Novel as Moral Instruction
In the Preface, the author assures readers and pre-empts critics by promising that his story will be a cautionary tale that teaches the dangers of seduction of the innocent young women by predatory males. As a result, virginity and purity is placed in opposition to the seductive powers of the male constantly and not necessarily always just through metaphorical imagery:”
BEHOLD the youthful virgin arrayed in all the delightful charms of vivacity, modesty and sprightliness—Behold even while she is rising in beauty and dignity, like a lily of the valley, in the full blossom of her graces, she is cut off suddenly by the rude hand of the Seducer.”
Letter-Writing
The novel is a series of letters from one character to another. As a result, the narrative tone of each individual character is different from one another to an extent, but overriding all is the conceptualization of the privately written missive intended for only one pair of eyes. This means that on occasion, some of the letters, depending upon the writer, engage in fantastical swirls of metaphorical imagery:
"IT was now I appeared fully sensible that my conduct had hitherto been a course of disorder, and that systems of reformation, however well planned, had been overturned by the breath of adulation, before they had been thoroughly carried into execution—that I had been drifting upon a sea of inconsistency, without exercising my judgment; like a ship without a rudder, buffetted on the bosom of the ocean, the sport of winds and waves.”
The Aristocracy of the Slaveholders
Although on the surface, the novel appears to be merely a rather sentimental love story gone tragically awry by the revelation of incest, beneath the text many scholars have found the book to be a commentary upon American democracy. It is considered to be the first real novel ever written and published by an American. For this reason, metaphorical commentary upon the state of the nation is not as out of place as it might at first seem:
“Those of the southern states, accustomed to a habit of domineering over their slaves, are haughtier, more tenacious of honour, and indeed possess more of an aristocratick temper than their sisters of the confederacy.”
An Incendiary Taboo
The shocking left turn of what at first seems merely a rather simple case of love gone wrong drives the narrative straight into the most serious sexual taboo which a writer could write about at the time without fear of repercussion. (Bestiality had been dealt with, but not within the purview of the romantic novel.) The consequence of the decision to transgress this taboo is place within a straightforward, but undeniable metaphorical image:
“The blaze of family dispute raged with unquenchable fury—and poor Ophelia received other punishment from the hand of a vindictive father than bare recrimination.”
What Is Satire?
The novel begins with that Preface which pre-empts criticism of the novel-as-form by suggesting its use lies in the ability to instruct moral lessons. Since most women who read novels at the time were women, well, do the math. At one point, the letters become almost a case of postmodern meta-textuality as one of the writers examines and probes the nature of literary forms like poetry. Poetry, the letter writer asserts, “enlarges and strengthens the mind…it is has been asserted that women have no business with satire.” Shortly thereafter, a definition of satire is offered in metaphorical formulation, a definition which is certainly not the worst on record by any means:
“Satire is the correction of the vices and follies of the human heart; a woman may, therefore, read it to advantage.”
