Hi! Could you please read, summarize, and take detailed notes on three research articles for me? Also, please suggest ideas for a thesis. I will be writing a 2,500-word research paper on Fanny Hill: M

* Received: February 24, 20 10; Accepted: May 7 , 20 10

Kuo -jung Chen , Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Language s and Literature,

National Chung Cheng University , Chiayi, Taiwan

E-mail: [email protected]

The Concept of Virginity and

Its Representations

in Eighteenth -Century

English Literature

Kuo -jung Chen

ABSTRACT

This essay explores the concept of virginity and its representations in eighteenth -century English literature. In the first

part, I trace t he origins and development of the concept of virginity in the Western civilizations from three different perspectives: Greco -Roman, Christian, and socio -cultural. The

Greco -Roman conception of virginity focuses on three Virgin Goddesses —Athena (Minerva), A rtemis (Diana), and Hestia (Vesta) . The Christian tradition centers on the key ideas of

imitatio Christi , the Virgin Mary, and asexual cohabitation. In the social -cultural context, the concept of virginity is dominated by patriarchal values and cultural co ded references . Moreover, it

represents personal and family honor and expresses monetary and practical concern s. The second part of this essay discusses the ramifications o f the concept of virginity i n eighteenth -century

English literature. Virginity may b e treated as a butt of joke or disparagement, upheld as a criterion for moral or religious judgment, or treasured as merchandise for the market. In Samuel

Richardson ‟s Clarissa and Pamela , virginity is tantamount to female virtue and a warranty of female h appiness, but in John Cleland ‟s Fanny Hill it becomes an imaginary “Holy Grail ” for

male fantasy or heroic adventure. When female virginity becomes a matter of life and death, a warranty of family honor and fortune, and a cornerstone of public morality and welfare, how it

is represented in literature has constituted a collective historical memory not only of women but of all human beings.

KEY WORDS: the Concept of Virginity, Literary Representations,

the Eighteenth Century 76 Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture ．Vol 3.2．June 2010

貞操觀念與其在 十八世紀

英國文學中的呈現

陳國榮 

摘 要

本篇論文探討貞操觀念及其在十八世紀英國文學中

的呈現。論文共分兩大部分。第一部分從希臘羅馬、基督

教、與社會文化三個角度來追溯西方文明中貞操觀念的產

生與發展。希臘羅馬的貞操觀念源自三位貞潔女神 —雅典

娜、阿特密斯、與赫斯媞。基督教的貞操觀念則主要聚焦

於耶穌、聖母瑪利亞、及不分性別的共居。在社會文化範

疇中，貞操觀念則為父權價值所主導而代表個人及家庭榮

譽，同時具有經濟與實際的利益。第二部分探討各種貞操

觀念在十八世紀英國文學的呈現方式。貞操可能是被揶揄

或貶抑的對象，道德與宗教的判斷標準，也可能是需珍惜

的商品。在李查 生（ Samuel Richardson ）的《克羅麗莎》

（ Clarissa ）與《潘蜜菈》（ Pamela ）中，貞操等同於女性

美德，更是女性幸福的保證。然而在克里蘭（ John Cleland ）

的《芬妮 ‧ 希爾》（ Fanny Hill ）中，貞操則是種男性想像

的「聖杯」，藉以滿足其幻想與英雄奇遇。當女性貞操變

成一件生死大事，一個家庭名譽與財富的象徵，甚至整個

社會道德與幸福的基柱時，文學中所呈現貞操觀念不僅成

為女性更是人類共同的歷史記憶。

關鍵詞 ：貞操觀念、文學呈現、十八世紀

 陳國榮 ，國立中正大學外國語文學系副教授 。

E-mail: [email protected]

The Concept of Virginity 77

Before we delve into the concept of virginity, a definitional preamble is

necessary for the scope of this essay. Though virginity as a sexual criterion

can certainly be applied to both male s and female s, I would focus only on

female virginity in order to illustrate female exp erience in a specific historical

context. Such a restriction leads to the second prerequisite: only the concept

of virginity before and in the eighteenth century will be included. Such a

necessity is evidenced by the drastic changing attitude toward virgin ity in the

course of history, especially in the last century. Aside from temporal condition,

spatial stipulation is al so added to underscore a Eurocentric/Western view on

virginity. The notion of virginity seems to be universal at first glance, but

regiona l (cultural and religious) differences may often present a gap too broad

or huge to be bridged or filled. These geographical disparities are manifest

even within similar culture s. For instance, as Anne -Marie Sohn points out ,

To take the French for example , in Flanders, Artois, and Picardy

virginity was not valued in the least. In Gravelines a virgin

could even be referred to as „ rien qu’une merde sur une pelle ‟

(nothing but shit on a shovel). . . . As for the Normans, they did

not criticize the unmarried m other, as they were happy to verify

her ability to bear children . . . . There were, by contrast, until

the period between the two world wars, areas that were hard on

young women who had “erred.” In these places even prenuptial

conception was criticized, an d weighed as an indelible stain on

the wife. (263) 1

Therefore, in any discussion of the concept of virginity, temporal and spatial

discrepancies must always be taken into account .

