Effects of Oppression in Woman of Colour Gulfam Dhillon College

Woman of Colour refutes Barbauld's idea in her Epistle to William Wilberforce that the mistreated and oppressed become viceful. Barbauld writes her epistle in the eighteenth century when former and current slaves were not considered whole people. A part of her epistle describes how the tragedies inflicted upon the oppressed is a sort of, “venom” that gains the “milky innocence” of the enslaved person (55). However, Woman of Colour an epistolary novel written anonymously in the eighteenth century refutes this idea by telling the story of Olivia, the novel's main protagonist. The novel describes Olivia as coming from the roots of slavery and is consistently prejudiced in the novel. However, she does not become viceful. Instead, Olivia becomes virtuous and exhibits no signs of contempt or hatred to the ones who hold her in contempt.

Barbauld articulates the idea oppressed people become viceful due to the nature of their enslavement. But they can also become virtuous as Woman of Colour reveals. The nature of prejudice and oppression takes away a person's identity and criticizes it. Causing one to be deprived of happiness in such a state. It is this depravity in oppressed people that Barbauld hones in on to demonstrate its effects....