Exposing the Whore: Misogyny in Prostitute Narratives of Restoration England

espanolAunque la prostituta es un personaje frecuente en la novela inglesa del siglo XVIII, ya aparece en textos narrativos publicados en la Inglaterra de la Restauracion, aunque la mayoria de ellos han sido ignorados. Este articulo analiza tres de esos textos: 1) The Crafty Whore (1658), un dialogo anonimo entre dos cortesanas que esta enmarcado entre un prefacio que lo presenta como una advertencia, y un epilogo titulado «Disuasion de la lujuria»; 2) The Miss Display’d de Richard Head (1675), una novela en modo picaresco introducida por un prefacio tambien admonitorio y relatada por un narrador intruso en tercera persona que es a menudo critico con las prostitutas y las mujeres en general: y 3) la anonima The London Jilt (1683), otra novela picaresca presentada como relato que alerta a los lectores contra el engano y la corrupcion de las prostitutas, pero con un narrador autodiegetico que entrelaza la narracion con comentarios de tipo social y moral. En estos textos la voz y agencia femenina se ven refrenadas por una voz autorial masculina que utiliza un discurso misogino con la intencion de revelar los astutos ardides de las prostitutas con el fin de enganar a los hombres. EnglishAlthough the prostitute became a fairly common figure in eighteenth-century prose fiction, there were already narrative texts dealing with that type of character in Restoration England, although most of them have been largely disregarded. This article will focus on three of those texts: 1) The Crafty Whore (1658), an anonymous dialogue between two courtesans that is framed between a preface that presents it as a cautionary text, and an epilogue entitled “Dehortation from Lust”; 2) Richard Head’s The Miss Display’ d (1675), a narrative in the picaresque mode introduced by an admonitory preface and told by an intrusive third-person narrator that is often critical of prostitutes and women in general; and 3) the anonymous The London Jilt (1683), another picaresque novel presented as a cautionary tale to warn readers against the deceit and corruption of prostitutes, but with an autodiegetic narrator who interlaces the relation with social and moral comments. In these texts the female agency and voice are often curbed by a male authorial voice that uses a misogynistic discourse in an alleged attempt to expose the crafty contrivances of prostitutes in order to ensnare men.