Identity, Anxiety, and Ambiguity within the Eighteenth-Century Representation
of the Slave: Anna Letitia Barb auld, Hannah More, and Phillis Wheatley
by
Margaret Markovic
B.A., The University ofBritish Columbia in association
with The Okanagan University College, 1995

THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS
m

INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES

© Margaret Markovic, 1997
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA
May 1997
All rights reserved . This work may not be
reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or ''!
other means, without the permission of the author.'\

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Jl
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Abstract

Eighteenth-century poets, Anna Letitia Barbauld, Hannah More, and Phillis Wheatley
represented the slave, contributing to the creation of an African identity that both challenged and
affirmed the cultural perception of the African, the Other. I examined the poetry using the New
Historical, Feminist, and Post-Colonial perspectives and considered the ways in which social
assumptions and historical events influenced the writers in their representations of the African
slave. Examining the poets ' representations of the African slave allowed me to explore the act of
representation and focus upon the contradictory assumptions and images that are involved with
representation and its connection to the creation of identity. To understand the poets '
representations of the African, it was necessary to consider their work within its historical
context, particularly the eighteenth-century perceptions of ' race,' the African, and the abolitionist
cause. Abolitionists attempted to create an alternative image of the African that focused upon
shared human bonds and produced sympathy for the plight of the African. Barbauld' s and More ' s
poetry were written in an effort to create a sympathetic image of the African to convince the
politicians to abolish Britain' s participation in the slave trade; however, while speaking out against
the slave trade, the two British poets created contradictory images and implied that the African
belonged to an inferior ' race.' As an African native, Wheatley provides a contrast to Barbauld
and More and their representations of the African which indicates that the voice of the Other is
susceptible to contradictions, social assumptions, and conflicting images in the representation of
the Other. Ultimately, the three women ' s poetry provides a case study by which to examine the
conflicts and contradictions that are a part of the process of literary representation and the ways in
which representation contributes to a conflicted identity.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract

II

Table of Contents

Ill

Chapter One

Introduction to the Poets and Theories
regarding Representation and Identity

Chapter Two

Beast or Human: Eighteenth-Century Conceptions
and Representation of the African

15

Chapter Three

The Problem ofFreedom: Eighteenth-Century Historical
Events and Representation of the African

30

Chapter Four

Women' s Sphere: Eighteenth-Century Social and Gender
Perceptions and Representation of the African

53

Chapter Five

Conclusions

79

Works Consulted

85

Chapter One

Introduction to the Poets and Theories
regarding Representation and Identity

The history of British abolition may be divided into two phases that are distinguished by
\ihe abolition bill outlawing the slave trade in 1807 and the passing of the Emancipation Act
abolishing slavery in 183 ~ Each phase in the history of abolition involves a variety of
organizations and individuals who, in their way, contributed to the anti-slavery campaign. In
1792, William Wilberforce, an influential proponent of abolition, noted that
great political events are rarely the offspring of cool, deliberate
system; they receive their shape, size, and colour, and the data of
their existence, from a thousand causes which could hardly have
been foreseen, and in the production of which, various unconnected
and jarring parties combined and assisted. (qted . in D.Porter x)
The history of abolition involves the union of 'unconnected and jarring parties' that affected the
nature and direction of the anti-slavery movement. During the 1790s, for example, abolitionist

2
supporters could not have foreseen British anti-slave trade' support from the planters of the older
West Indian colonies (Craton 263). By limiting slave labour in Britain' s new acquisitions of
Demerara, Surinam, and Trinidad, the established West Indian planters hoped to prevent
competition from the newer colonies (P.Richardson 89). The history of the British anti-slavery
campaign includes many such examples of unforeseen aid for the abolition of the slave trade and
of slavery itself, indicating that each phase of the campaign was the result of, as Wilberforce
suggested, ' a thousand causes,' motivations, and individuals.
This thesis will focus upon the[!irst phase of abolition that began in approximately 1787-8
with the first formal proposal against the slave trade and the creation of an anti-slave trade society
and that ended with the abolition ofthe slave trade in 1807 (D.Porter 1, Drescher Capitalism 3).
The first phase ofBritish abolition centred around the anti-slave trade debate and Britain' s
participation in the transportation and trading of human beings, rather than on the issue of
ownership of slaves. The abolitionists amassed popular and political support by addressing the
morality, legality, and economics oftransporting slaves, attacking the slave trade on religious,
political, and economic grounds. In a 1677 legal judgment, slaves were defined as "commodities"
that could be sold under the terms of the Navigation Acts (Craton 254). By focusing upon the
appalling conditions of the Middle Passage and Parliament' s power to control trade, many
abolitionists indirectly condemned slavery and avoided the controversial issue of government
interference in ' property' rightg (Hyman 80, Lloyd 128).

