Lesson plan PowerPoint for Lord Chesterfield's, "A Correct View of Women," 1748

1. LORD
CHESTERFIELD
“A Correct View of Women” ~ 1748
SMILE, but
NEVER LAUGH!

2. VOCABULARY
Suffrages
 petitions, intercessions/entreaties
“As women are a considerable, or at
least a pretty numerous, part of
company, and as their suffrages
[petitions] go a great way toward
establishing a man’s character in the
fashionable world – which is of great
importance to the fortune and figure he
proposes to make in it – it is necessary
to please them.”
Arcana
 mysterious or specialized
knowledge, language, or
information accessible or
possessed only by the initiate
“I will therefore, upon this subject, let
you into certain arcana
[mysteries], that will be very useful
for you to know, but which you must
with the utmost care conceal, and
never seem to know.”
Trifling
 having little value or importance
“…and, being justly distrustful that men
in general look upon them in a trifling
[an insignificant] light, they almost
adore that man who talks more
seriously to them, and seems to
consult them…”

3. VOCABULARY
Inviolably
 secure from assault or
trespass
“But these are secrets that you
must keep inviolably
[close/safe/hidden] if you
would not, like Orpheus, be
torn to pieces by the whole
sex.”
Mediocrity
 moderate ability or value
“…but those who are in a state
of mediocrity [little worth] are
best flattered upon their
beauty…”
Beau Monde
 the world of high society
and fashion
“…they absolutely stamp
every man’s character in the
beau monde [high society]
and make it either current or
cry it down and stop it in
payments.”

4. SYNTAX
Periodic Sentence
main clause:
“…it is necessary to
please them.”
Litotes
An understatement employed for
rhetorical effect:
“little passion or humor”
“beauty neglected or
controverted”
Doubling/Tripling
“their best resolutions”
“their beauty neglected”
“their age increased”
“their supposed understandings”
“their little passions”
“their most reasonable moments”
“with them” “with them”

5. SYNTAX (CONT.)
Antithesis
 two opposites are introduced in
the same sentence, for
contrasting effect
“too high or too low”
“greedily swallow the highest”
“gratefully accept the lowest”
Catalog
 Creating lists for rhetorical
effect
“…man must be gallant, polite,
and attentive…”
“…more or less influence in
courts; they absolutely stamp
every man’s character in the
beau monde…”

6. “As women are a
considerable…it is
necessary to please
them.”
Thesis:
SUMMARY:
¶ 1 – Man’s success depends on his
standing in society. Women are part of
said society. Therefore, it is important to
please women. I will unveil hidden
mysteries which you must “conceal.”
¶ 2 – Women, being overgrown
children, lack reason and restraint in
social realms. Wise men humor them, but
never “trust them” with anything of
importance. It is a weak man who
engages in serious conversation with a
woman.
¶ 3 – Women want to “shine” and
thus, crave flattery. It’s best to flatter their
weak understanding, and when there is
none, flatter their appearance.
¶ 4 – These secrets, you must keep.
Women wield power in social circles. Do
what you must to be a gentleman, and
never let them in on our secret, or they
will destroy you.

7. METAPHOR
 a comparison of (2)
different things by speaking
of one in terms of the other
Child/Children
“Women then are only children
of a larger growth…”
“A man of sense…plays with
them, as he does with a
sprightly, forward child…”

8. TONE
author’s attitude
towards his subject
“They have an entertaining
tattle and sometimes wit, but
for a solid, reasoning good
sense, I never in my life knew
one that had it, or acted
consequentially for four-and-
twenty hours together.”
“A man of sense only trifles
with them, plays with them…”
“their little passions…”
“dabbling in business –
which, by the way, they always
spoil…”
Confident/Wise
“On the contrary, a man who
thinks of living in the great
world must be gallant, polite,
and attentive to please the
women.”
Superior/Demeaning
Arrogant,
Chauvinistic

9. CHARACTERISTICS OF ESSAY
 open-ended
 personal
 focused
 not narrative

10. ALLUSION
“Orpheus”
 a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek
mythology
 The major stories about him are centered on his ability to
charm all living things and even stones with his music, his
attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld, and
his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine
music.
 Orpheus at the end of his life disdained the worship of all gods
save the sun, whom he called Apollo. One early morning he
went to the oracle of Dionysus to salute his god at dawn, but
was ripped to shreds by Thracian Maenads (female followers
of Dionysus) for not honoring his previous patron Dionysus.

11. In my mind there is nothing so illiberal, and so ill-bred, as audible laughter. I am neither of a melancholy nor
a cynical disposition, and am as willing and as apt to be pleased as anybody; but I am sure that since I
have had the full use of my reason nobody has ever heard me laugh.
Having mentioned laughing, I must particularly warn you against it; and I would heartily wish that you may
often be seen to smile, but never heard to laugh while you live. Frequent and loud laughter is the
characteristic of folly and ill-manners; it is the manner in which the mob express their silly joy at silly things;
and they call it being merry.

12. Taking a view of the different works which have been written on
education, Lord Chesterfield's Letters must not be silently passed over.
Not that I mean to analyze his unmanly, immoral system, or
even to cull any of the useful, shrewd remarks which occur in his epistles
-- No, I only mean to make a few reflections on the avowed tendency of
them -- the art of acquiring an early knowledge of the world. An art, I will
venture to assert, that preys secretly, like the worm in the bud, on the
expanding powers, and turns to poison the generous juices which should
mount with vigour in the youthful frame, inspiring warm affections and
great resolves.*
* That children ought to be constantly guarded against the vices and
follies of the world, appears, to me, a very mistaken opinion; for in the
course of experience, and my eyes have looked abroad, I never knew a
youth educated in this manner, who had early imbibed these chilling
suspicions, and repeated by rote the hesitating if of age, that did not
prove a selfish character.
Mary Wollstonecraft (Shelley), A
Vindication of the Rights of
Women - 1792