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Scratching the Surface: Reading Character in Female Quixotism

The plot of the 1801 novel Female Quixotism centers on a series of love con- quests that repeatedly end unsuccessfully and violently. At the heart of each episode is Dorcasina Sheldon who, even though overindulged by her father, her only living parent, is unquestionably the novel's heroine. She is a caring daughter, beloved mistress, and devoted friend; in spite of her many virtues, however, she is sufficiently misguided to model her real life after the romance novels she adores reading. She longs to find true love and in her attempts to do so is repeatedly wooed, abused, and deceived by those who court her, both those whose advances she welcomes and those who come uninvited. These events are best summarized as follows: Lysander, O'Connor, Philander, Puff the Barber, Mr. Cumberland, Captain Barry, his servant James, her servant John Brown, Captain Montague, and Mr. Seymore all woo Dorcasina. During the course of these courtships, she is chased by boys and dogs, stripped of most of her clothes, tied up, abducted, thrown off a horse, is bitten, tumbles down stairs, and faints. O'Connor and Seymore try to fool the heroine by faking honorable identities; Philander pretends to be a wooer but is really a jokester; James pretends to be Captain Barry; Captain Barry pretends to be asleep; Captain Montague is really her good friend Harriot Stanley dressed in disguise; Dorcasina believes that the bumbling John Brown is a gentleman masquerading as a servant; she mis- takes Scipio, her faithful African servant, for her lover. In sum, Dorcasina is courted, hurt, and tricked by almost everyone who crosses her path, both friends who wish to protect her and villains who wish to take advantage of her. Friends and villains are not the only source of mistaken identity in Female Quixotism; Dorcasina is, to the chagrin of her friends and family, her own worst enemy. She repeatedly convinces herself that she possesses a special ability to recognize the true identity of a wooer that otherwise would remain hidden and so invites even more inappropriate liaisons than might otherwise have occurred. Dorcasina's romantic episodes climax with a physical violence that jerks the story forward in fits and starts. She and many of her lovers