1

I

,\

To avoid confusion concerning terminology, I have followed Roger Anstey' s, Dale Porter' s, and Seymour
Drescher's example and used the phrase "anti-slave trade" to define the forces that opposed the slave trade and to
differentiate from the over-all anti-slavery campaign which was the primary concern during the second phase of
abolitionism. It comes as no surprise that there are as many ways to spell and indicate 'anti-slave trade ' as there
are theories regarding the reasons for the successful campaign against Britain's participation in the Atlantic slave
trade. The historians listed in the Works Consulted of this thesis use, for example, 'anti-slave-trade,' 'antislavetrade,' 'antislave trade,' and ' pro-slave trade,' to differentiate the opposing forces of the slave trade debate.

3

The abolition campaign united many 'jarring parties' who debated the morality and
economics of British participation in the slave trade in Parliament, in clubs, and at public
meetings, using pamphlets and literature to foster anti-slavery sentiments. Different segments of
society assisted in the abolition campaign, including literary artists such as Wordsworth, Blake,
Wollstonecraft, Johnson, and Cowper who responded to the changing climate concerning liberty
and sympathized with the plight of the African (A.Richardson 23, P. Richardson 82-83). [!ly
publishing anti-slavery essays, poetry, and plays, the poets helped create an anti-slavery climate
that challenged the public and the authorities to question the moral, political, and economic
justification of the slave trade and, eventually, slavery itself(Anstey The Atlantic 142-53).
Literary artists were encouraged to address the anti-slave trade debate and publicize the shocking
effects ofthe slave trade, in part, because abolition organizers recognized the ability of poetry to
sway opinior}J William Cowper, for example, wrote "The Negro's Complaint" to assist the
Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade (Cowper "To Lady Hesketh" 880). ~ representing
the interests of Africans, poets and other literary artists participated in the anti-slave trade debate
and the campaign to abolish slavery:,...
As defenders of oppressed Africans, British abolitionists participated in a larger debate
concerning individual freedom. [buring the eighteenth century, which was also known as the
Enlightenment or Age of Reason, moral, legal, political, and philosophical arguments contributed
to an anti-slavery climate which religious abolitionists developed into action, resulting in the legal
abolition of the slave trade and slavery (Anstey The Atlantic 125, 140). Enlightenment
philosophers such as Rousseau argued that "the right of slavery is null and void, not only as being
illegitimate, but also because it is absurd and meaningless" (Le Contrat Social 1762 qted. in
Anstey The Atlantic 120). In general, slavery was condemned upon the grounds that it violated

4

an individual's "original rights" and was incompatible with "liberty," "happiness," and

~ (11 0, 119). Religious thinkers also extolled the need for benevolence, but they
focused upon God's example rather than the individual right to happiness: "God has implemented
in our very frame and make, a compassionate Sense of the Sufferings and Misfortunes of other
People, which disposes us to contribute to their relief' (unnamed Preacher 1760 qted. in Anstey
The Atlantic 128). IThe focus upon philanthropy and the belief that slavery was an evil which
needed to be abolished to avoid God' s judgment provided religious communities, such as the
(182, 193).
Evangelicals, with the incentive to campaign for the legal abolition of the slave trade
_..J
On the surface, the two sides -- Enlightenment thinkers and religious abolitionists -- were distinct;
however, in Britain, philosophical reasoning was "usually presented as at least compatible with
Christian belief' (123). The "English Enlightenment" was not " markedly anticlerical" (Yolton et
al 7), allowing for some compatibility between the philosophers and the religious abolitionists on
the issue of the slave trade and slavery. Historian Roger Anstey focuses upon the "striking
unanimity" in the British philosophical arguments against slavery and the slave trade and suggests
that eighteenth-century British philosophy and Christianity helped create an anti-slavery and antislave trade climate (The Atlantic 124). Individuals such as Scottish thinker Adam Ferguson, in
Institutes ofMoral Philosophy (1769), declared that[ [n]o one is born a slave; because every one
is born with all his original rights. No one can become a slave, because no one, from being a
person, can, in the language of the Roman law, become a thing or subject ofpropertyJ (qted. in
Anstey The Atlantic 110). Similarly, in his Elements of Moral Science (1790-1793), British
philosopher James Beattie condemned slavery:
all men upon earth, whatever their colour, are our brethren, and
neighbors: and if so, both reason and Scripture declare, that it is

