Roxana, also known as The Unfortunate Mistress, explores the discourse of marriage.
The author posited the belief that both men and women should possess equal freedom, asserting that women are inherently free. Nevertheless, during that era, societal norms imposed different regulations upon women, particularly within the institution of marriage. Women were obliged to relinquish their autonomy and assume subservience to their husbands. The author likens this predicament to that of a servant bereft of authority over their own existence. In Daniel Defoe’s novel Roxana, the protagonist Roxana encounters a comparable circumstance as most women did during her time. Society placed utmost value on a woman’s virtue and obedience, dictating their silence in public and demanding submission to both father and husband.
Being the woman in charge at home, she was responsible for cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her family’s well-being. While widows had less independence than men, they enjoyed more liberties than wives and single women. Widows had more authority over their choices and managing their own matters, unlike married women whose husbands had full control over their finances. The theme of marriage is consistently addressed in Roxana’s story.
Despite being courted by many suitors, Roxana remains determined to avoid marriage and the traditional role of being a wife. She views marriage as a form of servitude, slavery, and imprisonment, a belief shaped by her unhappy experiences with her first husband, the brewer. As a member of a relatively well-off family, Roxana is provided with a dowry worth ? 2,000 and married off to the brewer at a tender age of fifteen. While she leads a comfortable life with her first husband, she remains unsatisfied. Despite his attractive appearance and jovial nature, she finds him lacking in intelligence.
Roxana personally advises other young women against marrying foolish men if they want a content and comfortable life with their spouse. Unfortunately, her brother’s mishandling of her late father’s estate results in Roxana having to rely solely on her husband’s estate to support their family. Nevertheless, her husband’s ineptitude in business and financial management gradually leads to the near total loss of his assets. Consequently, after going bankrupt, the brewer abruptly deserts his wife and five children without any notice or means of sustenance.
Roxana, lacking financial means to support her children and having already sold all valuable possessions, entrusts her children to her husband’s relatives. With the assistance of her loyal servant Amy, she assumes the role of mistress to her landlord, who happens to be a wealthy jewel merchant. Over time, the merchant demonstrates concern for Roxana’s well-being and lavishes her with numerous gifts and free lodging. Their relationship deepens and one evening, after dinner, Roxana implores the merchant to spend the night and share her bed.
The merchant suggests that they get married, even though English law does not allow remarriage. He creates a marriage contract, treating Roxana as a merchant selling goods, that would unofficially bind them. Initially hesitant, Roxana sees it as adultery but the fear of returning to poverty overpowers her fear of divine punishment. The merchant defends himself by wishing for a law that would allow women to remarry if their husbands were missing for a long time.
Roxana reluctantly agrees to marry the jewel merchant due to feelings of indebtedness for his kindness. This decision, driven by desperate circumstances rather than personal desires, marks the start of her involvement in prostitution and her increasing interest in financial matters. After two years of being married, the wealthy merchant takes Roxana to Paris for jewelry trading. During their time in Paris, Roxana and the merchant enjoy a luxurious lifestyle, further fueling her fascination with money.
She meticulously calculates the worth of her and her husband’s belongings, to the extent that she can effortlessly determine the value of nearly every item in their house as well as her husband’s financial situation. Following the merchant’s assassination while en route to exchange some precious gems, Roxana orchestrates a plan. Following his explicit instructions, she feigns that the murderers absconded with a jewel-case, despite it actually remaining under her supervision. Consequently, she instructs Amy to liquidate all their possessions in their London residence and join her in Paris, thereby deceiving the widow and considerably elevating her own fortune to ? 10,000.
Roxana becomes the mistress to the Prince, whom the jeweler had planned to sell his jewels to, and they live together for eight years. They spend a significant amount of time in seclusion near Paris and also go on a two-year tour of Italy. Throughout the affair, Roxana gives birth to three sons, but sadly one of them passes away in Italy at just two months old. The Prince seems to have strong feelings for Roxana, but he is unable to fully commit to her because he is already married and has multiple other mistresses, although she is his favorite.
Roxana appears to have no concerns as she is being financially supported and is not obligated to share her wealth with her lover. Thus, she doesn’t face the risk of returning to poverty. She acknowledges that her main difficulty lies in safeguarding and preserving her wealth. She also reminds herself that she cannot indefinitely remain as his mistress, so it is her responsibility to ensure her well-being. The affair concludes when the Prince’s wife dies, urging him to remain loyal to his future spouse despite their lack of intimacy. This prompts him to repent for his immoral behavior and end his relationship with Roxana.
After the relationship ends, Roxana decides to go back to London. She seeks the aid of a Dutch merchant to help her relocate her significant financial assets. The Dutch merchant introduces her to a Jewish appraiser, who realizes that the assets are stolen and attempts to have Roxana arrested. The honest Dutch merchant helps Roxana elude the Jew’s clutches and transfers her wealth to Amsterdam. When she goes to collect it, he proposes marriage. However, Roxana consistently declines the proposal as she does not want to forfeit her freedom.
