her husband, (her new setting) Roxana is forced to play the role of a man, and provide for her children. Unfortunately Roxana fails at this role. Which leads to the turning point for her character, when Roxana gives up her children in the hopes of that they will have a chance at a decent life with someone else, “I was sadly afflicted at the Thoughts of parting with my children, but the Misery of my own Circumstances hardned my Heart against my own Flesh and Blood;” (p.19). If Roxana was put in the same circumstances she’s experienced in the 21st century, rather than the 18th her response to her setting might have been different. Instead of having to part with her children, she could have better job opportunities, or she could have been in charge …show more content…
Now that she has used her virtue in exchange for wealth, she has proven she will follow the men that provide for her wherever they want her to go. The first example is with “The Prince”. When she becomes pregnant with his child the risk of their affair being discovered is to high. So The Prince made arrangements for her to live somewhere else. Roxana changes her setting a second time for “The Prince”, “I came to Paris at the Prince’s request” (p.96). Roxana is willing to go anywhere she is asked to, even if it means leaving behind the people that she loves, “my little Son of Honour was left, where my last Country Seat then was” (p.96). This shows that her new identity as that of a whore for wealth is entirely dependent on being in the same location or setting as the men that provide for her “If I wanted anything; that he had too much Value for me, to deny me anything, if I ask’d”. Another example of Roxana’s dependence of setting for identity, is when she risks losing her fortune. “He told me, how the Rogue wou’d have me order’d to bring the Jewels the next day” (p.119). “I had prepar’d every thing for parting; so that I had little to do, but to go back, take two or three Boxes and Bundles, and be gone.” Roxana is willing to abandon her home that she loves to save her fortune, her wealth is her identity. Without it, she’d just go back to being an aging
Setting: The term “setting” in literature, refers to the environment or surrounding in which a story takes place. There are three major components in setting; social environment, place, and time. This paper will explore the integral setting- setting that influences theme, character, and action in a story, of Daniel Defoe’s “Roxana”. Continuing on the subject of setting, this paper will also cover how the protagonist, Roxana responds to her setting, how setting changes the character of Roxana, and the extent of which Roxana depends on setting for her sense of identity.
The protagonist of the novel “Roxana” is Roxana. In the beginning the social environment of County of POICTOU, France forces Roxana and her parents to flee to …show more content…
While a woman’s role is to manage the household and children. If Roxana had control over the family’s fortune, she, believes they never would have gone broke, “I lost the last Gift of my Father’s Bounty, by having a Husband not fit to be trusted with it; (p.9). Due to the absence of her husband, (her new setting) Roxana is forced to play the role of a man, and provide for her children. Unfortunately Roxana fails at this role. Which leads to the turning point for her character, when Roxana gives up her children in the hopes of that they will have a chance at a decent life with someone else, “I was sadly afflicted at the Thoughts of parting with my children, but the Misery of my own Circumstances hardned my Heart against my own Flesh and Blood;” (p.19). If Roxana was put in the same circumstances she’s experienced in the 21st century, rather than the 18th her response to her setting might have been different. Instead of having to part with her children, she could have better job opportunities, or she could have been in charge …show more content…
Now that she has used her virtue in exchange for wealth, she has proven she will follow the men that provide for her wherever they want her to go. The first example is with “The Prince”. When she becomes pregnant with his child the risk of their affair being discovered is to high. So The Prince made arrangements for her to live somewhere else. Roxana changes her setting a second time for “The Prince”, “I came to Paris at the Prince’s request” (p.96). Roxana is willing to go anywhere she is asked to, even if it means leaving behind the people that she loves, “my little Son of Honour was left, where my last Country Seat then was” (p.96). This shows that her new identity as that of a whore for wealth is entirely dependent on being in the same location or setting as the men that provide for her “If I wanted anything; that he had too much Value for me, to deny me anything, if I ask’d”. Another example of Roxana’s dependence of setting for identity, is when she risks losing her fortune. “He told me, how the Rogue wou’d have me order’d to bring the Jewels the next day” (p.119). “I had prepar’d every thing for parting; so that I had little to do, but to go back, take two or three Boxes and Bundles, and be gone.” Roxana is willing to abandon her home that she loves to save her fortune, her wealth is her identity. Without it, she’d just go back to being an aging