ROXANA: THE FORTUNATE MISTRESS
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Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress (full title: The Fortunate Mistress: Or, A History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, Afterwards Called the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany, Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II is a 1724 novel by English writer, DANIEL DEFOE. It was published by a partnership of booksellers, T. Warner, W. Meadows, W. Pepper, S. Harding, and T. Edlin that year
The novel examines the possibility of eighteenth-century women owning their own estate despite living in a patriarchal society, as with Roxana's claim that "the Marriage Contract is ... nothing but giving up Liberty, Estate, Authority, and everything, to the Man.” The novel also draws attention to the incompatibility between sexual freedom and freedom from motherhood: Roxana becomes pregnant many times due to her sexual exploits, and it is one of her children, Susan, who comes back to expose her, years later, near the novel's close, helping to precipitate her flight abroad, her subsequent loss of wealth, and her (ambiguous) repentance.
The character of Roxana can be described as a proto-feminist because she engages in prostitution for her own ends of freedom, before a feminist ideology was fully formed, though Defoe also works to undercut the radicalism of her position. The book also explores the clash of values between the Restoration Court and the middle class.
Roxana also discusses the issues of truth and deceit.
ROXANA: THE FORTUNATE MISTRESS
$14.00