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Abigail Worden Professor Gibson Early American Literature 255 19 September 2013 A Positive Contrast of Character: the Portrayal of Charlotte and Maria in Royall Tylers The Contrast It is difficult to get an authentic sense of a womans life in early America, given that so many of their published works had to be written through the strict and modest lens of the Puritan lifestyle. Works without religious overtones and clear moral messages had little value in Puritan America, and anything of the sort would have gone unpublished or fallen into obscurity. In spite of its over-the-top characters and simplistic storyline, Royall Tylers The Contrast serves as one of the earliest and most interesting looks into a variety of opinions on women. The play implies in its own words that what it attempts is to let the audience look right into the next neighbor's house, and through stereotypical characters paints a broad brush over the lives of newl y American women. In particular, examining the contrasting personalities of Charlotte and Maria tells a great deal about the more independent women coming out of the Puritan age, and presents intriguing ideas about the changing meaning, purpose, and consequences of marriage. Tyler treats both women as well-rounded individuals despite their different lifestyles, and sets the tone for what a free, newly-American woman can be. In the very first lines of the play, Charlotte is introduced as a youthful libertine; knowingly proud of the way the eyes of men seem to follow her wherever she goes, Charlotte

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simultaneously depends on their attention and thinks of them as toys for her amusement. In her opening speech, she tells of the following evening she spent walking with one man while flirtatiously flipping her hoop skirt and revealing her foot and ankle to a crowd of others nearby. Relishing their compliments, she relates them to her friend, Letitia, who is startled by Charlottes casual expression of her sexuality (Act I Scene I). Often speaking in intricate and descriptive similes, Charlotte is easily believable as a woman who will buy an ugly hat just so that awkward, gawky Sally Slender cant have it, then speak elegantly in simile and metaphor on the faults of her friends and family (Act II Scene I). Modern television and literature could learn a thing or two from Tylers portrayal of Charlotteshe is sassy, sexual, and a shopaholic, but also intelligent and dynamic. Even though her brother, as a man and a soldier, holds a higher place in society than she does, Charlotte is charmingly teasing in her interactions with him, affectionately disrespectful in the sort of way that siblings today often are. Charlotte openly mocks and ridicules Manly both in and out of his presence. In years past, any work of literature featuring that sort of speech in the presence of a man would likely have resulted in a socially appropriate beating. However, Tylers Colonel Manly, intended to represent the ideal American gentleman, only ever shows love for his sister, and does his best to keep up with her snappy dialogue. Tylers writing of Charlotte portrays her as an intelligent, saucy, and happily independent woman. Though she feels like a woman out of her time, Tyler presents her in a positive light as something America should learn to embrace, rather than punish. As the title of the play implicitly states, the show is built on character contrasts, and Maria and Charlotte evidently foil each other. Where Charlotte is vibrant and outgoing, Maria is a more subdued homebody, content to curl up at home with a book for days on end. At the outset of the play, Charlotte is obsessed with the latest fashion and the local opinion on her attire, and

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Maria is told to be indifferent to dress, and just as indifferent to the man about to become her husband (Act I Scene I). When he journeyed away to Britain for some time, she occupied herself with her books and his letters, gradually realizing the stark difference between the romantic tone of one and the flimsiness of the other. When he returns home, Maria speaks of him with respect abroad, and with contempt in her closet, but makes no efforts to break the engagement with him (Act I Scene I). Because of these actions, Maria may be interpreted as a weak-willed character, eager to complain but unable to stand up for herself, as Charlotte does. However, Tyler makes a point of explainingboth through Maria and through Letitias descriptions of herthat Marias loyalty to her engagement is the result of her own desires to hold true to her sacred word and make her father happy. She believes it is wrong to betray her promise, which, as a marriage engagement, could also be seen as betraying her religion. She is also afraid of her father, whom she seems to love and whose love she claims to be certain of, but who is also shown to be prone to violent outbursts (Act I Scene II). Her fear isnt her loss of her reputation, which she bemoans as the life of woman; yet courage to protect it is masculine and disgusting (Act I Scene II). She shows contempt for a society that forces a womans value to be dependent upon her reputation, and because Tyler intentionally wrote her to be a stereotypical wholesome American girl, her lamentation is significant. Also, even though she doesnt seem devoted to protecting her reputation, Colonel Manly, as a man who loves her, does desire to protect her from societys scorn and leaves her, even though he knows he would be able to make her happier. Through these circumstances, Tyler attacks an aspect of American society that is likely a remnant of British culture and rule; he directly implies that a system that forces women to determine their worth by reputation and yet abhor defending it is ridiculous. He shows how Marias difficult position makes her weak, and through her easy likeability and sympathetic situation aims to

