Roxana - Appunti

Roxana – Preface Summary

In the preface, the narrator claims that the story will bring both profit and delight to the virtuous

reader, even if it is not perfectly told. He shows respect toward Roxana but admits some doubts: the

story may not always be instructive, and he has also changed parts of it.

Roxana’s main goal is to become rich by using the only resource available to her as a woman: her

body. Men can support themselves through many professions, but women in a patriarchal society

are reduced to objects of exchange, valued only for their physical bodies.

There is a contradiction about truth: the story is said to be real, at least in the beginning, because it

was “verified” by Roxana’s first husband. However, the words of a woman need male confirmation

to be believed, even if the man is unreliable.

Roxana is described as wicked but repentant. She does not want to remain an object; she wants to

be the subject of her own story, and this makes her dangerous in the eyes of society.

The preface also suggests the role of an editor’s intervention, raising doubts about the authenticity

of the narrative. The novel starts as a story of innocence falling into sin, but in the end we discover

that Roxana has fictionalized her entire life.

Roxana is introduced as a clever, quick, and beautiful young woman. From the beginning,

the narrator creates sympathy for her, but we soon see how her life choices will be

influenced by social and economic pressures. She recalls how her father married her to a

brewer. She did not choose him, and although he was handsome, he was also stubborn,

empty-headed, and careless with money. Roxana reflects: “Never, ladies, marry a fool; be

anything, even an old maid, rather than take a fool.” This early warning anticipates her later

life and shows her distrust of men.

In this period, women had no independent rights over money or property because of the law

of coverture. A wife’s possessions legally became her husband’s, and only in the late 19th

century would the Married Women’s Property Acts give women control over their own

property. Roxana’s story, then, exposes the vulnerability of women in marriage and their

dependence on men.

Roxana soon faces poverty and temptation. She meets a landlord who saves her from misery

and offers to support her. At first she hesitates, knowing it is morally wrong, but the fear of

poverty becomes her “snare.” She confesses that dreadful poverty was stronger than her

virtue, and so she agrees to live with him as his mistress. The benefactor is not God, but the

seducer. For her, money becomes a new moral code. She admits: “It was horribly unlawful,

scandalous, and abominable,” but she accepts it. In this way, poverty itself is like the devil

that pushes her to sin.

Here we see how Roxana’s narrative differs from spiritual autobiography. In the 17th

century, many religious autobiographies, such as John Bunyan’s Grace Abounding to the

Chief of Sinners, told stories of sin, conversion, and salvation, always in relation to God.

Roxana, however, transforms this model: instead of conversion and grace, her narrative

becomes centered on financial survival and prosperity. She uses biblical references, but

often twists them to justify her actions.

Roxana also shows her increasing wickedness in how she treats Amy, her maid and

confidante. When the landlord rapes Amy, Roxana does not stop it—instead she watches

and later encourages him to continue. Amy becomes pregnant, and Roxana admits that she

herself had become the devil’s agent, corrupting others. This moment shows her moral

decline and her need to control both sex and money.

When the landlord dies, Roxana reinvents herself as “La belle veuve de Poictou,” the

beautiful widow of Poitou, even though she is not legally a widow. From this point, she

learns to use performance, disguise, and manipulation as strategies of survival. She becomes

the lover of a prince and gains immense wealth. Her narrative focuses more and more on the

accumulation of money, jewels, and gifts rather than on love or morality. She carefully lists

her possessions and shows her skill in manipulating the prince, making him give her more

by pretending not to want anything.

Still, Roxana feels insecure. She depends on the advice of a Dutch merchant to manage her

fortune. This man later proposes marriage, but Roxana refuses. She does not want to lose

her independence again by becoming a wife. Here she represents a dangerous figure for her

society: a woman who rejects the expected role of marriage and instead acts like a merchant,

a “she-merchant,” dealing with money and trade. Defoe highlights the social anxiety around

women who behave like me