ay in Samantha Erickson
Melvin
English 211-02
6 December 2018
The Neoclassical Society’s Gaze
After the Renaissance – a period of exploration and expansiveness – came a reaction in the direction of order and restraint. During this time authors were expected to write within the bounds of socially constructed norms, however, many still wished to expand their perspectives and write on more progressive and controversial topics. In a Eurocentric society, those topics most commonly present themselves in commentary on slavery and racial privilege. Through the works of Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu ‘s The Turkish Embassy Letters, and Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative, the pressures of societal construct effects can be seen in the manipulation of the stores by their authors. These influences can be classified as the consequences of the “Societal Gaze”.
This period is called neoclassical because its writers looked back to the ideas and art forms of classical times, emphasizing even more than their Renaissance predecessors the classical ideals of order and rational control. Neoclassical writers saw themselves, as well as their readers and characters, as members of society. While Renaissance writers were sometimes fascinated by rebels, and later Romantic artists often glorified them, neoclassical artists expected people to conform to established social norms. For individual opinion was far less likely to be true than was the consensus of society, developed over time and embodied in custom and tradition. As the rules for proper writing should be followed, so should the rules for civilized conduct in society. The classical ideals of order and moderation which inspired this period, its realistically limited aspirations, and its emphasis on the common sense of society rather than individual imagination, could all be characterized as rational. And, indeed, it is often known as the Age of Reason. Reason had traditionally been assumed to be the highest mental faculty, but in this period many thinkers considered it a sufficient guide in all areas. All of these themes can all be coalesced into a main idea, that in the context of its effect on literature, self-described as the “Societal Gaze.” Throughout writing this can be seen most apparently in literature that focusses on cultures that are not in the European social sphere.
Although travel itself has been a human experience since the earliest times, mostly Western travelers have explored other lands, peoples, cultures, and civilizations. Actually, Europeans have traveled for many reasons such as scientific exploration, the educational grand tours especially held by the sons of the 18th century upper-class families, conquest, colonization, diplomacy, emigration, forced exile, trade, pilgrimage, and anthropological inquiry. Aphra Behn was one of the first of her kind to write for the perspective of a character that is the antithesis of who she is and her experiences. In Behn’s Oroonoko, she aims to write a narrative like no other has preceded her, challenging the construct of slavery and, without knowledge of her intentions, brought attention and sympathy to this topic otherwise accepted by society. However, it is impossible to over-look unique choices that Behn made when describing the persona that she is portraying in her narrative. Beautiful, passionate, intelligent, and noble, Oroonoko possesses every good trait that the common slave was thought not to have. However, even the colonists’ esteem of the prince is tainted because they admire his atypical qualities, or his non-blackness, “His face was not of that brown, rusty black which most of that nation are, but a perfect ebony or polished jet. His eyes were the most awful that could be seen, and very piercing, the white of ‘em being like snow, as were his teeth. His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat; his mouth the finest shaped that could be seen, far from those great turned lips which are so natural to the rest of the Negros.” (pg. 1014) Importantly, Oroonoko represents the 17th-century English ideal of non-Western beauty—that is, an impossible amalgamation of outlying physical traits representative of both Eastern and Western culture. In effect, Behn whitewashes her black hero to make him more palatable to her Western audience. Though the topmost tier of white gentility instantly accepts Oroonoko as royalty, and he never does the work of a slave, he is still not in possession of his own liberty. He is treated like nobility, but is still very much a slave, even if, as the narrator rationalizes, he’s a slave in “name only.” The fact that he waits through almost the entirety of the piece for permission to return to his home only drives home the point that being a slave “in name only” is still enough to deprive someone of his natural rights. Behn’s piece, despite its obvious alterations, was still a step in the right direction for the abolitionist movement.
These writings of uncommon ideas in the most common portrayal will continue and be masterly paralleled in The Turkish Embassy Letters by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu as she journals her travels abroad. “The Woman’s Coffee House” is one entry that is almost so contradictory that it is humorous, as the observation is made of how the nude Turkish women are stripped of their class and all worldly judgment yet then explains this behavior as one that can only be explained through traditional religious allusions. It was as though this behavior is one that is due to ignorance and innocence of the perceived unrefined culture, “I believe, upon the whole, there were two hundred women, and yet none of those disdainful smiles or satirical whispers that never fail in our assemblies when anybody appears that is not dressed exactly in fashion.” (pg. 1271) This lack of status leaves these women in stark nude, which Montagu quickly covers with the concession of modesty and the comparison to Eve and figures equal to goddesses. These contradicting allusions are where the ideas of personal observations and societal opinions face head to head and show the effects of “Societal Gaze.” Yet, these observations are made by outsiders and although Montagu has more personal experience than Behn, both are unable to give the most honest and true of opinions.
First-hand experience is the most trustworthy perspective for writing, and in The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano European readers received the true horrors of slavery and the middle passage. Although it is assumed to be an autobiography there is factual evidence that states that Equiano or "Gustavus Vassa" was born in South Carolina, however, this contradicting information does not undermine the raw message that was being catapulted into European society. "If Oroonoko taught Europeans to sympathize with Africans, Equiano taught them that a black man could speak for himself" (pg. 1386) This narrative brought to light the dirty details and truth of the life of a slave, a successful hard-working slave, but a slave none the less. There is a sad truth to this story that, for Equiano to eventual free himself from slavery he himself had to become the slaver and transport "live cargo" for his wage. The reality of the expectation in the society is to eat or be eaten, and with very little or no "Societal Gaze" this account is moving out of Neoclassical ideals and into the Romantic age tendencies.
Society in the Neoclassical time was one of strict conformation to the norms of the collective. Where outspoken opinions and monumental ideas were invalid if they were not accepted by the whole. This influence seen in many chronicles of the time can be termed “Societal Gaze” and is a prominent manipulation that can be identified as unique to this era of literature.
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