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show the American people that those old gender constraints ought to be cast off. Charlotte may be more exuberant and exciting, but she and Maria are portrayed in equally satisfactory lights, and given a great deal of individual character; Tyler implies a potential for power in both of them. Stuck in an engagement not out of dependence or need for a husband, but out of virtue and love, the readerintended to respect and find delightful humor in Charlotte should want better for Maria, consciously or unconsciously recognizing that she represents a whole population of women trapped by rules of reputation and conduct. Charlotte and Maria approach marriage with, expectedly, rather differing opinions. Charlotte seems to sarcastically reference her singleness often in conversation, saying when her brother arrives, as I hope to be married, my brother Henry is in the city, and then quips later in conversation with him, you will set me crying, and that, you know, would spoil my eyes; and then I should never get the husband which our good papa and mamma have so kindly wished menever be established in the world (Act II Scene I). Charlotte seems to have some disdain for marriage, and mocks it at every turning. However, even in her sarcasm there is truthin early America, an older woman without a husband would have very little power, and her joking could be read as a way for her to cope with her true feelings of entrapment. A woman in Charlottes day came in and out of her prime rather quicklyCharlotte even remarks on this early in the play, when she and Letitia discuss a young girl recently engaged and says, It is probable she cried for a plaything, and they have given her a husband (Act I Scene I). The older Charlotte becomes, the less likely she is to find a husband, and the more difficult her social situation would become. To Charlotte, a white dress and a wedding band may be comparable to a ticking time bomb. Like Charlotte, Maria recognizes that marriage is womans only chance to grow into a powerful position in society: our security for happiness often depends upon their

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generosity and courage[in a patriarchal society,] the only asylum a woman of delicacy can find is in the arms of a man of honor. However, Maria also strongly values love in a marriage, whereas Charlotte merely seems to view it as a mutually beneficial commitment. Plus, with her position as a more delicate woman from a wealthy family, Maria doesnt possess Charlottes ease of ability to stroll out of her house and flip her skirt at passing men. Charlottes parents are implied to be dead, while Marias father is particularly controlling, and she feels obligated to duty for him, which is expected in their age. Therefore, ironically, Marias only hope in gaining her own independence away from her father and in a society dominated by men is to marry a kind and noble man that will grant her freedom. Meanwhile, Charlotte is wildly free, but her freedom may only last so long. Charlotte is trapped by a desire for individual freedom, and Maria is caught in simultaneously trying to attain love and social power. Though their views of marriage differ greatly, neither Charlotte nor Maria are portrayed as overtly wrong, just contrasting women in opposing and equally challenging situations. Even with its unique portrayal of American woman and social ideals, what is particularly special about The Contrast is its resolution. In early American literature, most other women in Charlottes position would have found themselves pregnant and alone, or dead, or even both, as in Susanna Rowsons 1791 novel Charlotte Temple, a work of the seduction genre that was built around tropes just as catastrophic to their main characters. Women in Marias position likely would have met the same fate, had the story not gone a different route, and had the man of her affections failed to gently turn her down and remind her of both of their responsibilities. Charlotte and Maria are both treated with equal consequences by the end of the show, implying that though they are different ideas of American women, neither of them are bad people. Charlotte is nearly assaulted by Marias fianc that she had been secretly wooing, and after

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apologizing to Maria, realizes that the heart of any worthy man cannot be gained by invidious attacks upon the rights and characters of others, and that her flirtatious manners may have the consequence of attracting unsavory gentlemen (Act V Scene II). Yet she also says that the finest assemblage of features, the greatest taste in dress, the genteelest address, or the most brilliant wit, cannot eventually secure a coquette from contempt and ridicule (Act V Scene II). This seems to apply to both her and Maria, reminding the audience that the outcome of both of their situations is the result of happenstance. Charlottes flirtatiousness and Marias gentleness had trapped them both in unsavory situations, and had those situations not intermingled and brought about their own resolutions, Maria and Charlotte could both have ended up unhappy and considerably worse off. In Tylers commentary of the vulnerability of both women, despite one leading a virtuous lifestyle and the other one more unrestrained, he highlights the potential danger of a rape culture forming in early America. However, his work makes it abundantly clear that the only character who is truly punished for their actions is Dimple, who, by the end of the show, is left indebted, hated, and alone. Tyler is already attempting to portray to the new American people what many in the United States still struggle with todaythat the blame and the punishment belongs not to Charlottes flirtatiousness, but to Dimples lust and disrespect. The Contrast was Royall Tylers way of showing his young American audience what their newly independent country had the potential to become. By equally developing two different and fascinating female characters as vibrant, valuable parts of his fictional society, he showed how a variety of women could grow into a more powerful role in the living American society. Tylers commentary on the constraints of a womans reputation and the sad dependency on marriage for power came off more effectively through Charlotte and Maria than it ever could have in an essay. The audience was able to become intimate with his characters and sympathize

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deeply with them; by the end of the play, they would be happy for Maria, and hopefully their love of Charlottes character would leave them feeling empty upon the realization that in real life, her character would likely have to marry in order to hold the social and economic status that made her so interesting. By designing understandable, likeable characters, Tyler created a show intended to call the audience to action: as they cheered for Charlotte and Maria, they would hopefully begin to cheer for similar women with similarly challenging circumstances in their own lives, and begin to recognize that the value of the American woman was beyond her reputation, and it was the duty of the manly American gentleman to respect that worth and virtue.