AGGRESSION, SUFFERING, AND AFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT IN ELIZA HAYWOOD’S THE HISTORY OF MISS BETSY THOUGHTLESS

Amelia  PRECUP

doi:10.24193/subbphilo.2023.3.04

Authors

Amelia PRECUP Lecturer PhD, English Department, Faculty of Letters, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: amelia.precup@ubbcluj.ro. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0279-7503

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2023.3.04

Keywords:

Eliza Haywood, The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, sights of suffering, aggression, affective development, sentimental fiction, the eighteenth-century novel.

Abstract

Aggression, Suffering, and Affective Development in Eliza Haywood’s The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless. Published during a period of transition from “the epistemological or cognitive” to the “affective dimension of fiction”, to use Catherine Gallagher’s conceptualization of the progress of the mid-eighteenth-century novel, The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless is often read as a story of development from “thoughtless coquette” to “thoughtful wife”. With these two social roles in the background, this paper sets forth to examine the affective and emotional development of Betsy Thoughtless through a close reading of her reactions to scenes of suffering and forms of aggression. The claim of the paper is that Miss Betsy’s history progresses as her empathy and capacity to internalize potentially traumatic events grow, which invites sympathetic identification.

REZUMAT. Agresiune, suferință și maturizare afectivă în romanul The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless de Eliza Haywood. Publicat în timpul unei perioade de tranziție de la dimensiunea „epistemologică sau cognitivă” la „dimensiunea afectivă a ficțiunii” – ca să împrumutăm terminologia utilizată de Catherine Gallagher pentru conceptualizarea schimbărilor din evoluția romanului modern la mijlocul secolului al XVIII-lea –The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless este adeseori citit ca roman al devenirii, care urmărește progresul eroinei de la „cochetă necugetată” la „soție grijulie”. Păstrând aceste două roluri în fundal, acest articol își propune să examineze dezvoltarea afectivă și emoțională a lui Betsy Thoughtless printr-o citire atentă a reacțiilor acesteia la scene de suferință și diverse forme de agresiune. Lucrarea susține că istoria domnișoarei Betsy avansează o dată cu dezvoltarea empatiei și a capacității sale de a interioriza evenimente cu potențial traumatic, ceea ce invită identificarea afectivă din partea cititorului.

Cuvinte-cheie: Eliza Haywood, The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, scene de suferință, agresiune, dezvoltare afectivă, ficțiune sentimentală, romanul secolului al XVIII-lea.

Article history: Received 7 June 2023; Revised 21 August 2023; Accepted 11 September 2023;Available online 30 September 2023; Available print 30 September 2023

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