The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox Ramsay | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Charlotte Ramsay was a Scottish-English novelist, playwright, and poet who was born in 1729 and died in 1804. She was a contemporary author associated with other notable authors of the time, including Samuel Johnson, Henry Fielding, and others. During her career, she was a prominent and popular writer. She is known for her novel The Female Quixote which was published in 1752. The full title of the novel was The Female Quixote or The Adventures of Arabella. Ramsay was inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ work, Don Quixote. Ramsay’s work was considered to be a discourse as well as an impersonation of Cervantes’ book. The Female Quixote is regarded as an investigation of Cervantes’ optimism and a valuation of his humor and his incongruity. Although The Female Quixote has been popularly read as a parody of historical romances, it was by a long shot the most mainstream and continuing of its kind.

Characters of The Female Quixote:

Arabella is the major character and heroin of the novel. She is the daughter of a disillusioned widowed nobleman. Her mother died during her pregnancy and her father raised her up in his castle. Being a motherless child with a delusional father coping with the loss of his wife, Arabella spends her secluded childhood and teenage while reading reading the books of her dead mother which are ‘badly translated French romances.’ While these books were mere entertainment for her mother, Arabella learns from them and creates an idea of the world and how to behave in the world. She is also influenced by Cassandra and Pharamond to dictate the terms of her marriage. Arabella holds the Melisintha (of Pharamond) of La Calprenède as a model woman. She also learns the Roman history and takes inspiration from Cloelia (Clelie), the legendary woman from Ancient Rome. Sir Charles Glanville is her cousin who is a young rational person. He cares for Arabella loves her and treats her patiently. Sir George Bellmour is a friend of Sir Charles. Like Arabella, Sir George too loves to read romances gluttonously and tries to imitate them by being a false knight. Countess Charlotte is the elder sister of Sir George Bellamour. She is a sane intelligent person who tries to help Arabella come out of her fantasies and understand the real world. The Doctor is an educated well-meaning person who realises the delusions of Arabella and explains to her the difference between literature and reality.

Summary of The Female Quixote:

Arabella’s mother was a beautiful woman who was married to an English nobleman. She was an avid reader and used to read romantic French novels. During her pregnancy, she suffered some issues and died while giving birth to her daughter. Her husband was deeply shocked and sad by her death and lost interest in life. However, he had the responsibility of his daughter whom he named Arabella. She is brought up by her widowed father in a remote castle in England. Arabella’s life is governed by the semi-historical seventeenth-century French romances which constitute ‘history’ for her. She doesn’t understand the difference between history and fiction. Arabella’s retreat into the world of historical French romances influences her perception of ‘truth’ and ‘reality.’ Arabella, being the daughter of a disillusioned marquis leads a secluded life in her father’s estate which is far away from the actuality of the world, and therefore, has a poor idea of the reality of an English society. She grows up reading the books of her dead mother which are ‘badly translated French romances.’ Her interpretations of the books that she reads can be understood as her reaction to the submissive and passive lifestyle in her father’s estate. Much similar to her mother, Arabella reads these books to pass her time, but unlike her mother, Arabella creates an ‘alternate reality’ for herself by withdrawing into the world of these romances. She also read Ancient history and models her behavior based on women like Statira, Thalestris, Cleopatra, and Media.

The romances that Arabella reads are replete with the chivalric codes of conduct and these goals progress towards becoming Arabella’s own.

As she grows old, her delusions continue to become stronger. As her father grows old, he decides to marry her to her cousin Sir Glanville. Arabella responds with indignation to her father’s statement. She refuses to marry her cousin against her will, but promises at least to make an effort to accept Mr. Glanville and see where circumstances are taking her. But, Mr. Glanville proves to make her unhappy with his misunderstanding of romance conventions. This causes Arabella to ‘banish’ him, and he actually leaves the estate, which sends Arabella’s father to a state of fury because his patriarchal authority is challenged and thwarted. Arabella raises valid questions, Why should she marry someone based merely on relationships? Mr. Glanville has not done anything to deserve her love. These seem like perfectly fair and reasonable oppositions to her father’s design, and perhaps he realizes this.

He declares that she would lose part of her estate if she did not marry her cousin Glanville. Arabella believes that the more miserable and wretched a male suitor is, the better he proves himself worthy to perhaps eventually kiss his beloved’s hand. In the meantime, anything less than at least ten years of devoted service, in which either he kills thousands of enemies for her sake, or lives in a pastoral, hermitic retreat, is considered insufficient. Sir Glanville loves Arabella but is not ready to fulfill her demands which he assumes preposterous. Glanville’s sister Charlotte tries to reason with Arabella pointing out, rather inconveniently, that ten years of service will make both parties “old” when they finally begin courting; Arabella responds with horror and disgust at Miss Glanville’s vulgarity, since of course the consequences of the passage of time are never dwelt upon in heroic romance.

She rejects Glanville’s advances and requests him to leave the manor. Additionally, she commands Mr. Glanville to keep a conscious and respectful distance from her for a while. Arabella has an absolute belief in her own righteousness. She berates a man for his insolence in following her, and the equally strong belief, in the society in which she lives, that women simply do not have a right to privacy. Meanwhile, Glanville’s friend, Sir George Bellmour meets Arabella and finds her interesting and pursues her. He attempts to court her in the same chivalric language and high-flown style as in the novels. Arabella makes him suffer to extremes but directs Sir George, who plays alongside Arabella’s extravaganza, to live as well.

One day, while walking alone, she is stalked by some horsemen whom she mistakes as ravishers. Imitating Clelie, she throws herself into the Thames in an attempt to flee from horsemen. She is later saved by the same horsemen but this leads to Arabella falling ill, upon which a doctor is called to take care of her. It is then that the doctor learns of Arabella's delusions concerning romance, and explains to her the difference between literature and reality. As a result, she finally decides to accept Glanville's hand in marriage.
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