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 49-54Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Letter 49 Summary: “To Miss Eliza Wharton”
Lucy jokes with Eliza about her previous letter, which contained “a bleeding heart, slighted love, and all the et ceteras of romance” (107). She wonders where Eliza’s strength, independence, and other positive qualities have gone.
Lucy notes that while Eliza once “figured among the first rate coquettes,” her reason has returned, and she has confessed and repented of her faults (107). She advises her to take Boyer’s advice and “forget all former connections” (108). This will enable her to find another man of honor and live a happy life.
Julia Granby will soon be visiting Eliza.
Letter 50 Summary: “To Mrs. Lucy Sumner”
Julia Granby arrives in Hartford. She immediately works toward lifting Eliza’s spirits.
Eliza laments that her life has “always been unaccountably wayward” (108). She begins to believe that fate has led her down this road. She is fixated on the memory of Mr. Boyer’s final departure. Even the landscape of the garden reminds her of the day they separated. Eliza hopes that Maria Selby never causes him pain like she did.
Letter 51 Summary: “To Mrs. Lucy Sumner”
Lucy has previously asked Julia Granby to write to her about Eliza’s condition. Julia and Mrs. Wharton are distressed at Eliza’s increasing reclusiveness. Julia finally convinces her to “dine abroad,” which she thinks will do Eliza some good.
Major Sanford’s house is renovated, and the rumors of his impending marriage continue. Julia hopes they are true for Eliza’s sake. She believes that if he is unengaged, he will continue his advances toward Eliza.
Julia walks in on Eliza holding a miniature portrait of Major Sanford. She believes that Eliza has forgiven him, despite all he has done to her.
Julia tries to get Eliza to go with her to Boston but doubts that she will want to.
Letter 52 Summary: “To Miss Eliza Wharton”
Lucy worries that Eliza’s depression will impact her health. She advises her to try to rise above it and prove herself stronger than her circumstances.
Lucy updates Eliza on the entertainment world of Boston. She has gone to see Romeo and Juliet, which she denounces, along with tragedy as a genre. Neither does she approve of the circus; it is not appropriate for a chaste, married woman. She does, however, approve of the museum.
She plans to visit Hartford soon.
Letter 53 Summary: “To Mrs. Lucy Sumner”
Major Sanford is now married to a wealthy woman. Eliza is shocked and appalled. She links her reaction to her recent depressed mood. She does not wish to see Sanford, because Eliza does not want to give him any sort of satisfaction in the knowledge that he still has power over her.
Eliza has been gradually reentering the social world, and she expects to visit Lucy along with Julia.
Letter 54 Summary: “To Mr. Charles Deighton”
Necessity has forced the reluctant Major Sanford into marrying Miss Nancy Laurence. His life of dissipation has caused him to nearly lose all of his accessories of high society; marrying into wealth was his only means of maintaining his lifestyle. He believes Nancy is too good to be used like this, but that it is her fault for being duped if she suffers. Her parents did not like Major Sanford at first, but bend to their daughter’s wishes.
Sanford still harbors a passion for Eliza. He plans to bring her and his wife together as friends, in order to reenter Eliza’s world. He plans to confess his motives for marriage, while also treating Nancy “as civil as possible” (116).
Letters 49-54 Analysis
Forsaken by Mr. Boyer, Eliza starts to take a fatalistic view of her misfortunes. She laments, “The events of my life have always been unaccountably wayward,” and wonders if “some evil genius presided over my actions” (108). By turning it into a matter of fate, Eliza demonstrates one of her essential flaws: she is extrinsically motivated. She consistently changes her behavior based on the opinions, influence, and values of the other people in her life. Now, by ascribing the cause of the negative events in her life to a higher, malevolent power, she risks ignoring the power she has in actively changing her fate. Perhaps this is because of her depression, or perhaps it is merely that she does not want to take responsibility.
As Eliza cedes her agency to fate, her voice in the novel begins to diminish. Her letters shorten in length, and she begins to fall deeper into depression. Lucy attempts to cheer Eliza by reminding her that she has “admirers still among men of real merit” (107). But when her chief admirer, Major Sanford, marries a rich woman, it’s a huge blow to Eliza. Though she claims that the marriage won’t affect her, it is evident that this is not entirely true. Now that Sanford is married to Nancy Laurence and ostensibly beyond Eliza’s reach, she cannot hope to be with him. Associating with Sanford ruined her life; now, she cannot even reap any benefit from that association. Eliza feels more forsaken than ever.