Furthermore, some terms often associated with virginity, such as chastity

or celibacy, need to be treated discretely because of their special implications.

Ambrose of Milan divided female chastity ( castitas ) into three forms or

phases: premarital, marital, and widowed. “Conjugal, widowed, and virginal

1 Sohn further elaborates on various attitudes toward virginity: “in certain southern rural regions masculine honor and feminine virginity were conflated. . . . The charivaris (noisy rituals that expressed communal disapproval of perceived violators of social norms) that targeted „loose women‟ were common in Charente and in Limousin until 1914, in Brittany during the period between the wars, and in Languedoc into the 1950s . . . . In the cities, tolerance prevailed among the populace, which joked that one must lose one‟s virginity as quickly as possible to avoid being taken for a halfwit. Far from wanting to marry a virgin, many men preferred experienced women” (263). These divergent views reflect the nebulous nature of the concept of virginity. 78 Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture ．Vol 3.2．June 2010

castitas were, however, ranke d according to an ascending order of virtue”

(Cooper 1558). Based on such religious precepts , virginity is the highest form

of chastity because chastity can also be realized in other aspects /phases of

human life. Likewise, according to Thomas Aquinas, cast itas “sanctifies both

the married couple in legitimate sexual union, and the ascetic in sexual

renunciation” (Cooper 1558). More importantly, the loss of virginity is

essentially irrevocable . As Samuel Pepys writes in his diary (November 18,

1664), one Lor d Craven compares monopoly to the irreversible nature of

virginity: “if I occupy a wench first, you may occupy her again your heart out

you can never have her maidenhead after I have once had it” (1003). 2

Different from virginity‟s social/cultural values (alongside with its religious

implication) , celibacy is mainly religion -oriented. Whether it is a temporary

abstinence before and during sacred rituals or a permanent avowal for a devout

purpose, celibacy is often practiced from a metaphysical perspective. As Daniel

Gold points out, “The great traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and

Christianity , . . . all oriented toward otherwor ldly goals, have firmly established

roles for celibate monks working out their salvation. . . . The reasons offered

for celibacy con sequently range from concerns for personal physical health to

a total rejection of the physical body” (1475). In other words , physical

virginity is not a prerequisite to certain forms of chastity (conjugal and

widowed) and celibacy (temporary abstinence). With these definitional and

restrictive premises in mind, we may now trace the development of the

concept of virginity before the eighteenth century and then investigate how it

is represented in various literary forms in the eighteent h century.

The Greco -Roman Perspective

The concept of v irginity is first and foremost associated with sexual

innocence and bodily purity. In his comparison between barbarian s and the

Greeks, Herodotus report ed that “people on the fringes of the Greek world . . .

did not prize t he virginity of unmarried girls nor consider a wife the sexual

partner exclusively of her husband (as did most Greeks), but who practice

fraternal polyandry, or promiscuous intercourse” (Pomeroy 353). Virginity and

chastity thus become the important measur es to differentiate the Greeks from

2 The modern technology of hymenorrhaphy (hymen reconstruction surgery) certainly makes this issue more complicated. For the purpose and scope of this essay, such a mode rn medical practice will not be considered. The Concept of Virginity 79

barbarians. Such a notion is evidenced by the special status granted to virgin

boys and girls and by the attributes of the three Virgin Goddesses: Athena

(Minerva), Artemis (Diana), and Hestia (Vesta) in the Greco -Roman world .

As Han J. W. Drijvers maintains, “because of their lack or renunciation of

sexual experience, virgins are not completely male or female, and consequently

defy in a sense gender specificity. . . . This mediating function of virgins makes

them partic ularly appropriate for contact with the supernatural and implies

their sacredness” (9607). Virgins are often entrusted with special religious

rituals because they are supposed to be in closer contact with divinity and nature

owing to their sexual purity. Furthermore, the loss of virginity is considered

an irrevocable act and often lamented in a n elegiac way , as manifested in a

dialogue , written by Sappho of Lesbos , between a bride and her maidenhood:

Bride : Maidenhood, maidenhood, where have you gone

and le ft me?

Maidenhood : No more will I come back to you, no more will I

come back.

(qtd. in Sultan 208)

Though the loss of virginity may be bewail ed, it also indicates a necessary rite

of passage through which a young girl enters into mature womanhood.

Otherwi se, according to early Modern (mis)conception, green sickness ( “the

disease of maid occasioned by celibacy ”) will develop in a young virgin and

become detrimental to her health. 3

The three Virgin Goddess es in classical mythology are essential in

shaping th e western concept of virginity. The name Athena Parthenos literally

means Athena the Virgin (thus the Parthenon, the Virgin‟s Temple). However,

Athena ‟s virginity is asexual and different from that of Artemis, the virgin

goddess of girls before they marry and of women in their delivery. Athena is

“impeccable,” “sexually unapproachable,” “beautiful with a severe and aloof

kind of loveliness that is masculine and striking ,” and she is usually associated

with qualities more important than her virginity . For in stance, “Athena is a

3 This definition is given by Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811). Green sickness is also known as morbus virgineus (“virgin‟s disease”) or febris amatoria (“lover‟s fever”) . In Shakespeare ‟s Romeo and Juliet , Capulet cries out to Juliet —“Out, you green -sickness carrion! out, you baggage!” (III.v .156) —when she refuses to marry Paris . For a detailed discussion of green sickness and its (often misconceived) associations with virginity, please refer to Helen King ‟s The D isease of Virgins: Green Sickness , Chlorosis, and the Problems of Puberty (London: Routledge, 2004). 80 Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture ．Vol 3.2．June 2010

goddess of many other specific arts, crafts, and skills (military, political, and

domestic), as well as the deification of wisdom and good counsel in a more

generic and abstract conception” ( Morford and Lenardon 166 -67). She is also

credited with the invention of weaving, an indispensable female skill.