Roxana proposes a sexual relationship with the merchant in exchange for his kindness, but she makes it clear that she cannot offer him marriage. She argues that she used to believe women had the same freedom as men, but marriage essentially meant giving up liberty, property, authority, and everything else to the man. This effectively reduced women to the status of slaves. When a woman remained unmarried, she had more influence in politics and was not controlled or answerable to anyone. Roxana then asserts her belief that women are just as capable as men in managing their own affairs without male assistance. She contends that she should be able to have a man’s companionship in the same manner that a man would have a mistress. The merchant is taken aback by her perspective and can only reply by stating that this is how society functions and love between husband and wife prevents the wife from becoming enslaved.
Nevertheless, Roxana counters his point by claiming that the problem stems from the insincerity of love. This insincerity results in a woman losing her sense of self, as she is required to conform to her husband’s desires, ambitions, and convictions, regardless of their potential for happiness or accomplishment. The merchant attempts to alleviate Roxana’s anxieties about marriage but fails to do so. He reassures her that he has no desire to exploit her wealth and insists that his own fortune matches hers. His sole motivation for desiring marriage with her is genuine affection.
Despite Roxana’s continual rejection of the merchant’s marriage proposal, he believes that convincing her to engage in a sexual relationship with him will alter her perspective. He assumes that because he views her as a virtuous woman, she will feel obligated to accept his marriage proposal after partaking in an intimate act typically reserved for married couples due to religious norms. Nevertheless, Roxana astonishes him by persisting in her refusal even after their intimate encounter. Her reasons for doing so are twofold: first, she refuses to surrender her financial independence; secondly, she maintains her ambition and yearns for a higher societal status.
The Dutch merchant, who firmly believes in the union of a man and a woman under God, returns to Paris. Roxana, carrying the Dutchman’s child and resenting her choice of money over love for him, goes back to London and settles in Pall Mall, a street known for housing royal mistresses like Nell Gwyn. Although Roxana feels bitter about her treatment of the merchant and prioritizing her estate above all else, she later confesses that she would have given half of her worldly possessions to have him back. In Pall Mall, she hosts extravagant masquerade balls for high society and dances in a revealing Turkish dress, earning her the title “Roxana,” signifying an Oriental Queen. For the next three years, she engages in an affair with a prominent aristocrat, possibly the King himself. By the end of this affair, Roxana’s wealth totals ?5,000. She then becomes the mistress of an elderly Lord for eight years, boasting a fortune of over ?50,000 upon its completion. After the affair ends, Roxana returns to London and adopts the Quaker way of life. One day, she spots the Dutch merchant while he is out riding; he soon visits her lodging and their relationship resumes.Amy, Roxana’s servant, journeys to Paris and shares an update stating that the brewer, Roxana’s previous husband who she was separated from, has passed away due to injuries sustained in the Battle of Mons. Additionally, it is revealed that Roxana’s Prince desires to wed her and grant her the title of Countess.
The Dutch merchant once again proposes marriage to Roxana, however, she is tempted by the idea of becoming an aristocrat. Amy brings news that the Prince has repented once more due to an illness. Witnessing the loyalty and self-control of the Dutch Merchant, especially when he demonstrates the influence of money by purchasing a baronetcy, Roxana agrees to marry him and become a respectable woman. She also consents to merging her estate with his.
Roxana’s insincere repentance becomes evident when she discusses losing her title by not marrying the prince, but gaining it back through the merchant: “I heard both with a great deal of satisfaction, for my pride remained, though it had been thwarted, and I believed that this proposal would compensate me for the loss of the title that had excited my imagination in a different way.” However, her satisfaction is short-lived when she learns that the prince wants to marry her. “…I was pleased to still be a countess, even if I couldn’t be a princess. Roxana consistently strives to improve her social status, even when it’s unnecessary. Although she has feelings for the Dutch merchant, she is hesitant to give up the idea of gaining more power and status by marrying the prince. Only when the prince withdraws his marriage proposal does Roxana fully embrace the idea of marrying the merchant. After their wedding, the Dutch merchant shows Roxana the contents of several large boxes he receives from his goldsmith, which include his financial documents such as goldsmith’s bills, stocks, jewels, money, and banknotes.
Roxana, who was shocked by what she saw, discovered that the merchant’s property was comparable or even better than her own. This revelation proved her initial concerns about being exploited financially to be completely baseless. The story of Roxana introduces various notions regarding the dynamics between men and women and their respective roles in a relationship. The characters live in a patriarchal society shaped by the values of the English church, which dictates that marriage must occur according to God’s will and that it is the wife’s responsibility to assist her husband in his pursuits.
However, Roxana’s thoughts prior to feminism challenge these ideals of marriage. Her major mistake is prioritizing money and social status over personal happiness and companionship. She claims that men who marry rich women only want to control them both financially and as slaves. It is only when Roxana experiences this herself that she starts to understand that marriage may entail more than just money.
