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───── ❝ introduction ❞ ─────

Before diving into the actual texts, let us first take a look at 18th century England as well as the significance of satire during that time period. When it comes to satirical literature, amongst many other things, context is important. Briefly, we’ll delve into the turbulent political climate of the country and how satire found its niche.

───── ❝ table of contents ❞ ─────

i. an introduction to satire in 18th century britain

ii. satire's significance in the context of 18th century britain

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As King Charles II returned to the throne in 1660 after his exile prompted by the eleven-year Commonwealth period in Britain, monarchy was reestablished and the country returned to its traditional mode of governance (Aiken and Milbourne). The Restoration period, as it has come to be known, was marked by a new generation of ideas and sensibilities. There was an increasing desire to integrate human reasoning and empirical thought into all disciplines, and writers at the time drew inspiration from literary works of classical antiquity. They believed that embodying the spirit of these works best captured the sought-for qualities of reason, logic, and order. From this desire, neoclassical literature was born.

During the first half of the 18th century, neoclassical writing began to dominate the spheres of British literature, spearheaded by writers Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, Joseph Addison, and Richard Steele, among several (“Critical Essays Wordsworth’s Poetic Theory”). They emulated the works of the Latin poets such as Horace, Virgil, and Ovid (Szwec), who lived during the reign of the Emperor Augustus. Drawing from his name, the Augustan Age was a pivotal period wherein English writers, inspired by the Latin poets, “engaged the political and philosophical ideas of their day through urbane, often satirical verse” (“Augustan Age”).

Satire, which is found in literary, visual, and artistic forms, takes a humorous spin on criticism. Throughout history, it has been used to bring attention to weaknesses found in systems and structures, as well as the abuses perpetrated by certain groups or people (Elliot). Satire thus became an important tool for Augustan writers to problematize societal issues and press for reforms, but it was done so in a way that both entertained and educated the public (Aiken and Milbourne). This approach promoted social awareness and made rhetoric entertaining, palatable, and digestible.

───── ❝ works cited ❞ ─────

Aiken, Diane, and Lindsay Milbourne. “The Restoration and the 18th Century.” British Literature Wiki,

sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/the-restoration-and-the-18th-century. Accessed 3 Jan. 2022.

“Augustan Age.” Poetry Foundation, poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/augustan-age.

“Critical Essays Wordsworth's Poetic Theory — Preface.” CliffNotes,

www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/the-prelude/critical-essays/wordsworths-poetic-theory-8212-

preface.

Elliot, Robert C. “The nature of satire.” Encyclopaedia Brittancia (2004).

Szwec, Jonathan J. "Satire in 18th Century British Society: Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock and

Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal." Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse 3.06 (2011). www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1688

Image Credits: Squire, Andrew. “General View of London.” The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2020, www.clevelandart.org/art/1925.605.

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Britain in the 18th-century faced a kind of dualism. The unification of England and Scotland had led to it becoming the world’s leading imperial force which rivalled even France (Pagden 90). Paddy Bullard, editor of The Oxford Handbook of Eighteenth-Century Satire, describes Britain as undergoing “an age of description” (1), a necessitated urge to put to writing everything that could be observed, from newly-explored lands to philosophical reflections and economic systems. Periodicals, pamphlets, and all sorts of prints were thus filled with statistics, discoveries, refined ideas, and good-natured proposals. Indeed, as Bullard calls it, Britain “saw itself as polite, sentimental, and enlightened”, but running parallel to this age of description was “the age of satire, [where the] century’s novels poems, plays, and prints [were] resound with mockery and laughter, with cruelty and wit” (1).

This “spirit of ridicule” (Bullard 2) was often targeted towards British society, particularly its obsessive tendency to be self-important, mistaking “the enlightenment ideals of rationality, order, and knowledge” for “moral and political supremacy” (Szwec). In response to this hubris, the Augustan writers employed satire as a means to expose the shortcomings and moral decay of society, as well as gear it towards a direction where true enlightenment could be achieved. Its humorous charm and biting wit permeated across all media, and bled into performances and plays (Bullard 7). The most popular literature of the 18th century tended to be satire (7-8); some, of note, were Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726), Gay’s Beggar’s Opera (1728), and Pope’s Dunciad (1728). These texts continue to be studied and celebrated today, serving as benchmarks for the future of satire.

Nevertheless, writers used satire to disparage and degrade as much as they did to critique and guide: When political crises emerged, writers exacerbated situations with satire; when feuds and scandals abounded, writers fueled them with satire; and when rivals took missteps, writers damaged their reputation with satire (Hawley 24). Thus, satire establishes itself as “necessarily an oppositional art, depending on the existence of rival perspectives, if not rival camps” (23).