Therefore, Athena is more important in helping young girls to develop their

womanly qualities than in being a role model for the preservation of virginity .

By contrast, Artemis‟s virginit y tends to be more humane and desirable from a

human perspective .

In discussing Titian‟s “Diana and Acta eon,” Helen McDonald aptly

presents both the human/sensual and the divine/chaste sides of Diana:

As Goddess of Hunting she presides over the welfare of small

animals, while her association with Chastity suggests sexuality.

In the social sphere of the seventeenth century there was a

related contradiction: virginity was prized only until marriage

was achieved, and it was the hope of marriage that made

wome n chaste. In representation there is a further contradiction:

the chaste Diana, a Goddess and therefore immortal, is seen to

have the body and sensuality of a mortal woman. . . . Her small

lap -dog is an obvious contrast to Actaeon‟s hunting dog, and

refers , symbolically, to the chastity of the Goddess, while the

accoutrements of the bath — the mirror, the vase, perfume,

towels and veils — all relate metonymically to the erotic

presentation of Diana‟s body. (69)

Though Acteaon unwittingly chance s upon Diana ‟s ba thing, she relentlessly

transforms him into a deer to be chased and devoured by his own hounds. In

such a description of Diana, inviolable chastity coexists with sexual attraction,

and erotic arousal with forbidden adoration. As James Al lan Evans notes,

“E verywhere in Greece it was the custom for girls of marriageable age to

dance and sing in choruses at festivals in honor of Artemis, and this was one

place where young men could become acquainted with unmarried girls. There

was a darker side to Artemis, how ever. Girls who failed to remain pure for

whatever reason encountered her wrath” (301). Consequently, the notion of

virginity entails both the chaste and the sensual simultaneously ; sexual initiation

and physical restraint must go hand in hand.

The importa nce of Vesta (Hestia) lies not so much in her own virginity The Concept of Virginity 81

as in the practice of her followers, the Vestal Virgins, who are six in number

and “the highest religious officials in Rome” (O‟Neal and Jones 230). The

Vestal Virgins must keep their virginity for thirty years and are punishable

with live burial if they break their vows. 4 However, it is important to note that

the Greeks ha ve no Vestal Virgins. Though the two names of the

goddess — Vesta and Hestia — are sometimes interchangeable, they present

differen t notions of v irginity. As Jennifer Larson remarks, “The perpetual

virginity of Hestia, whose name simply means „hearth,‟ reflects the Greek

belief that fire and the fireplace must be kept pure and inviolate. The hearth

was the center of domestic cult; it symbolized the integrity of the individual

household, and by extension, the chastity of the resident women” (160 -61).

Therefore, the concept of virginity as symbolized by Vesta (Hestia) is

extend ed from the virginity of the unmarried (the Vestal Virgins) to the

chastity of the married (the wives and their hearths) . Such a notion is handed

down to the western culture and exerts a profound influence on the

construction of female identity.

Fig. 1 Titian ‟s Diana and Actaeon (1556 -1559)

4 According to Isaac Asimov, “in eleven hundred years only twenty cases of violation of that rule were recorded” (33). 82 Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture ．Vol 3.2．June 2010

The Christian Perspecti ve

The concept of virginity in the Christian tradition focuses mainly on

three key ideas: imitatio Christi , the Virgin Mary, and asexual cohabitation .

These key notions culminate in the triumph of spiritual ideals over bodily

desires and aim at the reclama tion of a paradise lost. At the early stage of

Christianity, the concept of imitatio Christi is not only based on Christ himself

being a virgin (and thus his followers should also be virgins) but also

extended “to include those who had been sexually active but now chose to

abstain” ; m ore importantly, such a status “is actually a reversion of the fateful

division of humankind into sexually active males and females after the Fall,

which started with the creation of Eve from Adam” (Drijvers 9607). Therefore,

the life of a virgin is “described as becoming children who do not yet know

sexual shame” and “characterized as angelical life ( bios aggelikos )” (Drijvers

9608) . A life of sexual innocence may also reflect “a present experience of

future life in the kingdom of heaven” (Camelot 547).

