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Female Voices in Frances Sheridan’s Novels: From Repression to Transgression
Abstract
Most female characters in Frances Sheridan’s novels are seemingly paragons of virtue complying with the modesty expected of 18th-century women who know how to hold their tongue, so much so that her works could at first be construed as a mere fictionalization of the popular normative conduct books of the time. Yet a detailed analysis of the language and the syntax of women’s reasoning and narration shows to what extent this reserve is imposed rather than chosen or innate. Another voice can then sometimes be heard in these woman-to-woman confessions, the narration turning dialogic and questioning the heroines’ modest attitudes.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/ff.2020.38.2.67-79
Date of publication: 2020-12-29 08:16:32
Date of submission: 2020-02-17 17:43:49
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