5

our duty to love them, and to do unto them as we would that
they do unto us. (qted. in Anstey The Atlantic 112)
The two sides of abolitionism "converged in the 1780s, when in the cause of philanthropy
religious devotees campaigned alongside ardent freethinkers" (Craton 250). ~

in

general, argued that, as More suggested in The Slave Trade. A Poem, circumstances and origins
were irrelevant because slaves " still are men, and men should still be free" (170). The common
goal remained the abolition of the slave trade and slavery/.
_:j

Anti-slave trade poetry reflects the aims and strategies of the abolitionists, responding to
current debates and setbacks to the abolition campaign. This thesis will focus upon two British
anti-slave trade poets, Anna Letitia Barbauld and Hannah More, examining the ways in which the
two poets' works reflect the anti-slave trade debate while representing the interests of African
slaves. The third poet in this analysis, Phillis Wheatley, provides a contrast to the two British
poets' representations of African slaves because she was an African slave and the voice of the
Other, because she was the first "Black" woman to publish in England, and because her poetry
was used by abolitionists to promote the anti-slavery cause, establishing it as a part of the antislave trade debate (Fryer 91-93). Wheatley' s poetry also helps demonstrate the extent to which
the poet responds to her external environment, particularly cultural assumptions regarding the
African identity and the slave trade .
Anna Letitia Barbauld wrote Epistle to William Wilberforce. Esq. on the Rejection of the
Bill for Abolishing the Slave Trade in response to Parliament' s defeat of the 1791 abolition bill
put forward by William Wilberforce. The abolition bill was defeated in a 163 to 88 vote because
slave trade supporters believed that abolition could destroy the British economy, the West Indies,
and the British navy (D.Porter 77-78). In response to witnessed accounts of atrocities against the

6
slaves, individuals such as Thomas Grosvenor, a supporter of the slave trade, argued that dealing
in slaves "was not an amiable trade, but neither was the trade of a butcher an amiable trade, and
yet a mutton chop was nevertheless a very good thing." (qted. in D .Porter 78). Barbauld's
Epistle attacked the slave trade defenders and the nature and content of the parliamentary debate
regarding the merits of trading in human beings. As a Dissenter, Barbauld understood the desire
for freedom and used poems such as "To Dr. Priestley, Dec. 29, 1792" to promote religious
freedom. Throughout her poetry, Barbauld expresses independent and "[r]evolutionary rhetoric
and ideals" regarding anti-slavery sentiments, religious freedom, and justice (McCarthy and Kraft

xxiv-xxv) .

~

More's The Slave Trade, A Poem (1790) was also written for the anti-slave trade

campaign to influence public opinion. At the request of the Abolition Committee, More wrote
"Slavery, A Poem" (1788), which she later expanded into The Slave Trade (Ferguson "British
Women" 4-5). As a serious and vocal anti-slave trade supporter, More created methods to
promote abolition by encouraging the boycott of West Indian sugar, addressing the conditions of
slave ships, and composing anti-slave trade poetry (Kowaleski-Wallace 63). The well published
More was an Evangelical and acquainted with William Wilberforce and other members of the
Clapham Sect and involved in a variety of social societies and endeavours, including the
publication of The Cheap Repository Tracts (Todd Dictionary 224-27). The Slave Trade