With that in mind, we open this module to our main texts, An Essay On Woman by Mary Leapor and The Reasons That Induced Dr. Swift to Write a Poem Called ‘The Lady’s Dressing Room’ by Lady Wortley Montagu. As we approach these two satirical works, notice how they will tackle the same issues: patriarchy and misogyny. However, be keen on noticing the approaches the authors employ when addressing the issues. As is the case with writing, the various motivations for using satire will often contrast with one another.

───── ❝ works cited ❞ ─────

Bullard, Paddy, ed. The Oxford handbook of eighteenth-century satire. Oxford University Press, USA, 2019.

Hawley, Judith. The Oxford handbook of eighteenth-century satire, edited by Paddy Bullard. Oxford University

Press, USA, 2019, pp. 23-38

Pagden, Anthony. Peoples and empires: A short history of European migration, exploration, and conquest, from

Greece to the present. Modern Library, 2007.

Image Credits: Squire, Andrew. “General View of London.” The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2020, www.clevelandart.org/art/1925.605.

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───── ❝ introduction ❞ ─────

In this module, we will be taking a look at “An Essay on Woman” written by Mary Leapor. Surprisingly enough, “An Essay on Woman” is not actually an essay but a feminist poem based on Leapor’s lived struggles as a woman. If you’re still looking for essays to read, check out our introduction on Mary Leapor’s life before diving into her poem and of course, some discussion questions for your perusal.

───── ❝ table of contents ❞ ─────

i. mary leapor and her attack against the patriarchy

ii. pre-reading activity

iii. an essay on woman by mary leapor

iv. discussion questions

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Born 26th of February 1722, Mary Leapor was a beloved poet who wrote poetry with pastoral themes but strong messaging of the hardships of women during the 18th century. Her works can be read be read as protofeminist along with some of her contemporaries such as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu which will be later discussed.

Not only was she able to articulate her criticisms of the patriarchal England, she was also able to marry her working class identity with her feminist poetics. As a daughter of a gardener, Philip Leapor, she was not able to afford the education that wealthy girls her age could. She was instead taught at home by her parents and began writing verses as early as ten years old, drawing inspiration from Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope.

All her life, she did nothing but keep houses, help his father in his garden, and write poetry inspired by flora and her experiences as a working class woman. Bridget Freemantle, a local gentry, soon discovered her poetry and encouraged her to publish in London. Leapor wrote poetry under the mentorship of Freemantle, spending the last year of her life writing her best poems. Unfortunately, she passed at the age of 24 from measles. Her poems were published posthumously upon the efforts of Freemantle and Susanna Jennens whom Leapor served once as a kitchen maid, selling fairly well. Within Mary Leapor’s family, it was only his father who lived to see her poetry in print.

Not much is known about her personal life but her poetry speaks for her positions. She writes with a conciseness that betrays romantic poetry of that time–without abstractions, clear in its messaging, and critical as always of the milieu in which Leapor wrote about. She was able to show the disproportionality of the effects of the patriarchal society especially among women of her socioeconomic class without criticizing and diminishing the hardships of women of affluence.

Throughout her works, she showcased great command of language and images, all while staying true to her poetry. While she writes straightforward poetry as commentary, she was able to show her writing chops in Essay on Woman as she was able to use satire effectively to not only expose stereotypes, but the conditions that made women to be like such. Even in some of her more famous works such as in Man the Monarch, Leapor is just as critical as she is creative.

Although self-taught through years of reading, she was able to use the traditional forms with more forward-thinking themes. Prodigy as she is, she is known to be one of the proto-feminists who not only understands the situations of women of the time, but is able to critique them creatively through poetry and satire.

In the poem Essay on Woman, we will see how Leapor plays into the stereotypes of what women are expected to be while explicitly attacking the broad social conditions that allowed those conditions to be.

───── ❝ works cited ❞ ─────

Bartlett, Kathleen. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, Salem

Press, 2021. Accessed at https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=fd502945-b353-4a08-bf37-902619e068da%40redis&bdata=JmF1dGh0eXBlPXNzbyZjdXN0aWQ9czgzOTYzOTAmc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=89875019&db=ers , December 28, 2021.

Greene, Richard. “Mary Leapor: The Problem of Personal Identity”, The Eighteenth Century (Eighteenth Century Labouring-Class Poets), Vol 42, no. 3, 2001, p. 218.

Image Credit: Corot, Jean-Baptiste Camille. La Poesie. Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Germany, 1796, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Germany.

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Try to imagine yourself as a working class woman in the eighteenth century. From your prior knowledge of the era based on the books you’ve read or movies you’ve seen about it, imagine what kind of life you would most probably have. Write a short introduction to that woman as creatively as you can (through a poem, a PowerPoint presentation, a play, etc.). Let the class share each other’s work.

From the works of your classmates, write down some similarities in their perception of women during the time. What do you think brought about these perceptions? Are they even fair views on women of the time period?

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Woman, a pleasing but a short-lived flow'r,

Too soft for business and too weak for pow'r:

A wife in bondage, or neglected maid;

Despised, if ugly; if she's fair, betrayed.

