View of Females in Two Novels

Women are viewed chiefly in terms of their sexuality in both Aphra Behn's Oroonoko and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Book IV. Women are considered pure in their chastity, yet polluted in their sexual maturity. The narrators in both Behn and Swift's stories hold similar views of females regardless of the societies in which they live.

In Oroonoko, women are divided into two categories, the pure and the polluted. Women who are pure and physically desirable are useful to men. If, however, a woman becomes defiled, even through no fault of her own, she ceases to be of value and can be disposed of by death or sale into slavery.

In Oroonoko, the narrator first describes the innocent state of the native women in terms of their nudity and modesty: "And though they are all naked, if one lives forever among 'em there is not to be seen an indecent action or glance . . . " (Behn 1868). The narrator compares the innocence of the natives to Adam and Eve, " . . . our first parents before the Fall . . . " (Behn 1868). The narrator seems to condemn the romantic practices and rituals in his own civilized world, where people hide their nudity with garments and exhibit shame in certain types of sexual intimacy. However, in the civilized world, at least, women have some degree of control over their own bodies; this is not the case in the land of Coramantien.

The narrator fails to condemn the actions of the King of Coramantien, who keeps a harem of beautiful wives and concubi

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e, while females are passive. Then the narrator describes how "prostitute female Yahoos acquired a certain malady," which when they infected the males of the species was spread from father to son resulting in all manner of diseases (Swift 2155). The use of women as chattel is suggested in Swift's narrative as well as Behn's. According to Swift's narrator, of the three ways that men rise to the position of chief minister: "The first is by knowing how with prudence to dispose of a wife, a daughter, or a sister . . . " (Swift 2156). The role of women in English society is to be used by men. The utility of women arises either from their ability to satisfy men sexually or provide means for material acquisition. Regarding young noblemen, the narrator claims, " . . . as soon as years will permit, they consume their vigor, and contract odious diseases among lewd females; and when their fortunes are almost ruined, they marry some woman of mean birth, disagreeable person, and unsound constitution, merely for the sake of money, whom they hate and despise" (Swift 2157). This statement clearly suggests a low opinion of women. Once a female is defiled by males, she ceases to be a lofty prize to be attained by them. Such is the c

Category: Literature - V