The dogma of Mary ‟s virginity in the Christian tradition include s three

major notion s: “the virginal conception of Jesus by Mary without any human

father, the virginal birth of the child from the womb of His mother without

injury to the bodily integrity of Mary, and Mary‟s observance of virginity

afterward throughout her earthly life” (Owens and Jelly 532). These notions

testify to the principal ideas of virginity from the Christian perspective:

asexual life, physical integrity, a nd marital chastity. As P. T. Camelot

maintains , “Moral theology distinguishes a triple element in virginity:

physical integrity; the absence of all voluntary and complete venereal pleasure

in the past; and, as regards the future, a determination to abstai n perpetually

from such pleasure” (546). Therefore, the virginity of Mary probably exerts a

more profound influence than Christ‟s virginity does on the Western concept

of virginity. As Edward Gibbon points out in History of the Decline and Fall

of the Roma n Empire :

One of the most subtile disputants of the Manichaean school

has pressed the danger and indecency of supposing, that the

God of the Christians, in the state of a human foetus, emerged

at the end of nine months from a female womb. The pious

horror of his antagonists provoked them to disclaim all sensual

circumstances of conception and delivery; to maintain that the The Concept of Virginity 83

divinity passed through Mary like a sunbeam through a plate of

glass; and to assert, that the seal of her virginity remained

unbroken ev en at the moment when she became the mother of

Christ. (Ch. 47, pt. 1)

Consequently, Mary ‟s bodily integrity has become as important as her

spiritual virginity in order to meet the corresponding holiness of Christ ‟s

physical virginity.

The actualization of the concept of virginity in its extreme form is

manifested in the monastic life and religious celibacy. 5 Asexual cohabitation

is first practiced in the monastery where monks and virgins used to live

together, only to be segregated later for disciplinary c onsideration s. However,

such an asexual life can be observed not only by virgins who wish to keep

their bodily integrity but also by those who, in spite of “accidental and

involuntary loss of physical integrity” still has their virginity “which is most

ess entially in the will, intact” (Camelot 546). Such an emphasis on the moral

or spiritual aspect of virginity will stimulate some heated debates.

The Socio -cultural Perspective

From an anthropological or socio -cultural perspective, the concept of

virginity assumes a much wider significance than the Greco -Roman and

Christian conceptions do . Such a concept has been extended from a personal

will to a socio -cultural real ity, endowed with patriarchal values and cultural

coded references . At the personal level, “A virgin‟s chastity foretold its own

fulfilment at the next, married, stage of life in harmonious domesticity and the

production of legitimate offspring” (Cooper 1558). At the social level, a young

woman ‟s virginity may symbol ize familial or even communal ho nor. 6

Moreover, female virginity also involves monetary and practical concern s. As

5 These mainly Catholic noti ons of virginity are severely attacked by some Protestant reformers. As Stephen Hause and William Maltby point out, “Beginning with Luther and Zwingli, they rejected the ideal of clerical celibacy and declared that a Christian marriage was the ideal basis for a godly life. They specifically attacked medieval writings that either condemned women as temptresses or extolled virginity as the highest of female callings, and drew attractive and sentimental portraits of the virtuous wife” (269). However, as manife sted in various forms of eighteenth -century English literature, such a liberal notion of virginity seems not persuasive and pervasive in both fictional and real lives. 6 A young girl ‟s virginity may become a symbol of the whole group to which she belong s as in some parts of India , and the chief ‟s daughter ‟s virginity may even signify “the integrity of the whole society” as in some Pacific islands (Drijvers 9607) . Though not so excessive in its applications, the Western concept of virginity is not much diff erent in its implication s. 84 Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture ．Vol 3.2．June 2010

Jon P. Mitchell argues, “Shame is directly related to honour, in that a reduction

of the shame of a household‟s women becomes a direct reflection on the honour

of its men. T he man whose wife is adulterous, or who fails to demonstrate the

virginity of his new b ride, is dishonoured” (424). The monetary consideration

is also manifest in the Bible : “And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed,

and lie with her, he shall sure ly endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly

refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of

virgins” ( King James Version, Exod. 16 -17). Sometimes, a betrothed young

woman who loses her virginity is even punished by death: “ If a damsel that is

a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie

with her; Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye

shall stone them with stones that they die” (Deut . 22 -24 ). However, if the

you ng woman is violated against her will in the field, only the ravished (i.e.

the victim) will be put to death. Eventually, t he concept of virginity (and its

connotations of integrity and sanctity) is even elevated from the personal and

social level s to the national one , as symbolized by Elizabeth I, the Virgin

Queen, in England and Joan of Arc, “la Pucelle,” in France. 7

The perceived value of virginity thus leads to a wide range of euphuis tic

and coded references in literature. For instance, s everal flowers are associated

with virginity. The lily is used by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser, Pope, and

Blake to represent virginity because of its white color and supposed purity ;

the (white) rose and the violet also symbolize virginity owing to their purity

and swee t perfume. 8 Consequently, the term defloration indicates both

masculine dominance and feminine subjection as well as sexual conflict s. The

act of defloration is sometimes even regarded as the privilege of the patriarch. 9