'Tis wealth alone inspires ev'ry grace,

And calls the raptures to her plenteous face.

What numbers for those charming features pine,

If blooming acres round her temples twine!

Her lip the strawberry, and her eyes more bright

Than sparkling Venus in a frosty night;

Pale lilies fade and, when the fair appears,

Snow turns a negro and dissolves in tears,

And, where the charmer treads her magic toe,

On English ground Arabian odours grow;

Till mighty Hymen lifts his sceptred rod,

And sinks her glories with a fatal nod,

Dissolves her triumphs, sweeps her charms away,

And turns the goddess to her native clay.

But, Artemisia, let your servant sing

What small advantage wealth and beauties bring.

Who would be wise, that knew Pamphilia's fate?

Or who be fair, and joined to Sylvia's mate?

Sylvia, whose cheeks are fresh as early day,

As ev'ning mild, and sweet as spicy May:

And yet that face her partial husband tires,

And those bright eyes, that all the world admires.

Pamphilia's wit who does not strive to shun,

Like death's infection or a dog-day's sun?

The damsels view her with malignant eyes,

The men are vexed to find a nymph so wise:

And wisdom only serves to make her know

The keen sensation of superior woe.

The secret whisper and the list'ning ear,

The scornful eyebrow and the hated sneer,

The giddy censures of her babbling kind,

With thousand ills that grate a gentle mind,

By her are tasted in the first degree,

Though overlooked by Simplicus and me.

Does thirst of gold a virgin's heart inspire,

Instilled by nature or a careful sire?

Then let her quit extravagance and play,

The brisk companion and expensive tea,

To feast with Cordia in her filthy sty

On stewed potatoes or on mouldy pie;

Whose eager eyes stare ghastly at the poor,

And fright the beggars from her hated door;

In greasy clouts she wraps her smoky chin,

And holds that pride's a never-pardoned sin.

If this be wealth, no matter where it falls;

But save, ye Muses, save your Mira's walls:

Still give me pleasing indolence and ease,

A fire to warm me and a friend to please.

Since, whether sunk in avarice or pride,

A wanton virgin or a starving bride;

Or wond'ring crowds attend her charming tongue,

Or, deemed an idiot, ever speaks the wrong;

Though nature armed us for the growing ill

With fraudful cunning and a headstrong will;

Yet, with ten thousand follies to her charge,

Unhappy woman's but a slave at large.

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The poem begins with Leapor playing into the stereotypes of women of the time. The poem begins with biting sarcasm.

She mentions women as beautiful in the first line “Woman, a pleasing but a short-lived flower”. During the 18th century, younger women were forced to comply with the expectations in order to find a suitable beau for her to marry. What does this say about youth then? What does this line say about aging women who, like the flower, had wilted already without getting plucked?

She goes on the next line saying “Too soft for business, too weak for power”. It was almost impossible for women to solely hold political and economic power then. Does this still hold true today? Was this notion ever true?

She continues on by showing the contradictory ways women have been regarded. What are those contradictions? What does it say about the nature of marriage then? Of beauty? Of a working class woman such as maids?

Leapor overly praises women in the beginning of the poem. How did you read this? Was the narrator sarcastic? Was it sincere? If the narrator is sarcastic, what do you think was the narrator’s attitude towards these overly romanticized views on women? If it was sincere, was she able to subvert those expectations into a critique that does not contribute to the romanticization of women herself?

The poem also plays with the ironies and contradictions of being a woman then.

What do you think the poem says about beautiful women?

What do you think the poem says about wealthy women?

What do you think the poem says about wise women?

What do you think the poem says about married and unmarried women?

The poem heralds to numerous women in literature who were wronged by men. One of those characters was Pamphilia. Pamphilia is a character from 17th century poet Lady Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilantus. She is a strong-willed woman who realized that women are oppressed for they are not given any right at all to choose whom they should love. This drove her to carefully think of the situation of 17th century patriarchy and realize that women indeed are oppressed not just in the manner of marriage but in practically every other aspect of society. She is a wise woman, but because she is wise and she is cognizant of the oppression, men thought of her as insane. Even a few women who were loyal to the norms raised their eyebrows at her.

The line “Does thirst of gold a virgin heart’s inspire, / Instilled by nature or a careful sire” speaks so much of Pamphilia’s realizations. What do you think this means?

What about the other women in the poem? Who do you think they represent and do you think Leapor was successful in using their characters in strengthening her argument?

The poem concludes with the lines “Yet with ten thousand follies to her charge, / Unhappy woman’s but a slave at large”. Do you find this as a resignation? If not, what do you think was the final impression that Leapor wanted to leave?

Leapor shows loyalty to her poetics in this poem. She was able to show the disproportionate effects of the patriarchal society towards women of different socioeconomic situations.

In which instances in the poem does she hint to those disproportionality?