After reading Barbauld' s poetry and researching her biography in a variety of sources, it is still unclear as to the 'f_.
sort of "Dissenter" Barbauld was. According to McCarthy and Kraft, in William McCarthy and Elizabeth Kraft.
eds .. The Poems of Anna Letitia Barbauld (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1994) xxxv, many of the
manuscript materials pertaining to Barbauld were destroyed in 1940 during the bombing of London. However, as
noted in Janet Todd, ed. , Dictionary of British and American Women Writers (Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield
Publishers, 1987) 37-38, Barbauld' s poems such as "Epistle to William Wilberforce" ( 1791), "To Dr. Priestley,
Dec. 29, 1792"(1793), "Address to the Opposers of the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts" (1790), "Letter to
John Bull" (1792), and "Remarks on Mr. Gilbert Wakefield' s Enquiry" (1793) indicate that she was not afraid to
join the political fight for religious freedom and freedom for the Mrican slaves. For the scope of this thesis, it is
important to focus upon the nature of Barbauld's attack and its effect upon her representation of the African.
2

7

therefore reflects many of More's concerns, as well as typical abolitionist arguments and
reasoning to promote the anti-slave trade cause_}
Abolition organizers also used Phillis Wheatley' s poetry to illustrate the artistic abilities of
African people and to counter the savage, inferior image promoted by slave trade supporters. In
response to this celebration of African achievement, Thomas Jefferson, in Notes on the State of
Virginia ( 1781-82), argued that he had not found an African who had "uttered a thought above
the level of plain narration" and thus Wheatley's poetry was "below the dignity of criticism." As
Jefferson' s assessment indicates, Wheatley' s poetry was not an uncomplicated symbol of African
achievement. In "On Being Brought from Africa to America," for example, Wheatley appears to
outline the benefits ofbeing brought to America, contradicting abolitionist arguments against the
slave trade. Wheatley' s circumstances are both unique and all too characteristic of the tragedies
of slavery, illustrating the contradictions of her life as a slave and a poet. Transported from Africa
and sold to the Wheatley family, Phillis Wheatley published her poetry in Britain and America,
visited admirers of her poetry in London, was manumitted in 1778, and died in poverty in Boston
in 1784 (Richmond Bid 12-14, 31 , 34, 42,49). Although abolitionists used Wheatley' s poetry to
increase anti-slavery support, her representation ofthe African identity did not always promote
the abolitionist cause.
Wheatley' s poetry demonstrates that the representation of self as African slave or, as in
Barbauld's and More' s poetry,\,!he act of representing the Other, is a complicated and
controversial issue, in part because representing self or Other involves the creation of an identity]
It is one of the ironies of Wheatley' s poetry that the self that Wheatley creates is in fact
Immersed in European culture and literature, Wheatley experiences an estrangement from self, a
self which is made Other in poetic culture. The representation of Other and literary

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8

representations in general create identities and influence the way in which we judge and define
ourselves and individuals and cultures other than our own. ~ defining individuals or cultures as
other than or different from a perceived ideal model, we designate the Other as inferior (Said
Orientalism ad passim) and in need of financial, spiritual, or physical aid and/or "civilizing." This
condescending attitude is made more complex when a dominant culture or group takes on the role
of defender to provide help for oppressed or persecuted individuals or groups. However, in
speaking out against inequity, we necessarily speak for the oppressed, as in Barbauld' s and
More' s poetry, and thus take on the Other' s voice]
By taking on the Other's voice, an author creates a new image of the Other. This newly
created literary identity includes both the author' s interests and the oppressed individual's
interests and concerns as the author understands them. Representing an individual or group in
literature thus results in the representation of both the self (the author) and the Other (the
represented) because an author cannot separate her or his personal biases, motivations, or cultural
assumptions from the needs and interests of the represented individual or group. Consequently,
Barbauld' s

~

representations of the Other involve an amalgamation of their personal

interpretations, cultural responses, and their perceptions of the interests of African slaves,
although, certainly, the understanding that slavery was inherently wrong was not an ill-conceived
notion and within the best interests of all enslaved African peoples. Within their poetry, the two
British women demonstrate that speaking for the Other does not mean the authors are not
speaking for the self In representing the Other, Barbauld and More also represent the self,
expressing their own interests and concerns which conflict and often contradict the interests and
concerns of African slaves and a positive perception of an African identityJ
__.)