7 Elizabeth I ‟s virginity has always been an issue of intense debate. As Asimov observes, “Non -marriage need not necessarily be equated with virginity, of course, and Elizabeth had had several favorites (including the Earl of Ess ex at the time the play [Shakespeare ‟s A Midsummer Night ‟s Dream] was written) but her subjects accepted her virginity as fact . . . . As the years passed and she grew too old to have children anyway, the best had to be made of it, and Elizabeth's reputed v irginity became a source of pride” (33) . Joan of Arc ‟s virginity is an essential warranty of her divine power. As Deborah A. Fraioli remarks, “Before placing faith in her, Charles subjected her to a formal examination by theologians, which included a test of her virginity” ; and “her virginity, in fact, had to be verified by, among others, the dauphin‟s mother -in-law, Yolanda of Aragon, to eliminate the possibility of sorcery” (80, 98). 8 Sigmund Freud also raises an interesting issue concerning the associa tion of the violet with virginity. As he explains in The Interpretation of Dreams, “The dream had made use of the great chance similarity between the words „violet ‟ and „violate ‟—the difference in their pronunciation lies merely in the different stress upo n their final syllables —in order to express „in the language of flowers ‟ the dreamer ‟s thoughts on the violence of defloration (another term that employs flower symbolism) and possibl y also a masochistic trait in her character ” (495 ). 9 Wolfgang Amadeus M ozart ‟s The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro , 1786) provides a famous The Concept of Virginity 85

As Nancy J. Chodorow points out,

In “The Taboo of Virginity,” Freud suggests that women other

than mothers, vengeful recently deflorated ex -virgins, might

castrate a man or take his penis. In the ex -virgins‟ case, this

would be in revenge for their painful defloration. Therefore, in

many cu ltures, the custom is jus primae noctis : the right of

strong, powerful, older men to perform a bride's defloration.

(242 -43)

Therefore, the concept of virginity is not simply limited to a woman ‟s purity

and honor , but it also engage s gender power and sexua l con tests , as pointed

out by Simone de Bea uvoir‟s virginity myths, “in which virginity is prized in

young women but feared as unmastered sexuality in older women” (Fallaize

89). Virginity thus embodies inherent contradictions: it is to be praised or

conde mned according to different contexts.

Literary Representations

In eighteenth -century English literature, the usage of the term virginity

generally falls into three broad categories: mockery/disparagement,

morality/religio n, and merchandise/transaction. How ever, these allotments are

not necessar ily mutually exclusive and often reflect certain aspects of

patriarchal ideology. Such divisions also reveal more or less the legacy and

influence of the concept of virginity in the Western civilizations before the

eighteenth century.

As Butt of Mockery or Disparagement

In its crudest sense, the idea of virginity in a woman echoes certain

conventional idea of „ rien qu’une merde sur une pelle ‟ (nothing but shit on a

shovel), as mentioned earlier. Under such circumstance s, virginity is taken

lightly and treated as butt of joke or disparagement. Sexual discrimination

against unmarried women often accompanies such attitude. Horace Walpole in

a letter to Hannah More (1787) writes, “You fancied that Mrs. Yearsley was a

spurio us issue of a muse; and to be sure, with all their immortal virginity, the

example. Count Almaviva ‟s hope to retain droit du seigneur (the lord ‟s right) not only underscores his patristic attitude virginity but also causes a class war between him and his resourceful and subversive valet, Figaro. 86 Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture ．Vol 3.2．June 2010

parish of Parnassus has been sadly charged with their bantlings; and, as

nobody knows the fathers, no wonder some of the misses have turned out

woful reprobates!” (Letter 306). 10 Suc h a harsh criticism reflects common

prejudice against female intellectuality and pokes fun at unmarried women

writers. The generally positive adjective immortal becomes a term of derision

or derogation, ubiquitous in similar contexts. In The Journal to Ste lla ,

Jonathan Swift mentions the death of an old gentlewoman, who in her will

requests the parson, the clerk, and all the pallbearers (eight men and eight

maids) to take “their oaths of virginity ”; as a result, “the poor woman still lies

unburied, and so m ust do till the general resurrection ” (Letter 19). When

Grizzle Pickle (Peregrine ‟s aunt) in Tobias Smollett ‟s Adventures of Peregrine

Pickle finds

her importance in the family greatly diminished, her attractions

neglected by all the male sex in the neigh bourhood, and the

withering hand of time hang threatening over her head, [she]

began to feel the horror of eternal virginity, and, in a sort of

desperation, resolved at any rate to rescue herself from that

reproachful and uncomfortable situation . (22)

In t hese contexts, virginity is no longer an asset but a negative attribute one

might be ashamed of.

Such ridicule of a (potential) spinster, feeling “the horror of eternal

virginity ” and seeking desperately a husband, is quite common in

eighteenth -century li terary works. Lady Wishfort ‟s craze for a husband makes

her an easy victim to fortune -hunters in William Congreve ‟s The Way of the

World . Young and romantic Lydia Languish laments in fear in Richard Brinsley

Sheridan ‟s The Rivals : “O, that I should live to hear myself called Spinster! ”

(V.i.471). In a rather sympathetic discussion of women‟s condition in The

Rambler 39 (1730), Samuel Johnson states succinctly women‟s ambivalent

attitude s towards marriage : “Unblest, still doom ‟d to wed with misery” (251).