Was she able to show the heightened oppression of working class women without discounting the oppression of the middle and affluent class?

As satire, Leapor goes in and out of the 18th century woman stereotypes and into a serious critique of the patriarchal institutions of marriage, courtship, and more. Not only that, but essays written then about women are mostly written by men who sought to reinforce the conservative views of the role of women in the society. The few women writers who challenged them and still found no spotlight in the mainstream literary scene then were also ironic in and of themselves and served as some sort of meta-satire. How else does the piece strike you as satirical?

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───── ❝ introduction ❞ ─────

In this module, we will be taking a look at the poem “The Reasons that Induced a Dr. Swift to Write a Poem Called ‘The Lady’s Dressing Room’” written by Lady Wortley Montagu. The title is indeed more than a mouthful and leaves much for the reader to speculate on. In this module, we’ll be taking a look at the infamous Lady Wortley Montagu and what induced her to write this poem as a response to Dr. Swift before taking a look at the actual poem itself.

───── ❝ table of contents ❞ ─────

i. feminine standards in the 18th century

ii. jonathan swift and lady wortley montagu: impetus for writing

iii. pre-reading activity

iv. the reasons that induced a dr. swift to write a poem called 'the lady's dressing room' by lady wortley montagu

v. discussion questions

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The feminine beauty is more or less referred to a woman’s physical attractiveness as stated by the varying standards across countries and cultures (Spade and Valentine 58). And while there are differences in our perception of “the beautiful”, “the feminine”, and even “the woman”, the propagation of these ideals have brought a plurality of effects in the society, from women-specific consumerism, to haute couture, cosmetics, and hygiene products, ultimately creating a solid market since Industrial Revolution.

To some, these ideals become a source of empowerment as they are able to carry themselves with confidence and present themselves to society with the initial impression, that is, with a look that conforms to the person’s and society’s standards. But to some, these standards have become the contention whether proliferating such notions actually help women or not. Numerous reports of women’s dissatisfaction of their own bodies and psychological disorders that ultimately affect their perception of themselves (Balcetis and Cole 100). With the media's fixation on the physically attractive, women are reduced to simple objects, on display in television for mere aesthetic purposes (Swami et. al 366).

Throughout history, this ideal beauty had been expected for women to have in order to be respected and gain prestige. A 1722 pamphlet of an unknown poet titled Thirty Marks of a Fine Woman tells us of what the perfect woman looks like. It is said that a fair woman is one with a white skin, flaxen hair, perky breasts, a well-tapered waist, red lips, small nose, blonde hair, pearly teeth, and black pubic hair. The poet then concludes “Her Fingers, Hair and Lips, all subtly Fine. / Her Nose, her Bubbies, and her Head be Mine / If Little each. If Large, let ’em be Thine.”, as if those who could not qualify are othered and shamed for their lack of femininity. (Brand 6). During the 18th century, women who are able to afford costly cosmetics and feminine products are able to present themselves in public without problem and are able to confidently look for a beau to potentially wed. But with very limited opportunities for women to earn their own money to purchase these products, they could only resort to alternatives.

There were those who use pastes of the oddest substances (that seemed to have worked as they were used extensively as an alternative to premium cosmetics) such as what the aptly-named author A Lady of Distinction, describes as the ‘mercury paste’ made of calf’s foot boiled in river water with butter and bread (13). Many more alternatives were available then that even disease-ridden prostitutes and ageing women were able to trick men with these cosmetics. Ultimately, men were cautioned against unwittingly choosing overly cosmeticized women in fear of waking up next to a rather unattractive wife in the morning (Royal Museums Greenwhich par. 7).

The poem we are about to read is a response to Jonathan Swift’s The Lady’s Dressing Room whose poem seeks to comment about the lavish beautification of women and the unattainably high expectations of men on how women must look and present themselves.

───── ❝ works cited ❞ ─────

A Lady Of Distinction. The Mirror of the Graces or, The Lady’s English Costume. Crosby and Co., 1811, p. 13.

Balcetis, E.; Cole, S.; Chelberg, M. B.; Alicke, M. "Searching out the ideal: Awareness of ideal body standards predicts lower global self-esteem in women". Self and Identity, vol. 12, no 1, 2013, p 100.

Brand, Emily. Royal Weddings. Shire Publications, March 2011, p 6

Spade, Joan Z and Valentine, Catherine G. The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns and Possibilities (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc., 2010, p 58

Swami, Viren et al. "Oppressive Beliefs at Play: Associations Among Beauty Ideals and Practices and Individual Differences in Sexism, Objectification of Others, and Media Exposure". Psychology of Women Quarterly, vol 34, no. 3, 2010, p 366.

Image Credit: Illustration titled 'Morning dresses' retrieved from “A Lady of Distinction.” The Mirror of the Graces: Or, the English Lady's Costume, B. Crosby & Co., 1811.