9
Phillis Wheatley exemplifies the contradictions of one who is caught between the need to
represent self and the cultural demand to see herself as Other. In an analysis of Wheatley's
poetry, Alice Walker argues that Wheatley's external world of enslavement is at odds with her
internal creative imagination, producing "contrary instincts" that affect the nature and content of
her poetry (235). Wheatley's contrary instincts are the result of conflicting needs to appear
submissive before her 'masters' on the one hand and to address the subject of freedom within her
poetry on the other. ~

and ambiguities are therefore inevitable because the author

responds to internal and external influences which necessarily conflicl
Virginia Woolf originally used the concept of 'contrary instincts' to predict the fate of a
sixteenth-century female poet in A Room of One's Own:
a highly gifted girl who had tried to use her gift for poetry would
have been so thwarted and hindered by other people, so tortured
and pulled asunder by her own contrary instincts, that she must
have lost her health and sanity to a certainty. ( 48)
Woolf maintains that the patriarchal sixteenth century world was not receptive to female
creativity, establishing a hostile external environment which created conflict between the female
poet's struggle to reconcile cultural and gender expectations with her inner creative gift. The
example is extreme; however, Woolf illustrates the ways in which the external world affects the
form and content of the female poet's work, arguing that the poet cannot separate her work from
her external environment. Contary instincts affect not only Wheatley, but also Barbauld and More
because the women are influenced by eighteenth-century cultural and gender expectations. The
two British poets contend with their culture' s perception of the African identity, their desire to
reform Britain in regard to the country' s moral behavior, their abolitionist goals, personal

10
interests, and, for Barbauld, an external environment that is not completely receptive to a
woman's artistic comment upon political concerns. These contending interests result in contrary
instincts that cause the poets both to affirm and challenge cultural expectations in an attempt to
reconcile their inner artistic gifts with their external environment.
Contrary instincts affect each of the

~

representation of the Other because the

author, whether European or African, is influenced by personal concerns, the interests of the
represented-Other, and cultural assumptions and expectations. @onsequently, literary works must
be examined within their historical and cultural contexts because the contrary instincts can only be
understood by considering the tensions affecting the autho? What are the internal and external
influences affecting Barbauld's, More's, and Wheatley's literary representations of African slaves?
For Barbauld

~

abolition goals contend with artistic concerns, social expectations,

personal and religious motivations and beliefs, and the interests of African slaves. As
abolitionists, the two British poets attempted to reconcile their attack upon British participation in
the slave trade with their presentation of an ideal Britain that was the model of Christianity,
justice, and freedom] Wheatley also experienced contrary influences, but the restrictions of her
enslavement further challenged her poetic voice. In examining the external and internal influences
affecting the poets, we gain a clearer understanding of the process of representation and the ways
in which an author, the external environment, and the perception of the represented Other all
affect a literary representation.
Because representation takes its shape from the concerns of the author, the external
environment, or culture, and, to some extent, the interests of the Other, the constructed literary
identity is experienced as incomplete and ambiguous. In " Cultural Identity and Diaspora," Stuart
Hall maintains that identity is a "production which is never complete [; it is] always in process,

11
and always constituted within, not outside, representation" (392). The process of representation
is hightlighted by the author' s attempts to reconcile self interests, social concerns, and the needs
of the Other; an author' s representation necessarily embodies the concerns, assumptions, and
ambiguities of the author and her or his culture, in this case, British culture and identity,
emphasizing the problematical nature of identity in general. Representation creates identity and
thus the inevitable contradictions that are a part of the process of representing the self and another
individual in literature are mirrored in the created identity. To understand the inherent
contradictions within representation and each poet' s creation of an African identity, it is necessary
to examine the process of representation within the context of historical forces and debates,
focusing upon the internal and external influences that affect Barbauld' s, More' s, and Wheatley' s
perceptions and representations of African slaves.
The abolition period is an appropriate setting to study the relation of history to the
representation of the Other because anti-slave trade proponents Barb auld and ~

publicly

represented the interests of the hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children who were
sold into slavery during the eighteenth and early nineteenth

~ In the 1808 The History of

the Rise. Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British
Parliament, abolitionist Thomas Clarkson claimed the "administration of lord Grenville ... which,
on account of its virtuous exertions in [sic] behalf of the oppressed African race, will pass to
posterity, living through successive generations, in the love and gratitude of the most virtuous of
mankind" (78) . Clarkson' s assertion of "exertions on behalf of' slaves illustrates that the
abolitionists campaigned from the premise that they represented the silently 'oppressed' African
slaves who lacked the power to voice their own concerns. In a letter to David Wooster dated
1773, Wheatley reinforces the image of the British defenders of freedom : " Since my return to