Be cause of the common attitude “to treat old maids as the refuse of the

world,” marriage, though depriving women of many advantages and often

10 “Ann Yearsley [1752 -1806] , known also as „Lactilla‟ or „the Poetical Milkwoman of Bristol ,‟ was one of a small number of successful eighteenth -century working -class writers. Her contribution to the anti -slavery d ebate was a celebrated poem, „A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave -Trade,‟ which appeared in 1788” (Carey, “Ann Yearsley ”). The Concept of Virginity 87

“forced upon them by authority or violence, by persuasion or importunity,”

can provide them “a certain security from the reproach and solicitude of

antiquated virginity” (253). Simone de Beauvoir ‟s virginity myths, in which

virginity in old women would become “unmastered sexuality, ” evidently

reflect these disparaging opinions, as shown by the apparently respectful but

actually derogatory “immortal,” “eternal,” or “ antiquated .”

Likewise, a Miss Notable in Sarah Fielding ‟s novel The Cry: A New

Dramatic Fable (1754, written with Jane Collier) equates virginity with

female unattractive ness: “I would venture a good wager . . . that Potiphar‟s

wife [who tries to seduce Joseph] was about as handsome as my maiden aunt;

for indeed, that is the only circumstance which in my opinion can make that

old story probable. And it is the fate I believe of all ugly women . . . to meet

with nothing but chaste and innocent men” (68) . Therefore, whether it is Mrs.

Slipslop in Joseph Andrews , “who having made a small Slip in her Youth had

continued a good Maid ever since ” (Fielding 26), or Mrs. Grizzle in Per egrine

Pickle , whose very wan comple xion “ was the effects of her virginity and

mortification” (3), virginity has become a burden to be relieved and an object

of nasty derision . Even when the old abbess of Andoüillets cries out in fear of

being raped — “O my virginity! Virginity! ” (7.23) — in Lau rence Sterne‟ s

Tristram Shandy , the reader may not feel alarmed sympathetic ally but may

react with a wry smile. Since the “immortal ” or “eternal ” virginity in some

cases is equated to the undesirable in the male -dominated sexual world, the

loss of virgini ty sometimes ironically paves the way for female liberation. 11

In Francis Coventry ‟s The History of Pompey the Little , the heroine gains a

new life after her husband ‟s death: “She now began the world anew on her

own foundation, and set sail down the stream of pleasure, without the fears of

virginity to check her, or the influence of a husband to controul her” (42).

Among the pervasively negative attitudes towards female virginity, a silver

lining becomes paradoxically all the more radiant in the last case.

11 Though from a different perspective, the Wife of Bath ‟s unorthodox and cynical view on sexual organs in Geoffrey Chaucer ‟s Canter bury Tales on sexual organs perhaps corresponds quite well to such a liberal attitude toward virginity:

Telle me also, to what conclusion Were membres maad of generacion, . . . Glose whoso wole, and seye bothe up and doun That they were maked for purgaciou n Of uryne, and oure bothe thynges smale Were eek to knowe a femele from a male, And for noon other cause —say ye no ? (115 -16, 119 -23) 88 Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture ．Vol 3.2．June 2010

As Moral Criterion or Religious Conviction

At the other extreme of the spectrum, the idea of virginity is regarded as

moral standard or religious faith, based mainly on the Greco -Roman tradition

of the Virgin Goddesses and the Christian idea of the Virgin Mary. Virginity is

considered holy or sacred, something worth the sacrifice of one ‟s life. In

Hannah Woolley ‟s The Gentlewoman ’s Companion: or, A Guide to the Female

Sex , female virginity is of paramount importance. She mentions how “seven

Milesian Virgins . . . deprived themselves of life, lest hostile force should

deprive them of their honour” and, as a contrast, how two maidens in Leucra,

in their father ‟s absence , entertain two young men and are made drunk and

deflowered. They “in the next morning conce iving a mutual sorrow for their

lost Virginity, became resolute Actors in their bloody Tragedy ” (101). In a

story by Joseph Addison in The Coverley Papers , the concept of pre -marital

virginity is extended to post -marital chastity. After the death of her hu sband,

Glaphyra is soon married to his brother. When she tries to embrace her first

husband in a dream, he repels and scolds her: “Was not I the husband of thy

virginity? Have I not children by thee? How couldst thou forget our loves so

far as to enter int o a second marriage, and after that into a third, nay to take

for thy husband a man who has so shamefully crept into the bed of his

brother?” (No. 110). Glaphyra suffers from the shock and dies not long after

this nightmarish experience. Though Addison tri es to use the story to prove

the immortality of the soul, the idea of virginity as something for sole

possession is too prominent to be ignored.

Similarly, a young girl ‟s virginity may represent not only a family asset

(“a willing victim at the altar ”) bu t also a sacrifice for a divine purpose.