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Born 26th of May, 1689, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was a woman of affluence and intelligence. Despite women strongly forbidden from the practice, Lady Montagu sought the practice of poetry since she was a child, writing behind male and female pseudonyms and with the sensibility of a learned, and self-taught literati.

She is known mostly for her philanthropy and political works in smallpox inoculation into Europe as she herself was a wife of a member of the Parliament. Nonetheless, her contribution in 18th century English literature was through her epistolary letters with strong emphasis on the woman’s perspective.

In the poem The Reasons that Induced Dr. Swift to Write a Poem Called “The Lady’s Dressing Room”, Lady Montagu attempts to expose the bad faith reason in which Jonathan Swift indeed wrote the poem.

Jonathan Swift, one of the most well-known satirists and political-pamphleteers of his time, had written The Lady’s Dressing Room as his attempt to satirize the vain attempts of women to conform to society’s standard of the beautiful and men’s foolhardiness in believing that such pretense is true (Clark 177). The Lady’s Dressing Room is a poem by Jonathan Swift, first published in 1732, that shows the story of the character named Strephon. In the poem, the man sneaked into the dressing chambers of his lover, Celia, while the latter was away. His perverted desires to discover her secrets quickly turned to disgust as he discovers the filth therein. Strephon finds stockings that reeked of toes, combs with grimes and dried oils in it, and dirty laundry and undergarments piled in a chest that Strephon describes as a “vile machine”. It is then that he realizes that underneath the trickery that is the beauty women spend five hours or more on, is some sort of vileness that fools men into an ideal of the woman. The trauma Strephon had after was so strong that everytime he smells something unpleasant, he associates it immediately to such a memory.

While the poem could be read as a commentary to both sexes, it could also be read as discriminatory and condescending of the practices of women then. On one hand, the poem could be read as such that comments on the obnoxiously high expectations of men and the lavish processes of beautification, but on the other, it seems to tear women down as the poem takes the perspective of a young man, and it seems to punish Strephon because of his unpermitted entrance to Celia’s room, not because he had thought of his lover’s practices as completely over-the-top. If anything, the poem seems to punish Celia more, even without its mention, as her secrets, one that she kept dearly to keep her lover satisfied with her appearance, were disclosed in the most unfashionable manner.

While Swift made more rounds with The Lady’s Dressing Room, it was not always received tastefully. This is where Lady Mary Wortley Montagu retaliates in a poem of her own that responds to Swift. She believed that it was his misogyny and personal frustrations that propelled the poem to existence.

───── ❝ works cited ❞ ─────

Clark John R. The Modern Satiric Grotesque and Its Tradition.

University Press of Kentucky, 1991, p. 177.

Image Credit: Kneller, Geoffrey. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762). Dumfries House Trust, Scotland, 1715, Dumfries House, Scotland.

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To fully understand the context of the discourse:

Read Jonathan Swift’s The Lady’s Dressing Room. (5-10 mins. of reading)

Pinpoint Swift’s commentary:

a.) To whom is the poem for?

b.) Why satire?

c.) Did it challenge deep-seated gender expectations on women?

How do you think the 18th century audience received the poem? Do you think there were differences in the reception of men and women?

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by Lady Wortley Montagu

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The Doctor in a clean starch'd band, His Golden Snuff box in his hand, With care his Di'mond Ring displays And Artfull shews its various Rays, While Grave he stalks down — — — Street His dearest Betty — — to meet. Long had he waited for this Hour, Nor gain'd Admittance to the Bower, Had jok'd and punn'd, and swore and writ, Try'd all his Galantry and Wit, Had told her oft what part he bore In Oxford's Schemes in days of yore, But Bawdy, Politicks nor Satyr Could move this dull hard hearted Creatu(re.) Jenny her Maid could taste a Rhyme And greiv'd to see him lose his Time, Had kindly whisper'd in his Ear, For twice two pound you enter here, My Lady vows without that Summ It is in vain you write or come. The Destin'd Offering now he brought And in a paradise of thought With a low Bow approach'd the Dame Who smileing heard him preach his Flame. His Gold she takes (such proofes as these Convince most unbeleiving shees) And in her trunk rose up to lock it (Too wise to trust it in her pocket) And then return'd with Blushing Grace Expects the Doctor's warm Embrace. But now this is the proper place Where morals Stare me in the Face And for the sake of fine Expression I'm forc'd to make a small digression. Alas for wretched Humankind, With Learning Mad, with wisdom blind! The Ox thinks he's for Saddle fit (As long ago Freind Horace writ) And Men their Talents still mistakeing, The stutterer fancys his is speaking. With Admiration oft we see Hard Features heighten'd by Toupee, The Beau affects the Politician, Wit is the citizen's Ambition, Poor Pope Philosophy displays on With so much Rhime and little reason, And tho he argues ne'er so long That, all is right, his Head is wrong. None strive to know their proper merit But strain for Wisdom, Beauty, Spirit, And lose the Praise that is their due While they've th'impossible in view. So have I seen the Injudicious Heir To add one Window the whole House impair. Instinct the Hound does better teach Who never undertook to preach, The frighted Hare from Dogs does run But not attempts to bear a Gun. Here many Noble thoughts occur But I prolixity abhor, And will persue th'instructive Tale To shew the Wise in some things fail. The Reverend Lover with surprize Peeps in her Bubbys, and her Eyes, And kisses both, and trys — and trys. The Evening in this Hellish Play, Beside his Guineas thrown away, Provok'd the Preist to that degree He swore, the Fault is not [in] me. Your damn'd Close stool so near my Nose, Your Dirty Smock, and Stinking Toes Would make a Hercules as tame As any Beau that you can name. The nymph grown Furious roar'd by God The blame lyes all in Sixty odd And scornfull pointing to the door Cry'd, Fumbler see my Face no more. With all my Heart I'll go away But nothing done, I'll nothing pay. Give back the Money — How, cry'd she, Would you palm such a cheat on me! For poor 4 pound to roar and bellow, Why sure you want some new Prunella? I'll be reveng'd you saucy Quean (Replys the disapointed Dean) I'll so describe your dressing room The very Irish shall not come. She answer'd short, I'm glad you'l write, You'll furnish paper when I shite.

