LORDCHESTERFIELD

“A Correct View of Women” ~ 1748

SMILE, but

NEVER LAUGH!

VOCABULARY

Suffrages petitions, intercessions/entreaties

“As women are a considerable, or at

least a pretty numerous, part of

company, and as their suffrages

[petitions] go a great way toward

establishing a man’s character in the

fashionable world – which is of great

importance to the fortune and figure he

proposes to make in it – it is necessary

to please them.”

Arcana mysterious or specialized

knowledge, language, or

information accessible or

possessed only by the initiate

“I will therefore, upon this subject, let

you into certain arcana

[mysteries], that will be very useful

for you to know, but which you must

with the utmost care conceal, and

never seem to know.”

Trifling having little value or importance

“…and, being justly distrustful that men

in general look upon them in a trifling

[an insignificant] light, they almost

adore that man who talks more

seriously to them, and seems to

consult them…”

VOCABULARY

Inviolably

secure from assault or

trespass

“But these are secrets that you

must keep inviolably

[close/safe/hidden] if you

would not, like Orpheus, be

torn to pieces by the whole

sex.”

Mediocrity

moderate ability or value

“…but those who are in a state

of mediocrity [little worth] are

best flattered upon their

beauty…”

Beau Monde

the world of high society

and fashion

“…they absolutely stamp

every man’s character in the

beau monde [high society]

and make it either current or

cry it down and stop it in

payments.”

SYNTAX

Periodic Sentence

main clause:

“…it is necessary to

please them.”

Litotes

An understatement employed for

rhetorical effect:

“little passion or humor”

“beauty neglected or

controverted”

Doubling/Tripling“their best resolutions”

“their beauty neglected”

“their age increased”

“their supposed understandings”

“their little passions”

“their most reasonable moments”

“with them” “with them”

SYNTAX (CONT.)

Antithesis

two opposites are introduced in

the same sentence, for

contrasting effect

“too high or too low”

“greedily swallow the highest”

“gratefully accept the lowest”

Catalog

Creating lists for rhetorical

effect

“…man must be gallant, polite,

and attentive…”

“…more or less influence in

courts; they absolutely stamp

every man’s character in the

beau monde…”

“As women are a

considerable…it is

necessary to please

them.”

Thesis:

SUMMARY:¶ 1 – Man’s success depends on his

standing in society. Women are part of

said society. Therefore, it is important to

please women. I will unveil hidden

mysteries which you must “conceal.”

¶ 2 – Women, being overgrown

children, lack reason and restraint in

social realms. Wise men humor them, but

never “trust them” with anything of

importance. It is a weak man who

engages in serious conversation with a

woman.

¶ 3 – Women want to “shine” and

thus, crave flattery. It’s best to flatter their

weak understanding, and when there is

none, flatter their appearance.

¶ 4 – These secrets, you must keep.

Women wield power in social circles. Do

what you must to be a gentleman, and

never let them in on our secret, or they

will destroy you.

METAPHOR

a comparison of (2)

different things by speaking

of one in terms of the other

Child/Children

“Women then are only children

of a larger growth…”

“A man of sense…plays with

them, as he does with a

sprightly, forward child…”

TONEauthor’s attitude

towards his subject

“They have an entertaining

tattle and sometimes wit, but

for a solid, reasoning good

sense, I never in my life knew

one that had it, or acted

consequentially for four-and-

twenty hours together.”

“A man of sense only trifles

with them, plays with them…”

“their little passions…”

“dabbling in business –

which, by the way, they always

spoil…”

Confident/Wise

“On the contrary, a man who

thinks of living in the great

world must be gallant, polite,

and attentive to please the

women.”

Superior/Demeaning

Arrogant,

Chauvinistic

CHARACTERISTICS OF ESSAY

open-ended

personal

focused

not narrative

ALLUSION

“Orpheus”

a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek

mythology

The major stories about him are centered on his ability to

charm all living things and even stones with his music, his

attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld, and

his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine

music.

Orpheus at the end of his life disdained the worship of all gods

save the sun, whom he called Apollo. One early morning he

went to the oracle of Dionysus to salute his god at dawn, but

was ripped to shreds by Thracian Maenads (female followers

of Dionysus) for not honoring his previous patron Dionysus.

In my mind there is nothing so illiberal, and so ill-bred, as audible laughter. I am neither of a melancholy nor

a cynical disposition, and am as willing and as apt to be pleased as anybody; but I am sure that since I

have had the full use of my reason nobody has ever heard me laugh.

Having mentioned laughing, I must particularly warn you against it; and I would heartily wish that you may

often be seen to smile, but never heard to laugh while you live. Frequent and loud laughter is the

characteristic of folly and ill-manners; it is the manner in which the mob express their silly joy at silly things;

and they call it being merry.

Taking a view of the different works which have been written on

education, Lord Chesterfield's Letters must not be silently passed over.

Not that I mean to analyze his unmanly, immoral system, or

even to cull any of the useful, shrewd remarks which occur in his epistles

-- No, I only mean to make a few reflections on the avowed tendency of

them -- the art of acquiring an early knowledge of the world. An art, I will

venture to assert, that preys secretly, like the worm in the bud, on the

expanding powers, and turns to poison the generous juices which should

mount with vigour in the youthful frame, inspiring warm affections and

great resolves.*

* That children ought to be constantly guarded against the vices and

follies of the world, appears, to me, a very mistaken opinion; for in the

course of experience, and my eyes have looked abroad, I never knew a

youth educated in this manner, who had early imbibed these chilling

suspicions, and repeated by rote the hesitating if of age, that did not

prove a selfish character.

Mary Wollstonecraft (Shelley), A

Vindication of the Rights of

Women - 1792