Phase 3: Besant with an investigative lens

For phase three I chose option one- putting a passage from one of Besant's pamphlets into conversation with a passage from Cavendish , Astell, Wollstonecraft, or Fuller. Out of Besant's two available pamphlets I choose to work with English Republicanism and decided to put that pamphlet into conversation with Fuller's Women in the 19th Century. This decision was mainly fueled by the fact that during my initial meeting with Besant's texts I already noticed some very evident similarities and differences with Fuller. 

Beginning with a recap from Fuller, whom we discussed quite thoroughly  in class, Women in the 19th Century is a polemic essay for men and women alike with the premise that can be summed up in the quote, "There is no wholly masculine man, and no purely feminine woman." (Fuller 565).  Comparing Besant's aim to Fullers, Besant is speaking to men and women with a persuasive style exigence, but does not argue for feminine values. Instead she argues for the evolution of Republicanism within England. This claim can be supported by the quote "Republics should be born of thought, not suffering; of reason, not despair; they should be slowly evolved through Reform, not burst, like Minerva-like full formed and clad in mail, from the Jove of Revolution" (Besant 3). 

Considering Besant's piece is a pamphlet, and Fuller's is an essay there are obviously going to differ in construction, but what I find interesting is that both present cultural windows within their writing, possibly to appeal to a more intellectual audience. On page five of Besant's English Republicanism she makes reference to many different cultures and their forms of government which states "no countries are more fee from disorder or violence than those inhabited by the sober, thrifty, and industrious Danes and Swiss" (Besant 4-5). Besant continues to point out to her audience that if all these countries in Europe can have what she calls "Universal Suffrage" within a Republican government than why can't England? Fuller, not necessarily arguing for universal suffrage, is however arguing for the harmony of man and women with similar cultural references. Her references do not refer to European countries, but to the Bible, Greek Mythology, and the poets William Wordsworth and Ben Johnson. Fuller frequently places Wordswoth and Johnson into conversation with her own thoughts to support her argument for the the flight of the role of women like the passage "The god's approve, the depth, but not the tumult of the soul, A fervent, not ungovernable love" (Fuller 571) is used to refer to her argument claiming that women should be more of a soul in order to stand alone in love. 

In comparing Besant to Fuller I admit I saved my most interesting find for last. I stated in the first blog post for phase one that Besant mentioned the Roman goddess Minerva in her pamphlet. If we recall Fuller's text devotes a whole section to Minerva and the Muse! Coincidentally Minerva has different connotations within each text. In Fuller's text Minerva is one of the "two aspects of Woman's nature, represented by the ancients as Muse and Minerva" (Fuller 564).  I already mentioned the quote that Minerva was included in for Besant's English Republicanism, for space purposes I am not going to repeat it, but it is located at the near top of this post. Minerva in this case is referred to a violent, war like character which is used to contrast Besant's claim that a slow change in government is necessary for England to adopt Republicanism.