According to such a strict conception of virginity, Edward Gibbon raises “a

nice question of casuistry ” about the loss of one ‟s virginity in History of the

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire : “ Whether those tender victims, who

had inflexibly refused their consent to the violation which they sustained, had

lost, by their misfortune, the glorious crown of virginity” (Ch. 31, pt. 4). In

other words, there should be some distinctions between moral and physical

virginit y. Samuel Richardson ‟s Clarissa brings such an issue to a climatic

discussion in making the eponymous heroine determine d to die after being

raped by Robert Lovelace. Quoting from Ecclesiasticus , with his own added

comments (in italics), John Harlowe (Clari ssa ‟s uncle) points out the moral

danger the whole family will be exposed to because of a dishonored daughter: The Concept of Virginity 89

In her virginity, lest she should be defiled, and gotten with child

in her father ‟s house ( and I don ’t make the words, mind that ). . . .

Keep a s ure watch over a shameless daughter (yet no watch

could hold you! ), lest she make thee a laughing stock to thine

enemies (as you have made us all to this cursed Lovelace ), and

a byword in the city, and a reproach among the people, and

make thee ashamed bef ore the multitude. (1196)

The loss of virginity not only causes personal destruction but also brings

public shame on the family. However, as Gibbon mentions, the forced loss of

virginity in a woman is not considered loss of moral virginity from a religious

or spiritual standpoint . John Belford ‟s high praise of Clarissa after her

ravishment serves as a clear contrast both to the Harlowe family‟ s bitter

reproach and to the rakes ‟ moral degeneration. As he writes to Lovelace,

What woman, nice in her person, an d of purity in her mind and

manners, did she know what miry wallowers the generality of

men of our class are in themselves, and constantly trough and

sty with, but would detest the thoughts of associating with such

filthy sensualists, whose favourite taste carries them to mingle

with the dregs of stews, brothels, and common -sewers? (1393)

Interestingly, most occurrences of the term purity in the novel are associated

with Clarissa ‟s attributes and personality. The loss of physical virginity, in

Richardson ‟s opinion, is certainly not equal to one ‟s moral dishonor . Such a

view is echoed almost 150 years later by Thomas Hardy in his choice of A

Pure Woman as the subtitle of Tess of the d ’Urbervilles , in which the titular

heroine also suffers from a similar traum atic experience.

As Merchandise for Sale

Virginity as a merchandise to be preserved or displayed for the highest

bid has seen common representations in various forms of literature in the

eighteenth century. This idea stipulates that the loss of virginity c an be

compensated materially (e.g. by monetary payment), as mentioned earlier

from the examples in the Bible , and virginity can also be regarded as

valuables to be transacted commercially. As Gibbon points out, “the reward of

virginity [for the Lombards] m ight equal the fourth part of the husband ‟s 90 Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture ．Vol 3.2．June 2010

substance. Some cautious maidens, indeed were wise enough to stipulate

beforehand a present, which they were too sure of not deserving. ”12 In Aphra

Behn ‟s The Unfortunate Happy Lady: A True History , Gracelove conf esses to

Philadelphia, “the intended Victim ”: “Don ‟t you know then, that you are in a

naughty House, and that old Beldam is a rank Procuress, to whom I am to

give Two hundred Guineas for your Maidenhead? ” (38). In both cases, a price

is set for virginity i n a blunt and straightforward way. In a circuitous manner ,

Samuel Richardson ‟s Pamela also keeps her virginity as the greatest asset in

the marriage market, and such value systems are severely attacked by Henry

Fielding in his hilarious and sarcastic Shame la (a pun on the heroine ‟s name

with both shame and sham). Fielding makes Shamela confess on her wedding

night : “I behaved with as much Bashfulness as the purest Virgin in the World

could have done. The most difficult Task for me was to blush; however, by

holding my Breath, and squeezing my Cheeks with my Handkerchief, I did

pretty well” (297). Virginity is too important an asset to be slighted whether

one still possesses it or not.

However, the concept of virginity with its added value in the marketplace

is nowhere so prominent as in John Cleland ‟s Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a

Woman of Pleasure , a classical erotic novel which simultaneously flaunts and

flouts the concept of virginity. The first appearance of the term virginity in

Fanny Hill is not concerned with moral integrity or personal modesty but with

its market value. As Fanny tells the reader, Mother Brown has demanded from

a “liquorish old goat ” “fifty guineas peremptory for the liberty of attempting

me, and a hundred more at the complete gratificati on of his desires, in the

triumph over my virginity ” (33). A down payment has to be made before the

actual exchange of merchandise. Virginity also becomes, paradoxically, “that

darling treasure, that hidden mine so eagerly sought after by the men, and

whic h they never dig for, but to destroy ” (58). Therefore, as a marketing

strategy, Mrs. Brown has to keep Fanny from the “customers ” until she, as

Fanny candidly confesses, “had secured a good market for my maidenhead,

which I had at least all the appearances having brought into her Ladyship ‟s

service ” (24 -25). Even before the actual transaction, she has to be displayed

for inspection and assessment. As Fanny reflects, Mrs. Brown

12 This comment appears at Footnote 136 (compiled by R ev. H. H. Milman) of Chapter 31, Part 5 of the Gutenberg Project edi tion of Gibbon ‟s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire . The Concept of Virginity 91

had already a chapman for me in the house, before whom my

charms were to pass in review; for he had not only, in course,

insisted on a previous sight of the premises, but also on

immediate surrender to him, in case of his agreeing for me;

concluding very wisely that such a place as I was in was of the

hottest to trust the keeping of s uch a perishable commodity in

as a maidenhead . (29)

This episode not only dramatizes vividly virginity as a commodity on the

seamy side of society but also its fragile and irreversible nature. Though in a

more elegant and sophisticated way, Pamela ‟s “virtu e” (virginity in a

euphuistic sense) is “rewarded ” by her marriage to Mr. B — , such a practice is

not unlike Cleland ‟s blunt presentation of virginity as goods. Not surprisingly,

in the bourgeois society, the family fortune and “honor ” often depend upon

the daughter ‟s preservation of her virginity.

