Fashion, or Life in New York by Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt
The following is a selection from the play Fashion, or Life in New York (1845) by Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt. It involves a conversation between Mrs. Tiffany, a lady who imagines herself fashionable, and Millinette, a French ladies maid. Mrs. Tiffany is part of the social more of New York’s upper class and absurdity arises when she tries to utilize social forms which she does not understand, to try and become part of what she calls the “ee-light.” (A.1 s.1)Mrs. Tiffany: Is everything in order, Millinette? Ah! Very elegant, very elegant, Indeed! There is a jenny-says-quoi look about this furniture, -an air of fashion and gentility perfectly bewitching. Is there not, Millinette? Mrs. Tiffany: But where is Miss Seraphina? It is twelve o’clock; our visitors will be poring in, and she has not made her appearance. But I keep people waiting. –None but vulgar persons pay attention to punctuality. Is it not so, Millinette? Millinette: Quite comme it faut. –Great personnes always do make little personnes wait, Madame. Mrs. Tiffany: This mode of receiving visitors only upon one specified day of the week is a most convenient custom! It saves the tro
Mr. Tiffany: Confound your balls, madam; they make footballs of my money, while you dance away all that I am worth! A pretty time to give a ball when you know that I am on the very brink of bankruptcy! By listening to her mother and acting the way she wants her to, Seraphina is playing a certain kind of “elite” role. She realizes how it feels to be an “elite” and can view herself through this personality. Also, Mrs. Tiffany wants Seraphina to be the feminine ideal. Fascinating, young, glamorous, beautiful and attractive to men, and through her use of fashion, Seraphina is able to do this. Another person who uses fashion to play an elite role is Count Jolimatre. He is a fake, but is able to conceal his true identity, that he is poor, by dressing nice and acting like a French nobleman. This proves that in its deviousness, fashion is able to trick or fool the Tiffany Family. Reason is not an effective defense because fashion makes use of cunning. It is true that affluent men showed their wealth by displaying lavishly dressed wives and it is true, as shown by Mrs. Tiffany, that such women were totally dependent, in an economic sense, upon their husbands.
Some topics in this essay:
Olivier Bernier,
Tiffany Tiffany,
Family Reason,
French America,
Count Jolimaitre,
I’m I’ve,
Elizabeth Betsy,
Tiffany- Tiffany,
Tiffany Millinette,
Paris France,
s1 tiffany,
upper class,
madame tiffany,
a1 s1 tiffany,
fashion’s sake,
1800 olivier,
olivier bernier,
world 1800,
easy tiffany,
world 1800 olivier,
a1 s1,
1800 olivier bernier,
houses dinners balls,
a3 s1 tiffany,
play fashion,
Join now to see the rest of the essay!
Approximate Word count = 2560
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
Example Essays Home
