The Coquette

The novel’s tragic protagonist is perhaps the book’s most powerful symbol. Because she is based on the real Elizabeth Whitman, a woman who fell to seduction, lost her status in society, and died due to complications in childbirth, Eliza is a direct representation of what early American society feared could happen to women if they failed to tread carefully and uphold moral behavior. Foster gives Whitman the backstory that her death denied her curious society. Through the first-person narrative provided by Eliza’s letters, the reader can trace the thought processes, mistakes, and mishaps that lead to her tragic demise. 

After Eliza’s death, Lucy Sumner explicitly wants Eliza to be remembered as a symbol of how dissipation and libertinism can ruin an otherwise moral woman. She writes, “From the melancholy story of Eliza Wharton, let the American fair learn to reject any insinuation derogatory to their true dignity and honor” (168). From this passage, it is evident that though this letter has the pretense of a private correspondence, it is really aimed at the women of America. Foster writes, through the conceit of Lucy’s letter, in order to bring into the light a