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Lady Montagu begins the poem with the introduction of the doctor whom we can know as Dr. Swift based on the title. The doctor is a reputable and affluent man as he was described as someone who had diamond rings, and is able to afford sexual services. The Lady’s Dressing Room however begins with fictional characters Celia and Strephon. Celia seems to represent the kind of women who are unnecessarily obsessed with their vanity while Strephon represents the kind of men who foolishly believe in the immaculate image of the feminine beauty.

As the poem responds to The Lady’s Dressing Room, do you think that the deliberate use of Swift’s name suggests a more personal attack rather than an attack against men writing about women?

If you think yes, how does personally attacking a person affect the quality of discourse that Lady Montagu is trying to engage in? If not, who do you think this Dr. Swift represents and why?

Try to analyze the narrative voice of the poem. The Lady’s Dressing Room has a predominantly masculine voice and looks into women’s vanity in a manner that any man would. The central character in The Lady’s Dressing Room is a man named Strephon, while Lady Montagu chooses Dr. Swift as the central character, a man also.

How would you describe the narrative voice of Lady Montagu’s poem?

The two poems both have men as their central characters and both poems seem to punish these male characters. On one hand, Strephon is punished for his curiosity, on the other, Dr. Swift for simply being unable to perform sexually. What differences in the punishment do you see in these two?

What does those kinds of punishment say about men, women and social situations where the poems were produced?

The Lady’s Dressing Room shows Celia as a passive, almost a non-character. In Swift’s poem, we are shown not only of the male perspective but of the way that Celia was not able to explain herself against the accusations.

How different are the female characters portrayed in Lady Montagu’s poem? Are they given agency over the situation? Were they able to explain and defend their perspectives?

Do you think the subject position of Lady Montagu as the writer of the poem affected the way women were portrayed in the poem?

The subversive function of Lady Montagu’s poem shines through in her poem. Not only was she able to challenge Swift, she was also able to subvert Swift’s style in The Lady’s Dressing Room into one that serves the purpose of Lady Montagu’s project.

How do you think Lady Montagu subverted The Dressing Room’s form against Swift in terms of narrative voice, characters, plot, and commentary?

As satire, the piece attempts to forward an argument that not only responds to existing narratives but to the issue in its core itself.

What was the problem that Dr. Swift in the poem had that led him to threaten to write about Betty’s dressing room? What does Dr. Swift and his actions represent in the broad discourse?

What does the end line, “I’m glad you’ll write, / You’ll furnish paper when I shite” say about how women view it when men write about women?

The poem could even be read psychoanalytically wherein Lady Montagu attempted to explain the causes of Swift’s misogynistic behavior. In Psychoanalytic Feminism it is asserted that men have the inherent and need to dominate over women while women have the inherent need to be subjugated because of historical (and normalized) discrimination—only through exposing these repressed unconsciousnesses can gender equality exist. Do you think this a valid reason for Lady Montagu to critique Swift by attacking his supposed impotence instead of the institutional privilege he has as a male writer in an 18th-century patriarchal society?

Should you be given a chance to respond to Swift and/or Lady Montagu, how will you be able to argue against or for their positions? Additionally, how do you think you would use satire to directly engage with their mode of discourse?

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───── ❝ introduction ❞ ─────

Although the 18th century has long passed, satire in writing as well as other art forms have never lost their influence. Printed material that could be easily circulated were useful in swaying public opinion, especially on political matters. Political cartoons, especially in Europe during the 1800’s, were influential during their time and now serve as a record for people in the present to understand the socio-political contexts of those periods (Lopez, “Revival of Satire: Our Life in Memes”).

