100 pages • 3 hours read
Hannah Webster FosterThe Coquette
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1797A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Letters 4-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Letter 4 Summary: “To Mr. Selby”
The fourth letter of the novel introduces a second perspective—that of Mr. Boyer. Writing to his friend, Mr. Selby, Boyer admits that he has been more attentive to the social world than philosophical pursuits lately. He is smitten with Eliza, and, though he plans to pursue her, he intends to “act upon just and rational principles” (10). He knows of Eliza’s attitude toward her ill-fated betrothal and assesses her of having “an elevated mind, a ready apprehension, and an accurate knowledge of the various subjects which have been brought into view” (11).
Mr. and Mrs. Richman promise Boyer that they will help his cause and engineer a situation where he and Eliza can spend some time together. He anticipates this eagerly.
Letter 5 Summary: “To Miss Lucy Freeman”
Eliza reveals that she has been made aware of Boyer’s affections. Speaking with him, she is unsure of her own feelings. She neither wants to encourage him nor to rebuff his advances. In conversation with Mrs. Richman, Eliza says that she does indeed like Mr. Boyer, but she is not yet ready to relinquish her new-found freedom to again accept the love of a man pressured upon her by her social circle. Mrs. Richman accepts her love of freedom, but she warns her that in excess “a phantom is often pursued, which leaves its deluded votary the real form of wretchedness” (13). Eliza, for a moment, regards these words as prophetic; however, she ultimately dismisses them because she views Mrs. Richman as prudish.
Letter 6 Summary: “To the Same”
Major Peter Sanford, an acquaintance of the Richmans’, invites Eliza to a ball. Though Mrs. Richman does not condemn association with Sanford, Eliza notices a slight coldness in her friend’s attitude toward her. Though she respects the Richmans and does not wish to incur their disapproval, she rationalizes that because she is single, she does not have the privilege of the self-contained amusement enjoyed by married couples. However, she cannot help but notice her friends’ apparent misgivings about Major Sanford.
Letter 7 Summary: “To Mr. Selby”
Boyer expresses his disappointment in his plans for winning over Eliza. Arriving at the Richmans’, he finds Major Sanford already waiting for Eliza to receive him. Eliza is confused at the arrival of the two suitors; Sanford was unannounced, and Boyer planned his visit as a surprise. Boyer is left in a shocked state and takes some time to recover from the surprise and disappointment.
Instead of the anticipated meeting, Boyer is left with the Richmans as Eliza goes off with Sanford. They try to reassure him, but he deems Sanford “an immoral, but to say profligate man,” though one of “rank and fortune” (16). He deems it a fault of Eliza’s innocence, rather than character, that leads her away with the major.
Because he is left “in the hypo” (that is, afflicted by depression or melancholy) over the situation, Boyer realizes that his feelings for the girl are genuine (17).
Letter 8 Summary: “To Mr. Charles Deighton”
Peter Sanford’s perspective is added to the narrative in the eighth letter. Addressing Charles Deighton, Sanford reveals that he, too, knows about Eliza’s previous engagement, and that he, too, is pursuing her. Watching her with “a jealous eye,” he writes, “I fancy this lady is a coquette; and if so, I shall avenge my sex, by retaliating the mischiefs […] she mediates against us” (18). Sanford is aware of Boyer and the fact that Sanford’s presence at the Richmans’ caused Boyer to lose his composure.
Sanford plans to call on Eliza again.
Letter 9 Summary: “To Miss Lucy Freeman”
Writing to Lucy, Eliza gives her perspective on the awkward reception of Boyer and Sanford. She is initially flustered by Boyer’s unannounced arrival, but reasons it away and goes to the ball with Sanford as planned.
The next day, Mrs. Richman voices her approbation of the major: she says “he is deficient in one of the great essentials of the character, and that is virtue” (20). He is a “professed libertine […] triumphing in the destruction of innocence” (20). Embarrassed, Eliza vows to break ties with Sanford as politely as possible. Her opportunity comes immediately: as she is forming this resolution, Sanford arrives at the Richmans’ house to visit her.
Letters 4-9 Analysis
Epistolary novels allow the author an interesting level of control over the plot, pacing, and character development. Depending on how the technique is employed, events can be glossed over and later fleshed out; expectations can be set and then overturned; and flat characters can gain more nuance when viewed from another perspective. Foster’s characters become more three-dimensional as the perspectives on the novel’s events pile up.
Mr. Boyer’s letter to Mr. Selby reveals that he is more than the prudish priest-to-be that Eliza sees him as. He feels a conflict between the sober duties that will be required of him as a priest and the social duty of courtship. He tells Selby, “I hope and trust they are united; and I find truth and the virtues and graces besides in a fair form” (10). Based on his current assessment of Eliza, and based on their mutual friend’s regard of her, Boyer has reason to believe he will find this balance in the young lady. But Eliza is much less sure. Her marriage to Mr. Haly would have meant the sacrifice of her own happiness, and listening to her friends’ advice over her own heart would have ruined her life. Because of this, the Richmans’ constant push for her to accept Mr. Boyer actually serves to hurt his case. Eliza is determined to listen to her own heart this time.
It is in this vulnerable state that Eliza is introduced to the company of Major Peter Sanford. Mrs. Richman initially describes him as “a gay man” and “such are the companions we wish, when we join a party avowedly formed for pleasure” (14). Sanford serves as a foil to Mr. Boyer. If Boyer appeals to Eliza’s sense of honor, duty, and virtue, Sanford stakes a claim in her regard for fashion, society, and wealth. On the surface, Sanford is a gentleman of wealth and gallantry. But Letter 8 reveals that he sees Eliza as a potential target for conquest. He views her as “gay, volatile, apparently thoughtless of everything but present enjoyment” (18). Sanford acts as a lone agent. While Mr. Boyer has his friends contrive a situation where he and Eliza can be alone together, Sanford merely shows up and invites Eliza to a ball, spoiling the clergyman’s socially-sanctioned plans. While Mr. Boyer is disappointed, he still vows not to let his “judgement to be misled by the operations of a blind passion” (17). Sanford has accurately assessed Eliza as a lover of material pleasure, and even though she promises to break off ties with him, it is, perhaps, too late.
