Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress by Daniel Defoe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress,' is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in the year 1724. After Moll Flanders, it was the second novel by Defoe in which he raised the issue of a woman’s right as an individual and criticized the British society of the 18th century. The individual liberty of a woman is a major theme of the novel that also deals with the obligations of motherhood. Earlier, playwright George Farquhar raised the issue of the possibility of eighteenth-century women owning their own estate despite living in a patriarchal society in his Restoration Comedy The Beaux Stratagem (1707). John Vanbrugh too raised issues of women’s rights in his plays. Defoe’s novel can be considered a proto-feminist novel because it was written much before a feminist ideology was fully formed.

Characters of Roxana:

Roxana is the titular character and narrator of the novel. Roxana isn’t her real name but an alias that she acquired when she became a wealthy courtesan of London. It is implied that her birthname is Susan (though it is not clear). She is a beautiful woman belonging to a well-to-do family. She gets married to a rich man who loses all his money and leaves Roxana penniless. She legally marries twice and gives birth to 11 children. The Brewer is Roxana’s first husband who is a handsome and charming man, but he is also spoiled, selfish, and foolish. He recklessly spends the family's money, leaving them destitute, and then disappears. The Landlord is a merchant and jeweler who owns the house where Roxana used to live with her husband. After her husband runs away, she fails to pay the rent. The landlord tries to help Roxana but also shows his sexual interest in her. Amy is a trusted maidservant of Roxana who is very loyal to her. Amy is a clever and cunning young woman with a deceptive and cruel mind but she maintains her loyalty towards Roxana. The Prince is a German married aristocrat who develops an affair with Roxana. He lavishly spends money on Roxana and continues his relationship with her for 8 years. After his wife’s untimely death, he starts feeling guilty and decides to end his relationship with Roxana. The Dutch Merchant is a Dutch native working in Paris, France as a merchant. After the prince leaves Roxana, the Dutch merchant helps her in transferring her assets from France to England. They develop a steamy relationship and ultimately, he becomes the second legal husband of Roxana. The Quakeress is a resident of London belonging to a religious minority, She owns a house and rents parts of the house to the needy. Roxana decides to lead a modest life and settles in the house of the Quakeress at rent. The Quakeress becomes her friend and though she never asks about Roxana’s past, she does help her in avoiding her secret identity to be discovered by Susan. Susan is Roxana’s daughter from her first marriage. She is either the youngest daughter of Roxana, or the eldest. After her father ran away, Roxana managed to send her to her uncle and aunt’s house for safekeeping. Eventually, she became a maidservant while Roxana left her children to make her own independent life. Later on, when Roxana tried to look for her children whom she had left at different times with the help of Amy, Amy came to know that Susan, the daughter of Roxana is working as a servant in Roxana’s house itself.

Summary of Roxana:

The novel begins as the narrator introduces herself. Her parents were British Catholics who ran away to France due to religious persecution where her mother gave birth to Roxana. Her birthname was Susan and her parents were rich enough to raise their kids in affluence. She also had a younger brother. The family returned to England and at the age of 15, Roxana was married to the son of a wealthy brewer. Roxana and her husband had five sons (two sons, and three daughters). While her husband was a handsome and charming man, he had some bad habits and lacked financial acumen. As a result, he continued to make big losses at his business. Considering Roxana’s relationship with her husband, her father trusted some money for her with her younger brother. However, just like her husband, her brother too was a financially careless man, who eventually loses all of his money, goes bankrupt, and goes to prison. Meanwhile, her husband too continues to make big losses, and one day, about seven years after their marriage, he vanishes and leaves Roxana and their kids destitute with no way to provide for herself, or her children. Her brother already had wasted all the money her father had saved for her bad times. At such a difficult time, Amy, Roxana’s maidservant stands by her as a loyal pillar and suggests she give up her children with her husband’s relatives. Roxana agrees but realizes that none of the relatives of her husband is willing to take responsibility for the five kids. Amy forces the children's paternal aunt and uncle to reluctantly assume responsibility for the children. The landlord of the house where Roxana used to live with her family asks for the rent but she had no money to pay the rent. Amy notices that the landlord is interested in Roxana. Amy suggests that Roxana may remarry the landlord. However, after her bitter experiences with the first marriage, Roxana is not willing to marry again. Amy persuades Roxana to become the landlord’s mistress while he will take care of her financial needs. Roxana is unwilling to indulge in such a relationship but the landlord promises her to treat well and respect her as his wife. He also signs a contract providing her with money upon his death. Roxana then agrees and becomes his mistress. The landlord asks her why she denied marrying him to which she says, “I thought a woman was a free agent as well as a man, and was born free, and, could she manage herself suitably, might enjoy that liberty to as much purpose as the men do… that the very nature of the marriage contract was, in short, nothing but giving up liberty, estate, authority, and everything to the man, and the woman was indeed a mere woman ever after—that is to say, a slave.” The comparison of a wife to a slave is a simile that creates a driving connotation to reveal the severity of Roxana’s beliefs on marriage. As a slave is subjected to every command of his or her master, a wife in the eighteenth century is a marionette to the husband: her actions and beliefs must be in line with his desire. The landlord then counterargues and says that he will grant her complete control over her property. Roxana then says that after marriage, the property will no longer legally be her own. Though the husband may allow the wife to act as the manager of the property, she will be forced to administer according to the husband’s instructions. The landlord then accepts her argument.

