Cold and Raw has to be my favorite song that we were assigned. It seems to mirror the thought process of Moll and her first love. A man wanting to buy a woman's virginity, a woman afraid of impregnation and desertion. However, in this instance the man is already married which seems to make the offer even more egregious. This fact, though, gives the woman the power to deny the scheming man. As we learned while reading Moll Flanders, women were rarely able to decline a proposal, even from a lustful man only seeking to take advantage of her. Since he is married she is able to rule out this possibility and is empowered. It is interesting to me though, that up until the point that she discovers his marriage she is still conversing with him. Yes, she claims that she would not agree to that proposition even if she were severely poor, or for all the money in the world, but she does not end the conversation. After this statement, she continues on to present the possibility of pregnancy and questions where he would be if that happened, giving the man further opportunity to convince her. It is not enough to know that a woman is worthless after the loss of virginity, as shown in Air VI "What Shall I Do to Show How Much I Love Her".
"But, when once plucked, 'tis no longer alluring,
To Covent Garden 'tis sent (as yet sweet),
There fades, and shrinks, and grows past all enduring
Rots, stinks, and dies, and is trod under feet."
It is after he reveals his wedlock that she ends the conversation and the song ends.
These songs preach the preciousness of virginity, yet this farmer's daughter and Moll leave room for men to reason them out of their reason, which we spent some time discussing in class. I would think that with the emphasis placed on virginity in this time period, the women would guard themselves more closely instead of leaving room for deceitful men to play mind games with them. Therefor, I am sure that this farmer's daughter will eventually be taken advantage of, similar to Moll, and I do not have sympathy for either of them.
How cynical to think that she would just eventually give in! I think she continues to relay possibilities to him as a way to berate him for not thinking of things that are so obvious to her, things that all women have to worry about and men often neglect to think about. I'd prefer to believe that she sharply sent him on his way after putting him in his place.
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