A Serious Proposal to the Ladies Literary Elements

A Serious Proposal to the Ladies Literary Elements

Genre

Feminism, Philosophy.

Setting and Context

Seventeenth-century.

Narrator and Point of View

Mary Astell is the narrator.

Tone and Mood

Motivational, activist, feminist, and informative.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The ladies (who are the addressees) are the protagonists.

Major Conflict

Ladies rising above the perceived inferiority would make them wiser.

Climax

Women attaining astuteness equivalent to men’s.

Foreshadowing

Astell foreshadows the pleasure and contentment that awaits women once they have been enlightened through the retreat that she proposes.

Understatement

Astell’s argument “the world is not over full of 'em" (good men) is an understatement that ignores the reality that the goodness of men is relative.

Allusions

Astell alludes to Biblical concepts.

Imagery

The imagery of diamond underscores the valuableness of the happiness which all ladies deserve.

Paradox

N/A

Parallelism

Astell employs a parallel structure in her diction whereby she contracts most of the words.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

'Paradise' represents Heaven. 'Light' represents piety. 'Heat' denotes zeal.

Personification

N/A

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