| Using new historicist and feminist lenses, this thesis reconciles British constructions of imperialism and identity with depictions of prostitutes as objects of sensibility, which are exemplified in Laurence Stern's A Sentimental Journey, Henry Mackenzie's A Man of Feeling , and Mary Wollstonecraft's Maria. Through the whore's literary encounter with sentimental creatures, this thesis explores the ways in which the British astutely disguised and divided themselves from the harlot's wantonness. In order to atone for her dissolute commerce, Sterne and Mackenzie romanticize the exchange between the harlot and the man of feeling. The hero's remediation, along with philanthropic institutions, such as the Magdalen House, suggests, in turn, the prostitute's moral restoration and, significantly, Britain's singularity as a nation of reformed streetwalkers and seemingly righteous women. Contrary to these tableaus, however, Wollstonecraft depicts the gruesome reality of humanitarian shortcomings and charitable aid, thus illuminating the whore's plight and her perpetual alienation from society. As an object of pity, the prostitute functions to both rectify Britain's societal and patriarchal shortfalls and idealize the ignominy associated with her profession. |
