The Concept Of Female Beauty In “The Introduction” By Anne Finch And “Town Eclogues: Saturday; The Small-Pox” By Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
In both Anne Finch’s “The Introduction” and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s “Town Eclogues: Saturday; The Small-Pox, ” the concept of female beauty is presented. In the latter, the word “beauty” is used somewhat narrowly to primarily refer to physical beauty; in the former, it is used in a much broader sense, encompassing not only a woman’s appearance but also her manner of carrying herself and the attitude with which she should act. In essence, these two usages of the term do not differ from the perspective that in both instances, beauty is representative of an inhibitive female ideal predominantly engineered by men. In fact, the external beauty addressed in Montagu’s “Saturday; The Small-Pox” may be viewed as a subset of the more comprehensive beauty expounded in Finch’s “The Introduction. ” This essay will analyze the elements in each poem that show how such an ideal served to separate the female sphere from the male sphere and diminish it. Furthermore, it will scrutinize the poems’ underlying criticisms toward how male conventions were enforced upon women.
Finch explains in the first several lines of “The Introduction” what was expected of the women of her time. “Good breeding, fashion, dancing, dressing, play” were the menial activities they were to pursue, while more meaningful ones such as reading or writing would “cloud our beauty”. Not only did many regard women’s general capabilities as “insipid and empty”, a woman’s attempts to publish were considered the equivalent of her being immodest, unladylike, and even licentious. The rationale behind such thinking was that should a woman “sell herself” in this manner, it would eventually “exhaust our time” and prevent her from carrying out her proper, “dull” duties. In short, the virtue of beauty instilled in women was interconnected with staying quietly insignificant.
Similarly, the main subject of Montagu’s “Saturday; The Small-Pox” is represented clearly in the following line: “Now beauty’s fled, and lovers are no more!”. A variation of this theme, with the central idea being that Flavia has lost her beauty due to small-pox, is repeated throughout the poem. Though her physical beauty is “false and trifling”, achieved through a variety of “pomatums” and hours of looking in the mirror, she ironically frets the loss of it because it is the sole characteristic for which she has any social value. The world has made her a commodity and bestowed upon her a superficial merit, yet its absence is the equivalent of death. For example, should Flavia decide to turn to pursuits of more consequence without her beauty, “men would mock the idol of their former vow”. Her part in society is strictly limited to banalities that she can no longer perform, and what used to be a charming portrait is now a “killing picture”.
Both poems utilize heroic couplets with self-contained lines without enjambments and are relatively easy to follow. Certain epic ingredients that are in agreement with the traditionally stately and dignified heroic couplet form appear in the latter half of “The Introduction. ” The historical precedent of Deborah is proudly given as a heroine who displayed the capacity for great leadership, in contrast to how the “manage of a servile house is held by some men our utmost art and use”. Finch treats women’s being hindered from “all improvements of the mind” by the “opposing faction” as not only a social loss but also as the equivalent of sin, their talents having been bestowed “by the diffusive hand of heaven”; in short, they are “education’s, more than nature’s fools”. Furthermore, Finch employs a modesty trope, indignantly crying that some would accuse her poem of being “uncorrect”. In reality “The Introduction” is technically sound, but the male hegemony would have been eager to undermine her work by “finding fault” solely because it is “by a woman writ”.
Because Flavia in “Saturday; The Small-Pox” is a lady at court and held some sway over men before the loss of her physical beauty, the lyric mode is apt for conveying her anguished state of mind. There clearly exists a dimension of mockery as well. For example, that her beauty is referred to as a “radiant bloom” from the onset ironically intimates its transience and inevitable expiration. However, while the triviality of the object of her grief goes against the poem’s “heroic” couplet structure, there is an underlying sense of worry pervading it that indeed speaks of larger matters: Montagu bitingly points out that people were concerned with the wrong things. In addition, the distance between the speaker of the poem and the poet paves the way for satire. Montagu was also considered beautiful during her lifetime but she too suffered from small-pox; nevertheless, she lived a full life after recovering, travelling the world and trying her hand at various literary forms. To a certain extent, she transcended the restrictive beauty ideals of her time, refusing to simply defer to the stereotypes constructed by men. This is highly unlike Flavia, who laments her ruin as she prepares to bid “all the world adieu” for “some deserted place”. By employing the voice of Flavia, Montagu expresses sympathy and passes judgment at the same time.
Criticisms of male-engineered ideals that are simultaneously subversive and sorrowful are present in both poems. In “The Introduction, ” Finch regards women with significant writing talents not as “intruders on the rights of men”, but rather as complements to male writers. She metaphorically refers to the poetry of men as the “louder notes” of a song, which the softer notes of women’s poetry can refine and ultimately “complete”. The role of “the fairest half, whose influence guides the rest” is therefore potentially critical. However, though Finch does not yield completely, she must partially compromise with reality: the last several lines of the poem connote her intention to refrain from publishing for a wider audience and only share her work with “some few friends”.
The self-appointed male authority makes an appearance in “Saturday; The Small-Pox” in the form of the four doctors who visit and diagnose Flavia. What is notable is that their help is “fruitless … and unavailing”, their abilities utterly lacking. The first doctor Mirmillo, with his “golden headed sic cane” showing his stature, merely deplores her fortune. The third doctor Squirt is described as “officious”, which according to the OED may mean dutiful and attentive but also intrusive or interfering. The fourth doctor, the “great Machaon” with his “superior frown”, even goes so far as to swear an oath that Flavia “shall again be well, again be fair”, but is conclusively wrong. It may be said that the bumbling of these men of high repute is representative of the larger phenomenon of the male domain infringing upon the female sphere without any proper understanding.
Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, was an aristocrat and a witty intellectual; however, more importantly, she was a woman. In spite of her poetic ambition and remarkable acuteness, she was thus deemed fit for nothing but trivial activities. Hence her poem “The Introduction, ” a scathing critique declaring women are capable of so much more, was never published during her lifetime. Nevertheless, Finch became the foremost precedent of the woman poet, influencing those like Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who also refused to accept the limited roles society enforced on her. Her “Town Eclogues: Saturday; The Small-Pox” employs a theatrical monologue that likewise depicts the inconsequential qualities that were considered vital in a woman. Their works illustrate a rather dark world where ideally “beautiful” women were thoroughly peripheral and suited for only the paltriest activities. Indeed, their problematizing such matters itself made them the target of strong censure. Nonetheless, this did not stop them from persisting in demanding respect and striving for independence.