12
America my Master, has at the desire of my friends in England given me my freedom" (Shields
Collected 170). Wheatley implies that her English ' friends ' spoke to her master on her behalf,
defending her right to freedom. It was by speaking for the oppressed African slaves that
abolitionists publicly condemned the slave trade and defined themselves as the defenders of
African slaves.
The affect of speaking for Africans was that British defenders represented thousands of
individual slaves without regard for their geographical, national, religious, or slave experience
differences. In an 1807 letter entitled A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, Wilberforce
acknowledges the impossibility of describing the history and suffering of each slave:
Could I but separate this immense aggregate into all its component
parts, and present them one by one to your view ... you would then
have a more just impression of the immensity of the misery which
we wish to terminate. This cannot be done; but let us, in concluding
our melancholy course, employ a few moments in taking some family,
or some individual Negro, and [follow] him through all the successive
stages of his suffering. (72)
In an effort to promote sympathy, Wilberforce creates the story of 'some' slave, focusing upon
the suffering he might encounter from the time of his transportation to his death on a plantation.
Certainly, it was impossible to describe every slave history; however, in representing ' some
family' or ' some individual Negro,' the differences between the slave experiences and the
distinctions between the Africans were lost. Without differences, African slaves remained a
homogenous group defined by generalized terms befitting ' some family ' or ' some individual
Negro ' but not necessarily a specific African family or individual.

13

One of the primary problems of representing any group in literature involves the
assumption that everyone within the group shares common characteristics, goals, or beliefs. For
example, in a discussion of the inability of feminist theory to represent the concerns of all women,
Chandra Talpade Mohanty argues that " [i]t is time to move beyond the ideological framework in
which even Marx found it possible to say: They cannot represent themselves; they must be
represented" (216). Mohanty argues that western feminists ' work concerning third world women
assumes that women are united in their oppression, resulting in the loss of differences between
women and the perpetuation ofwestern superiority (213-14). In an examination ofthe beliefthat
Middle Eastern veiled women are segregated and oppressed, Mohanty points out that a number of
Iranian women wore the veil during the 1979 revolution as a public political statement (209).
Mohanty' s analysis illustrates that speaking for an entire nation, culture, or gender often involves
generalizations and therefore misrepresentations, particularly if the speaker does not understand
the represented and yields to cultural assumptions.
Mohanty' s concerns apply to Barbauld' s and More' s representations of African slaves and
perpetuation of specific cultural assumptions regarding the African identity. In representing the
silenced and oppressed African slaves, the two British poets omitted the possibility of distinctions
and presented the Africans as a homogeneous group united in their enslavement. Certainly, each
slave shared the experience of oppression; however, Barbauld and More went on to present an
image of 'some' African, using generalizations and their own cultural assumptions of the African
identity. Consequently, the image of the inferior and powerless slave is a part ofBarbauld' s,
More' s, and, to some extent, Wheatley' s poetry, contributing to the construction of an
"uncivilized" African identity and the perception of the inferior Other. The poets used their

j

14

literary representations of the slave to promote human rights and support the abolition campaign, '1but their poetry also reinforced a racial hierarchy in which the Other held a subordinate position.
It is impossible to envision a time when we may move beyond the need for the
representation of the silently oppressed because it is one of the mechanisms we use to bring to
light the oppression of others, to voice our concerns and the needs of others, and to influence
change. British abolitionists represented the interests of the oppressed Africans and campaigned
to change Britain's policies regarding the slave trade and, eventually, slavery. At the same time,
racist views, imperialist agendas, and colonial assumptions also dominated the literature.
Mohanty and others wish the Other to represent her or himself and thus move away from
damaging and prejudicial descriptions that promote hierarchies and oppression. However,
Wheatley's poetry demonstrates the complexities of the speaking Other, and Barbauld's, More's
poetry demonstrates that creating identities and representing oppressed individuals also has the
power to promote change. How do we reconcile the beneficial results of representation with the
detrimental consequences? Can we?
If we cannot move away from the need for the representation of the silenced Other and his
or her interests, it is necessary to understand the process of representation and the forces which
influence this process. This thesis will examine three poets, Barbauld, More, and Wheatley, and
focus upon their poetry within the context of eighteenth-century British abolition and social
history, as well as the poets' lives, and their other works in order to investigate the process of
representation of the Other and the creation of an African identity. By examining the literary
representations within their historical contexts, as well as the gender and social assumptions
affecting each poet, we may come to understand how it is that speaking out against oppressors
becomes speaking for the Other and how representation too often becomes definition.