They continue to enjoy their time together but one day, Amy teases her of sleeping with a man she is not married to and compares her with a courtesan or a whore. Roxana gets irritated and forces Amy to sleep with the landlord. As a result, Amy becomes pregnant and gives birth to a girl child. Roxana takes financial responsibility for her child. Meanwhile, Roxana too gives birth to a daughter who dies shortly after her birth. Roxana again becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son. To manage his jewel business, the landlord plans to visit France and Roxana suggests he take her with him as France was her birthplace to which the landlord agrees. They leave their son and house under the care of Amy. While spending their time in France, Roxana feels that something bad is about to happen and insists that the landlord must all of his valuables (including some jewels) with her. The landlord agrees and when he goes out for some business, he is attacked by some robbers who kill him. After the landlord’s murder, Roxana pretends that all his money and precious jewels were robbed by the robbers and keeps them for herself. She also manages to get a big part of the Jewel merchant’s estate in France and becomes a very rich woman. She then writes a letter to Amy and instructs her to join her in France. During her time in France, she meets a German aristocrat who falls in love with her. Though the German prince is already married, he develops a relationship with Roxana who becomes his mistress. The Prince lavishly spends money on Roxana and takes her on a trip to Italy where he buys Turkish garments for her. After returning to France with the Prince, Roxana accidentally meets her first husband, the brewer who is now working as a soldier in the French army. Though Roxana recognizes him, he fails to recognize her and then Roxana manages to avoid him detecting her real identity. Roxana continues to be a mistress of the Prince for eight years during which she gives birth to his three sons. One of their sons dies but two sons survive. Meanwhile, the wife of the German prince gets ill and dies. This renders the Prince very sad and repentant. He remembers how virtuous his wife was while he continued to waste his life pursuing carnal pleasures. Feeling guilty, he breaks his relationship with Roxana.

Roxana then decides to return to England and tries to liquidate all the jewels and property she owned after the death of the landlord. However, one Jewish merchant recognizes the jewels when she tries to sell them and suspects that Roxana was an accomplice of the robbers who murdered the landlord. Roxana presents herself as the widowed wife of the landlord who is being unfairly persecuted. A Dutch merchant helps her in getting rid of the charges and later on, he also helps her in liquidating her property in France while she decides to travel back to England with Amy. Roxana then decides to go to Holland while taking care of all the wealth she has amassed in France and England. The Dutch merchant visits her in Holland and helps her in managing her assets. During this period, Roxana develops an affair with the Dutch merchant and becomes pregnant. When the Dutchman comes to know about her pregnancy, he happily proposes to her to marry him but Roxana refuses to marry him. The Dutch merchant is very saddened by Roxana’s adamant behavior and tries to persuade her but she stubbornly leaves him and returns to England with all of her wealth.

In England, she settles in Pall Mall, close to Buckingham Palace with Amy and soon gives birth to her final child, the son of the Dutch merchant. Roxana continues to wisely invest her wealth in businesses while making new social relationships with wealthy successful men. Amy on the other hand, takes care of Roxana’s home and her two sons. Roxana develops affairs with many wealthy and important men and she also becomes close to the King of England during this period, she earns the name Roxana and becomes the most popular courtesan in London. However, she continues to avoid any proposal of marriage. Meanwhile, she falls in love with an old lord who ignores her beauty and doesn’t fall for her charms.

Meanwhile, she persuades Amy to find out about her children from her first marriage. Amy discovers that two of the five children of Roxana from her first marriage, one boy and one girl, have died; the other boy is working as an apprentice, and the two girls are working as servants somewhere. Amy succeeds in finding out the whereabouts of Roxana’s son and then Roxana manages to anonymously ensure a huge fund for his further education so that he can eventually be a merchant. Amy continues to try to locate the two daughters of Roxana. One day, she realizes that one of Roxana’s daughters is named Susan and she is working as a servant in Roxana’s own house. When she informs Roxana about it, Roxana gets frightened and asks Amy to do anything to avoid being detected by her daughter. Amy sends Susan away but also provides her a big amount of money so that she may get higher education.

When Susan comes to know that just like her, her brother too has got a big amount of money, she becomes suspicious and doubts that Amy is her long-lost mother who left her children. On the other hand, Roxana is too sad to know that she cannot openly meet with her children. Though she is still a popular courtesan, she realizes that she is getting old and losing her charm. Her bad experience with the old lord whom she really loved, also depresses her. She decides to give up her affluent life and goes away and starts living with a Quaker landlady at her house on rent. She leads a modest and quiet life but finds herself unable to stop thinking about the Dutch Merchant. She sends Amy to France to enquire about him. Amy goes to France to know the whereabouts of the Dutch Merchant but Roxana accidentally meets him in London as he has moved to England. The Dutch merchant still loves Roxana and wishes to marry her so that they may take care of their son as good parents. After her initial hesitation, Roxana agrees to marry the Dutch merchant. After their marriage, they plan to move to Holland and settle there. However, Susan comes to know that Amy is now living in a Quaker’s house and as she believes that Amy is her lost mother, she visits there to enquire about her. Roxana gets frightened that if the Dutch merchant came to know about her past, it will ruin their marriage. Amy tries to dissuade Susan from her search for her mother but Susan is very persistent. Amy then suggests that Roxana should hire some murderer to kill Susan to which Roxana gets shocked and refuses to do any such thing. However, After some days, Susan mysteriously vanishes and Roxana becomes convinced that Amy did in fact murder her. Roxana and the Dutch merchant settle in Holland and they expect to lead a successful married life but the novel ends with a hint that Roxana’s past continued to haunt her and she lost all of the wealth and happiness she has found for herself.

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