AGGRESSION, SUFFERING, AND AFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT IN ELIZA HAYWOOD’S THE HISTORY OF MISS BETSY THOUGHTLESS

Abstract

Published during a period of transition from “the epistemological or cognitive” to the “affective dimension of fiction”, to use Catherine Gallagher’s conceptualization of the progress of the mid-eighteenth-century novel, The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless is often read as a story of development from “thoughtless coquette” to “thoughtful wife”. With these two social roles in the background, this paper sets forth to examine the affective and emotional development of Betsy Thoughtless through a close reading of her reactions to scenes of suffering and forms of aggression. The claim of the paper is that Miss Betsy’s history progresses as her empathy and capacity to internalize potentially traumatic events grow, which invites sympathetic identification.

Keywords

• eliza haywood
• the history of miss betsy thoughtless
• sights of suffering
• aggression
• affective development
• sentimental fiction
• the eighteenth-century novel