Because of the perishable nature of such a delicate commodity in the

business (marriage of convenience or sexual trade), some measures are

necessary to keep it perfectly intact or to preserve its appearance at lea st if lost.

(The upper classes prefer convent education owing to its provision of a

secluded environment from external temptations.) Therefore, just like the

dishonest traders ‟ repackaging of old merchandise as new product, Fanny Hill

unabashed ly flaunts w ith her false virginity. P hrases like “ my pretences to

virginity ” (59), “a fictitious maidenhead ” (116), “my titular maidenhead ”

(121), “a counterfeit maidenhead ” (154), “the appearance of my virginity ”

(160), “a false virtue ” (160), or “the signs of my vi rginity ” (164) are used

forthright throughout the novel, not unlike the scandalous narratives of

misdemeanors and crimes in Daniel Defoe ‟s Moll Flanders or Henry

Fielding ‟s Jonathan Wild . Moreover, if deception, trick, or stratagem is

allowed in political maneuvers or commercial exchanges, it is also legitimate

for a vulnerable woman to resort to whatever resources she can have for her

day -to-day survival and economic gains. 13 To be a part of the game of male

13 What Derek Pearsall says about Wife of Bath ‟s exploitation of her first th ree husbands in The Canterbury Tales can also be applied to the discussion of women ‟s underprivileged conditions in the economic world. As he maintains, “the nature of her first three marriages, to rich old men, is such as to suggest that she is not so much preying upon men as using those powers that she has in order to win herself a meas ure of independence in a world that is unfair to her sex ” and it is not difficult for us “to recogni se a certain rough legitimacy in the way the Wife has turned the economic tables on her would -be exploiters ” (73). Fanny Hill ‟s deceitful measures are not m uch different from the Wife of Bath‟ s stratagems. 92 Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture ．Vol 3.2．June 2010

fantasy or heroic adventure, a young woman needs only to play up to her role

correspondingly. Therefore, Fanny dismisses the idea of virginity

contemptuously, “all my looks and gestures ever breath [e] nothing but that

innocence which the men so ardently require in us, for no other end than to

feast thems elves with the pleasures of destroying it, and which they are so

grievously, with all their skill, subject to mistakes in” (159). As Bradford

Mudge maintains,

The generous Mrs. Cole proposes a lucrative deception: the sale

of Fanny‟s „„fictitious maidenhea d‟‟ to one „„Mr. Norbert,‟‟ a

slightly dissipated young man of fertile imagination for whom

female chastity is the Holy Grail of sexual fetishes. . . .

Norbert‟s fantasy is, according to Fanny, entirely solipsistic. His

adoration of innocence has less to d o with women than with his

own need to be the conquering hero, the all powerful ravisher of

virgins and othe r defenseless creatures. (250 -51)

In such contexts, the concept of virginity merely serves as an ideal of male

fantasy. Though such idealization of female virginity occurs in a crude form

of commercial exchange in the sex trade, it is not much different from the

association of female virginity with euphemistic and coded references to the

purity of lily, rose, and violet in literary works.

Con clusion 14

Voltaire once said, “It is an infantile su perstition of the human spirit that

virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance

from knowledge.” Such a materialistic view, though regardless of its spiritual

connotations, perh aps rings true in the modern society. Virginity becomes

more and more a mere physical attribute and might prove a hindrance to

female liberation. Therefore, the idea expressed by the heroine in Francis

Coventry ‟s History of Pompey the Little (1751) — “withou t the fears of virginity

to check her” — presents an antedated version of the pop singer Madonna ‟s

bold declaration that “I always thought of losing my virginity as a career move.”

From such a perspective, the loss of virginity constitutes a rite of passage

14 All quotes about virginity in this conclusion, unless otherwise noted, are taken from Thinkexist. com. The Concept of Virginity 93

through which women can not only get rid of the old shackles but also reach

self -actualization. However, the emphasis on the concept of virginity throughout

the Western history also leads to a cynical attitude that is aptly expressed by

Gerald Barzen: “Vir ginity for some women is the only virtue .” Finally, as the

Austrian writer and journalist Karl Kraus maintains, “Virginity is the ideal of

those who want to deflower .” Whether it is eulogized metaphorically in relation

to various flowers in literary works for their imaginary purity or preserved

idealistically as a “Holy Grail ” for male fantasy and adventure, the concept of

virginity in the eighteenth -century English literature records genuinely and

dialectically a history of female experiential memory. 94 Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture ．Vol 3.2．June 2010

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