A found this reading to be long and a little boring, and there were parts of it that I had some trouble comprehending. However, every now and then I would run into an interesting passage.
One of these passages was on pages 90-91 and it discussed why the Spectator would be useful for women. At first the author describes how the main priority of women is to make sure their hair is in place, and then spend the day doing frivolous things like sorting ribbons. The first paragraph really made women sound like stupid people that have no real purpose in life other than "the preparation of jellies and sweetmeats." I was slightly offended when I read this paragraph but I continued reading and to my surprise the author went on to say that these are simply the "ordinary women" and that there are "multitudes of a more elevated life and conversation, that move in an exalted sphere of knowledge and virtue, that join the beauties of mind to the ornaments of dress...." I was pleased to see that it was acknowledged that women actually do have minds and are capable of thought.
Basically what I got out of reading some passages about the Spectator is that it was marketable because of a few main points:
1. The wide range and diversity of writers.
2. Appeal to all aspects of society
3. Appeal to women (an audience that was most probably neglected in other papers)
I also found a passage on pages 97-98 to be rather interesting. The author writes about all the things that his paper does not do thus making it not a real newspaper. The author writes that the paper has very little news or reflection of politics and therefor has "no fashionable touches of infidelity" and "no obscene ideas". I liked this idea because it basically stated that writing about news and politics inadvertently leads to publishing lies and scandals. He goes on to describe the amount of care and precaution he took with writing, to make sure that his words are not misconstrued or considered offensive. He writes, "If I write anything of a black man, I run over in my mind all the eminent persons in the nations who are of that complexion." I think it's amazing that this much precaution was taken in such an early newspaper. I thought people would just write anything as an attempt to appeal to the masses, but I guess I was wrong.
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I agree with you about the presentation of women. I noticed passages where I had the same initial reaction. The one part I find difficult to accept is that Steele and Addison said they dedicated the Tatler to women. It seems insulting. I guess their sarcastic tone makes up for it, like in the passage you mentioned with the ribbons. It seems maybe they are trying to elevate women, well the ones that 'deserve' it.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that is relevant to this is that the title of the tattler plays on a woman's tendency to gossip. To name a newspaper that is targeted towards women after their biggest fault and folly seems to be very, well, interesting to say the least.
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