With turbulent political climates comes the desire to create satire of people in power. In an earlier module, we saw this happen with Montagu and Swift: A very important ingredient in satire is public accessibility of the art piece, whether in text or visual forms, and its themes to take hold. Nowadays, the internet and media have been the perfect platforms for people to express their opinions. When we scroll through our phones to find memes about a politician’s latest blunder or watch videos of comedians poking fun at celebrities, we see how influence and power can be slowly chipped away by collective opinion. We see the effects of satire.

For our last module, we’ll be taking a look at a special section which draws parallels between satire and cancel culture, as well as the many examples of satire present today: from news sites, comedy shows, and social media posts, we shall ultimately discover satire’s continuous effect and influence on public opinion.

───── ❝ works cited ❞ ─────

Lopez, Sergio. “Revival of Satire: Our Life in Memes.” PETRIe,

www.petrieinventory.com/revival-of-satire-our-life-in-memes. Accessed 17 Dec. 2021.

───── ❝ table of contents ❞ ─────

i. parallels: political satire and cancel culture

ii. political satire in social media

iii. political satire and the philippine context

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After studying Leapor's and Lady Montagu's texts, notice that Leapor's satire is informed by concerns and frustrations over women who are subjected to men's dominance and the larger system of patriarchy. Lady Montagu’s satire carries a similar spirit, though it seems mostly to spite and defame her more successful colleague, Swift. We then see the shifts in satirical writing from this contrasting of two texts—satire is not only capable of censuring the actions or beliefs of individuals, but also of attacking and ostracizing the individuals themselves. Aware of this potential, it is worth considering Lady Montagu’s possible intentions when she wrote The Reasons That Induced a Dr. Swift to Write a Poem Called ‘The Lady’s Dressing Room’. It also presents a thought-provoking question: Can satire be abused?

While the ambivalence of motivations in Lady Montagu’s text may not answer this question, we can see how forms of satire today do end up harming groups and individuals. In his article, Allemang notes how people can mask their bigotry and prejudice with satire by employing caricatures or thinly veiled insults against vulnerable groups that mostly harm rather than provide illuminating insights on certain issues. Because of this, “satire’s power and its purpose and its methods are being distorted to serve a broader political cause” (Allemang).

For this special section, we will draw parallels between satire and cancel culture. The term cancel culture is protean, having been first conceptualized in the 2010s, but this complex socio-cultural phenomenon, as media expert Eve Ng describes it, is “a collective of typically marginalized voices ‘calling out’ and emphatically expressing their censure of a powerful figure” (623). This definition feels relevant to the main texts we have read for this module, and especially so with Lady Montagu’s. Philosopher Natalie Wynn goes on to call cancel culture a form of “vigilante strategy for bringing justice and accountability to powerful people who

had previously been immune to [the] consequences of their actions” (Wynn 01:33-01:41). A notable instance of this occurring is with the #MeToo movement that spread across the internet which exposed acts of sexual harrassment committed by prominent Hollywood figures (Ng 623).

With all this information, note the way cancel culture empowers disenfranchised individuals and offers them the chance to demand accountability from those who have wronged them. Note, too, how this reflects on both Leapor and Montagu’s utilization of satire. Before we go further, we encourage you to watch the first 20 minutes of the attached video below by Natalie Wynn to get a better sense of the complexities of cancel culture. You are more than welcome to watch the entire video.

Canceling | Contrapoints

The attached is a longform video essay on cancel culture by philosopher Natalie Wynn. In this video, Wynn analyzes rhetoric in cancel culture as well as the tropes and tendencies that come along with it. In identifying these tropes, Wynn has revealed ways harassment mobs disguise ill-considered attacks against individuals under the guise of social justice. Cancel culture becomes a weapon of spite, one that exacerbates conflict instead of pushing for social reform and understanding.

Guide Questions:

As Wynn documents the social shaming of prominent individuals as a result of cancel culture, recall how Lady Montagu's work is directed towards Jonathan Swift. In your opinion, what do you think fueled Lady Montagu’s motivations to write her satirical piece against Swift? Do you think Lady Montagu wrote the text because she truly wanted Jonathan Swift to learn the error of his ways, or because she wished to knock him off his pedestal—or neither or both?

From seven to nine minutes into the video, two important tropes of cancel culture are identified by Wynn: abstraction and essentialism. Abstraction, in this context, is when a specific action is obscured (e.g. “The waiter decided to tender an order before cleaning up the spill on the floor” to “The waiter did not immediately clean up the spill on the floor”), while essentialism implies such actions are innate to the person’s behavior (e.g. “The waiter is lazy”).

After looking at the various satirical pieces throughout this module, do you think satire is also susceptible to these tropes?

“Ignorance is not the same thing as hatred.” - Wynn

What is your understanding of this quote, especially in the context of Lady Montagu and the accusations thrown at Jonathan Swift for the misogynistic remarks in his writing?

