The Coquette

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. “Seduction novels” were a popular genre in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Given the time period, what can you guess about the typical plot, themes, and characters of a seduction novel?

Teaching Suggestion: Students will appreciate The Coquette more deeply if they understand both the seduction novel tradition and its typical goals. As students will likely be able to make reasonable guesses about seduction novels, you might ask them to complete the prompt first and then offer them the first resource listed below as a way to check their ideas and refine their answers.

• This article offers a thorough introduction to seduction novels and their social and political context.
• This article from Rhetoric and Public Affairs explores key ideas from Donna R. Bontatibus’s text The Seduction Novel of the Early Nation: A Call for Socio-Political Reform. (Due to its length and complexity, this article is suggested as a teacher-facing resource.)

2. What is an “epistolary novel”? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of writing in this format?