15

Chapter Two

Beast or Human: Eighteenth-Century Conceptions
and Representations of the African

In representing the silenced and oppressed African slaves, the abolitionists and poets
needed to alter society's perception of the "bestial" African identity (Hurwitz 26). During the
eighteenth century, it was not uncommon to present the African as an uncivilized savage
individual who was morally and intellectually inferior to the European (Miles 28-29). English
readers found many sources detailing African inferiority including the twenty-three volume
Universal History (1736-65) which devoted two volumes to an itemized description of the African
character:
proud, lazy, treacherous, thievish, hot, and addicted to all kinds
of lusts, and most ready to promote them in others, as pimps,

\f , •

panders, incestuous, brutish, and savage, cruel and revengeful, ...
inconstant, base, treacherous, and cowardly. (qted in Fryer 15 3)
The description creates the image of a bestial, immoral African character, implying that an African
is both uncivilized and inferior and therefore that the slave trade and the slave system are

;f. permissible. To promote public sympathy for the plight of the slave, anti-slave trade supporters

16

Barbauld and More attempted to present an alternative image of African slaves that challenged the
savage descriptions such as those found in the Universal HistoJ. This was and is an ongoing
process as African' s and African-American' s "escape from bestial status into a recognized
humanity has been a source ofboth ethics and politics since the slave system was first instituted"
(Gilroy 407). The abolitionists and poets understood the power and persuasiveness of public
opinion on political change (Drescher Capitalism ad passim) and used their representation of the
African to help alter the traditional prejudices.
The scientific community contributed to the traditional understanding of the African
identity, forcing abolitionists to debate the classification of humankind. In 1758, Swedish botanist
Carl Linne (Linnaeus) first used the term Homo sapiens in the tenth edition of Systema naturae,
dividing the human "species" into distinct categories (Hudson 253). Linne's work defined and
differentiated Homo sapiens into racial stereotypes that implied a natural typology of ' races' 3 :
a. Wild Man. Four-Footed, mute, hairy.
b. American. Copper-colored, choleric, erect. Hair black, straight,
thick; Nostrils wide; ... obstinate, content, free .... Regulated by customs.
c. European. Fair, sanguine, brawny, hair yellow, brown, flowing;
Eyes blue; gentle, acute, inventive .... Governed by laws.
d. Asiatic. Sooty, melancholy, rigid. Hair black; Eyes dark; severe,
haughty, covetous .... Governed by opinions.
e. African. Black, phlegmatic, relaxed. Hair black, frizzled; skin
silky; .. .crafty, indolent, negligent.. .. Governed by caprice. (Pratt 32)

3

The word "race' is problematic because it assumes biologically determined categories rather than a socially
constructed hierarchy. For the purposes of this thesis, "race" is used to indicate the eighteenth-century
understanding of difference. The following authors examine the categorization of "races" and its impact upon our
understanding and delineation of the Other. Robert Miles, Racism (London: Routledge, 1989) 32-38, ~ 76.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. ed. "Race," Writing, and Difference (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986).