From the video, we have learned that just like satire, cancel culture can be abused. While it is definitely important to hold powerful individuals accountable, sometimes the targets of satire and cancel culture are ordinary groups or people who commit mistakes, and would have better benefited from learning and improving themselves than be attacked and ostracized from their community. Something so potent about both satire and cancel culture is its virality. In an essay, Bullard describes satire as a “‘mental position’ that infects different sorts of art and literature, different kinds of speech and action, in many different ways” (1). We have seen how satire can both influence and direct media and public opinion, and the same can be said about cancel culture—its “content circulation via digital platforms facilitates fast, large-scale responses” (Ng 625). Satire and cancel culture changes how society looks at things for better or for worse. And more often than not, what is first used as a tool to “expose society’s ills” (Allemang) can become something abusive and harmful.

───── ❝ works cited ❞ ─────

Allemang, John. “Satire Is Often Nasty, Harmful and Grotesquely Abusive.” The Globe and Mail, 9 Jan. 2015,

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/satire-is-often-nasty- harmful-and-grotesquely-abusive/article22389814.

Bullard, Paddy, ed. The Oxford handbook of eighteenth-century

satire. Oxford University Press, USA, 2019.

Ng, Eve. "No grand pronouncements here...: Reflections on cancel culture and digital media participation." Television & New Media 21.6 (2020): 621-627.

Wynn, Natalie. “Canceling | ContraPoints.” YouTube, uploaded by ContraPoints, 2 Jan. 2020, youtube.com/watch?v=OjMPJVmXxV8.

Image Source: Callery, Taylor. “Creative Digital Art Piece Depicting the Effects of Cancel Culture.” Cancel Culture Is Not Real—At Least Not in the Way People Think, Time Magazine, 2019, time.com/5735403/cancel-culture-is-not-real/.

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In the modern era, political satire is very much alive in the form of scathing political cartoons and lively comedy shows. The attached videos below talk about the history of these forms of political satire as well as new problems that have arisen with it. Check them out and feel free to ponder on the guide questions given.

A free world needs satire | Patrick Chappatte

The following video is a TEDXTalk on political cartoons as satire told by an international political cartoonist himself. Here, Patrick Chappatte discusses the history of political cartoons and satire as a way to make fun of and consequently challenge monarchs. He also mentions how the current political climate with its various leaders have become a new source of material for political cartoonists. With the creation of satire comes dangers for the political cartoonists themselves when such authorities choose to persecute them for expressing their critiques.

Guide Questions:

“Showing that the emperor has no clothes, that’s the task of satire, right?” - Chappatte

What is your understanding of this quote, especially what Chappatte means by ‘showing that the emperor has no clothes?’ What exactly does satire target when it comes to an authority figure? Is it their image, their influence, or their actions? What makes political satire especially distinct from other forms of critique?

Does creating satire come with risks? Is there a difference between the consumption and spread of satire in historical times and how it is now? Despite the fact that satire is rooted in comedy and ‘making light’ of a dark topic, what does it mean when people who create satire are persecuted for it?

“Political cartoons were born with democracy, and they are challenged when freedom is.” - Chappatte

What is your understanding of this quote? What is the relationship between political cartoons and freedom that Chappatte talks about?

The power of political comedy | CBC News: The National

The following video from CBC News looks into the effects of political comedy as a means of communicating news and poking fun at politicians to the viewing public, especially in regards to comedy shows like Saturday Night Live and late-night talk shows. Their guest Dannagal Young adds in a psychological perspective to modern-day satire in comedy and the dialogue that exists between those who watch satire and the object of satire themselves.

Guide Questions:

What can you say about the ongoing relationship between political comedians and politicians themselves? How does the media’s power factor into how satire has been produced?

Young eventually brings up how media deregulation ‘emancipated’ political comedy by giving the public what they wanted. However, the uncensoring of political comedy was also profit-motivated. Do you think this aspect of profit motivation takes away from the message of political satire? Is profit motivation justifiable when it comes to making political critique?

“[...] political comedy seems less a cure, and more an anaesthetic.” - CBC News

The quote here is in reference to the consumption of political comedy in the midst of fake news being touted by media outlets as ‘truth.’ Are there any other contexts in which this quote can be deemed applicable? What are the negative implications of comedy being more of an anaesthetic than a cure?

───── ❝ works cited ❞ ─────

TedTalksDirector, director. A Free World Needs Satire. Performance

by Patrick Chappatte, YouTube, YouTube, 18 Sept. 2019,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIGtyaVb2Xc.

CBCTheNational, director. The Power of Political Comedy. YouTube,

YouTube, 10 Feb. 2017,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sf3mMy2Rps.

Image Source: Chappatte, Patrick. “That Was a Productive Morning!” Diary of an Editorial Cartoonist, The New York Times, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/insider/diary-of-an-editorial-cartoonist.html.

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