rape and attempted rape

A detailed Summary of rape and attempted rape

Rape or attempted rape the words alone turn my stomach. I find no comedy in the subject as I am sure most would agree with me. That however was not the norm a couple of centuries ago, in fact it is the subject of the article, Feilding and the Comedy of Attempted Rape by Susan Staves. Rape is a difficult subject for both the reader and the law that governs it. Even today woman find it hard to testify in court and only since DNA testing can we be positive of who the true rapist is. Susan starts off, by telling us in the world of comic romance of the 18th century, chastity is safe from violation. That sets us up for the reality of this oxymoron. Safes maybe from rape but not the violence that accompanies such a horrible act or attempted act.

We are informed that Henry Feilding was a pretty popular writer of his time, with several successful comic romances to claim to his fame. Hence the title of this article. We learned quickly that Mr. Feilding's female heroine (Fanny) is attached and almost raped several times, (five to be accurate) in a couple of his books. We are also made aware that these attempted rapes have many meanings and hidden reasons aside from the obvious criminal act by today's standards. We are lead to believe tha

y makes light of harsh situations. He could have made it a little easier for people to see these injustices with his writings and sparked a little mindfulness.

As the author moves forward we see a clearer picture what is going on legally at this time, and how it pertained to rape and why these ass backward laws even existed. Society was male dominant and as I already mentioned chaste women were the objects of desire. Less desirable women in contrast were less vulnerable to rape. This ideal would also keep a virtues woman out of the courts. There is a clear interpitation of this ideal with a comic flip from the book called Joseph Andrews. A man claims to be Fanny's lover and climbs into bed to rape Fanny. In reality it is not fanny but another woman and when she realized he was not well endowed she let him know. He tried to leave the bed but the woman grab hold of his shirt and informed him that she was going to cry rape and claimed her virtue was taken in the night as she slept. She also claimed that she would prosecute with the utmost vengeance. The joke is mixed, first it is on the foolish man that can't even pull off a crime right!

I was appalled when I read the amount of rape and attempted rape cases that actually made it to the courts during this period in history. Towards the end of the article the author reported a few studies of rape and attempted rape. The numbers were so minimal I feel embarrassed for our ancestors. If they were small because of humanity and or law-abiding citizens k

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Approximate Word count = 1015
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous