Female Orators by Joseph Addison –Qs-Ans.
Q1. What suggestion does the essayist give to the
universities?
Ans. The
essayist humorously suggests that universities should appoint women as
professors of rhetoric.
Q2. Why does Addison suggest that universities should
fill their rhetoric chairs with she-professors only?
Ans. Addison
believes women are more skilled in speaking than men. Even Socrates, a great
speaker, was taught by a woman named Aspasia. Addison jokingly says that women
are naturally good at rhetoric, so they should teach it in universities.
Q3. How are women orators different from male orators,
according to Addison? What example does he give?
Ans. Addison
says that men can talk for hours about something important, while women can
talk for hours about nothing. He gives an example of a woman who made a long
speech about the border of a petticoat and scolded her servant with fancy words
for breaking a china cup.
Q4. What does Addison say about women's way of
speaking, comparing it to a fish-market?
Ans. Addison
jokingly says that women should be allowed to argue in court because they are
very good at speaking. To hear their real talent, one should visit a
fish-market where women argue loudly and passionately. This is meant to be a
funny remark.
Q5. What does Addison mean when he says some men can
talk for hours on anything, but women can talk for hours on nothing?
Ans. Addison
says that while men are praised for speaking on various topics for a long time,
women can talk endlessly even when there's nothing important to say. He is
making a joke that women's talk often lacks meaning.
Q6. What does Addison tell us about an old lady in
this chapter?
Or
How does
Addison make fun of women for their non-stop talking?
Ans. Addison
tells a story about an old lady who kept talking about one unhappy marriage for
a whole month. In one place she blamed the bride, in another she felt sorry for
her, in another she laughed at her, and so on. This shows how women, according
to Addison, talk too much about small things.
Q7. Who are the first kind of female orators?
Ans. The first
kind of women speakers are those who know how to stir up emotions. Socrates'
wife might have been very good at this type of speaking.
Q8. Who are the second type of female orators?
Ans. The second
type of women speakers are good at insulting and mocking others. They have a
sharp imagination and can tell the same story in many different ways.
Q9. What name is given to the third type of female
orators?
Ans. The third
type of women are called gossips. These women love to know and talk about
everything happening around them in their neighbourhood.
Q10. What does Addison call the fourth kind of female
orators?
Ans. Addison
calls them coquettes. These women are talkative and act in a flirtatious way.
They complain a lot, act overly emotional, and always seem unhappy. Writers
like Hudibras and Ovid made fun of such women by saying that their tongues
never rest, not even when they are asleep or even cut off!
Q. 1. What does Addison call the fourth kind of female orators?
Ans. He gives them the name of coquettes. Besides being very talkative, such women are coquettish also. They would hate and love someone in the same breath. They would make an excessive show of their love for their pet dog or parrot. They feel uncomfortable in any kind of weather and in every part of the room. They have imaginary complaints against all men whom they know. They sigh when they are not sad. They laugh when they are not cheerful.
Hudibras has given an interesting reason why women can talk on trifles with the greatest fluency. He is of the opinion that their tongue is like a race-horse. It runs the faster the lesser weight it carries. An Irishman told a woman that her tongue must be glad when she was asleep, for it had no rest while she was awake. In a ballad, Ovid tells of a woman whose tongue was cut out and thrown on the ground. Still it went on murmuring. However, Addison is not very sure which of these reasons is the most probable.
Q. 3. How does Addison classify female orators? What are their special qualities? Or
What are Addison's views about
(1) Socrates' wife,
(2) about female orators who are censorious,
(3) about female orators who indulge in gossips, and
(4) about the coquette ?
Ans. Addison puts female orators into four different groups. The first of these is busy in stirring up the passions. The wife of Socrates belonged to this group. Addison humorously remarks that she was even more skilled in this art than Aspasia, the woman who had instructed Socrates in the art of eloquence.
The second kind of female orators deal in invectives. They are censorious by nature. They have a wonderful imagination. They have an eye on every little slip in the behaviour of another. Then they use their own imagination to enlarge upon it. They go about telling their stories at different places. They censure a man at his back and praise him at his face. Addison tells of a woman belonging to this kind. She once made an unhappy marriage the subject of a month's conversation. She blamed the bride at one place, pitied her in another, laughed at her in a third, wondered at her in a fourth and was angry with her in the fifth. At last she went to the married pair and praised the bride for her very good choice. She expressed her desire that people should have known how happy the husband and wife were.
The third kind of female orators can be called gossips. They make up false stories and tell them everywhere. Addison describes a woman who belonged to this group. She was Mrs. Fiddle Faddle. She was a gossip. She was skilled in this sort of eloquence. She concocted false stories and went about telling them to others. She related every detail of the christenings she had never attended. She knew every dish served in the neighbourhood. She would entertain her friends by telling them about the wit of her little son. But Addison satirically adds that Mrs. Fiddle Faddle's little son was not yet able to speak.
The coquette is the fourth kind of female orator. The only purpose of her talk is to display her graces. She hates and loves in the same breath. She talks to her lap-dog or parrot. She sighs when she is not sad. She laughs when she is not happy. She is uneasy in every corner of the room, and in every weather. She can't speak a word without moving her limbs or eyes.
These are the four different kinds of female orators described by Addison in his essay. But the description is satirical. It is meant to laugh at women out of their garrulity
Q2. Bring out the elements of humour and satire in Addison's essay, Female Orators.
Or
How do women outshine men in talking? Base your answer on Addison's essay, Female Orators
Ans. Addison's ‘Female Orators' is a satire on the garrulity of women. But the satire is very light. It is not biting at all. It is all pure humour.
Many men were great orators. They have been praised for their eloquence. But Addison says that such honour is due to some women also. It is true that some men could talk for hours upon anything. But there are some women who can talk for hours upon nothing. Then who is the greater orator? The satire is indeed obvious.
Socrates was a great orator. But even he was trained in eloquence by a woman. So Addison thinks that this art is more proper to the female sex. He humorously remarks that the universities should fill the rhetoric chairs with she-professors only. He says that if anybody has any suspicion about the talent of woman, he should visit the women in a fish-market.
He also gives the example of a woman, who once made an unhappy marriage the subject of a month's conversation. She blamed the bride at one place, pitied her at another, laughed at her in a third, wondered at her in a fourth and was angry with her in the fifth. At last she went to the married pair and praised the bride for her very good choice. Then there was Mrs. Fiddle Faddle whose little child was not yet able to speak. But she would entertain her friends by telling them stories of her child's wit.
Addison wonders why women have this talent of eloquence better than men. He thinks perhaps women lack retentive power. They are compelled to speak out everything that they think. Addison is not certain if this is the real reason. There are some women who are very cunning and never let others know what is in their heart. Some people think that the tongue is like a race-horse which runs the faster the lesser weight it carries. The point of satire is very obvious here also.
Thus we see that the whole satire in this essay centres on the garrulity of women. But the satire is everywhere very light-hearted.
