Wealth & Power

Tiana Ring

The women of the era Charlotte Temple held little to no power in society. Not in their familial relationships, marital relationships, and certainly not within society in terms of voting or owning property. The idea of wealth and power in Charlotte Temple goes hand in hand. Two ideas that Charlotte fell victim to during the course of the story which ultimately led to her death. I believe that Susanna Rowson uses the theme of girlhood as mode to explain why Charlotte becomes the victim of wealth and power.

Charlotte Temple repeatedly shows that a majority of characters are willing to do whatever it takes to gain wealth in order to raise their social status, even if that is at the expense of a young girl. For instance, Madam La Rue is a character who is obsessed with trying to raise her social status. It is through her actions that we got to see just how conniving and manipulative she if to Charlotte. At the beginning of Chapter Seven, Charlotte feels uncomfortable after her outing with Montraville and she admits this to Madam La Rue, who in turn blames Charlotte for being disappointed in the evening. “For I am sure my cousin omitted nothing that could serve to render the evening agreeable…Prithee do not be such a foolish little prude, said the artful woman, affecting anger…however, if your delicacy was hurt by the behavior of the gentlemen, you need not go again; so there let it rest”(Rowson 22). Madam La Rue takes offense that Charlotte would imply her cousin is at fault for making her evening disappointing. So, she turns the tables and makes Charlotte feel bad by saying she is too sensitive and that is why the actions of Montraville bothered her too much. Madam La Rue is also a driving force that gets Charlotte to the States, but for her own benefit. She intended to get along with Belacour but found another man with more money who raised her social status through marriage.

In addition, Montraville is seen as a villain in this novel through his treatment of Charlotte. When he first encountered Charlotte “he thought on her only as a very lovely child, she being then only thirteen”(Rowson 3). I find it very disturbing that a grown man would take interest in a girl of such a young age. In contemporary times, Charlotte would be considered just at the beginning of adolescence. However, I find it more disturbing that he is still interested in her two years later when she is only fifteen-years old. Montraville thinks “the improvement two years had made in her person, and the blush of recollection which suffused her cheeks, as she passed, awakened in his bosom new and pleasing ideas”(3). We discussed in class that during this time, the term ‘adolescent’ had not yet been coined so in Montraville’s eyes, Charlotte is now an adult ready for marriage. He is so caught up her looks that he quickly becomes infatuated with Charlotte, but not in a way that leads to marriage. As a rich, white man, he uses his power to manipulate Charlotte’s young mind into thinking he will marry her when he actually had no intention of doing so. Charlotte and her family are not wealthy enough, in his eyes, to solidify a marriage between them so he drags her along until he finds Julia Franklin in the States, who he deems worth of marriage.

Rowson does well in addressing the idea of powerless women trapped in bad circumstances. I think she shows that women of this time spend the majority of their lives listening to their parents before being sent off to marriage where she will listen to her husband for the rest of her life. Like we discussed in class, girls/women were meant to go from virgin to wife to mother to crow. Her duty is to her husband/family and that is the end all be all. I think Rowson is arguing that this type of treatment towards women is wrong because women are much more than a trophy for a man. Therefore, she is showing people that the treatment of Charlotte is due to lack of power on her end and that is something that was common during this time period.

The theme of girlhood is one that I think will occur often when we think of adolescence throughout this semester. Whether that is looking at a female character through the lens of weak and vulnerable to outside forces or even twisting the theme, so a female character is strong and aware of her situation(s), I anticipate girlhood to pop up again. I think we have already seen the idea of a vulnerable young girl in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros through Esperanza. Similar to Charlotte Temple, she is a character that is often influenced by others around her. Where Charlotte is influenced by Madam La Rue and Montraville, Esperanza is influenced by the women around her in terms of finding her own identity.