2 Filch lines

(FILCH) -'Tis Woman that seduces all Mankind, By her we first were taught the wheedling Arts: Her very Eyes can cheat; when most she's kind, She tricks us of our Money with our Hearts. For her, like Wolves by Night we roam for Prey, And practise ev'ry Fraud to bribe her Charms; For Suits of Love, like Law, are won by Pay, And Beauty must be fee'd into our Arms." (AIR 1) 

When I read this, I immediately thought about what we have discussed not only in this class, but in my other british literature class as well. In this paragraph Filch is obviously expressing his views on woman. I also think that this paragraph is a very accurate description on most mens views of woman during the time this was written (1728).  In a sense Filch is right. A woman can "seduce" a man and also "cheat when most she's kind", however I don't think its the woman's fault to blame. If a man falls for a woman's trap, it is his fault for trusting and falling in love for a "bad girl", because I find it hard to believe that all women during this time were really to blame for everything.

Another quote I found interesting while reading the play was also a line of Filch's. He says, "When a Gentleman is long kept in suspence, Penitence may break his Spirit ever after" (AIR 2).

I read this line multiple times because I was not sure what it was saying and some of the words were confusing to me. I was most confused by the word penitence, because I forgot what it exactly meant. Penitence (according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary) means: the quality or state of being penitent : sorrow for sins or faults." (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penitence). This quote is so true (for me anyways). I can relate to this quote. If I am stuck in a state of suspense, I often think about what I could have done wrong and when I think about that I get more and more nervous which is sort of breaking my good spirit. I was wondering if any of you have experienced the same?


- I copied and pasted the quotesVia http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2421/pg2421.html. This website is a FREE E-text and it is really helpful because they allow you to copy and paste (obviously). I can now highlight the important lines we go over in class if I paste this into my own pdf file. I believe it will be helpful for me, so I figured it would be helpful for someone else!