17
The above categorization of ' races ' is one example of scientific support for the colonial mentality
that dominated eighteenth-century society' s comprehension of the Other. Linne' s description of
an African identity -- ' crafty, indolent, negligent' --implies an African darkness of character that
has little to do with skin colour. Moreover, the suggestion that the European (the category under
which one many find the British) is governed by laws and the African is governed by caprice
implies that the European is superior to the African because ' law' invokes images of the Western
ideals of intelligence, civilization, and maturity whether a Christian " moral law" or an
Enlightenment " natural law," whereas ' caprice' creates images of child-like, fanciful, erratic
behavior. Linne' s work suggests that there are biological differences to be found between the
European and the African, as well as the other Homo sapiens, contributing to the notion that one
' race' may be superior to another: " humanity' s most dangerous myth" (Hudson 259). The
" scientific evidence" for an inferior 'race' naturally deserving of enslavement supported the
oppression and enslavement of African peoples.
The categorization of ' races' justified the enslavement of African peoples by suggesting
that Africans were inferior to Europeans and, as a whole, incapable of civilized behavior. Linne' s
' scientific' categorization of the human species entitled individuals such as British MP and Board
of Trade official Soame Jenyns to place the "brutal Hottentot" at the bottom of his hierarchy in
his 1782 treatise "On the Chain ofUniversal Being" (qted. in Fryer 166). Jenyns is adding a
scientific bent to an idea of hierarchy embodied in the Christian theory ofthe "great chain of
being" in which all life forms a " hierarchical continuum, extending from God (infinity) at the top,
down through the nine orders of angels, through man, ...through the lower orders of animals, to
the lowest forms of existence" (Greene 114). The concept of a ' hierarchical continuum,' like
Linne' s work, implies that there is a natural hierarchy in which one form of existence, or ' race,'

18

holds a higher position than a lower order, creating the notion that each level of existence is, to
some degree, different and that some beings are more perfect than others. Many individuals today
view ' race' as a social construct; however, in the eighteenth century, the biological definition of
' race' gained popularity in the scientific and literary communities, establishing clearly defined
differences and a distinct identity for each 'race' (Hudson 259, 247-48).
4

It is unclear whether the two British poets read scientific treatises such as Linne's work;
however, the Swedish botanist' s ideas were influential, prompting responses from 'scientists' and
non-scientists throughout Europe (Hudson 253). As abolitionist poets, Barbauld and More
attempted to refute the conventional image of a depraved, bestial Afiican that continued to direct
scientific and literary writings from Carl Linne to Thomas Jefferson. At the same time, the poets
endorsed the classification of distinct ' races' that established British superiority over the African
peoples. Barbauld' s and More' s emphasis upon both British superiority and the contradictory
need for British reform emphasizes the ambiguities inherent in a fixed identity.
Barbauld, More, and Wheatley differ in the degree to which they delineate the perceived
differences between the African and the British identities and the extent to which they affirm and
deny the eighteenth-century definition of an African ' race.' The three poets contributed to a new
understanding ofthe Other, but they also maintained British superiority. Barbauld and More
argue that the native African is a part of humankind and it is the British who behave savagely by
enslaving their fellow human beings; however, the poets carefully portray an African identity that
can only be understood as different or Other. Wheatley also describes the differences between the
'races,' suggesting that, on some level, the African ' race' is inferior. By representing the native

4

Barbauld and More, between them, spoke English, French, Latin, Greek, Italian, and Spanish and thus they were
not limited to English translations or accounts such as those found in the Universal History . Todd, Dictionary ,37.
~

19
African as a part of a distinct, definable ' race, ' each poet contributes to the separate delineations
within the human species and shapes the perception of an African identity.
Barbauld' s representation of the African peoples (she never uses the word "race") implies
that 'they' are different. However, on some levels, at least, Barbauld' s representation of African
slaves challenges the perception of Africans as inherently capricious, negligent, or lazy.

f

Reflecting typical abolitionist reasoning, B"arbauld argues that it is slavery which corrupts the
>fcharacter of the African slave not that the African individual is inherently depraved: "Each vice, to

minds deprav'd by bondage known, I With sure contagion fastens on his own" (Epistle 47-48).
In A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, Wilberforce asserted that "the Slave Trade was
the greatest practical evil that ever had afflicted the human race" (72). Barbauld reflects similar
sentiments, depicting slavery as a disease that is "fermenting" (Epistle 51) within the slave' s body,
causing " sickly langours" (49) and "damp[ening] learning' s fire" (53). Barbauld' s abolitionist
argument condemns the British for degrading and corrupting the African character, disputing the
notion that the African character and collective identity are inherently immoral.
In The Slave Trade, More also blames slavery for its effect upon the native African,
implying that, as a whole, Africans are not simply immoral or indolent. Slavery is responsible for
the corruption of Africans, altering their character and behavior: "Degraded man himself, truck' d,
barter' d, sold: I Of ev' ry native privilege bereft" (178-79) . The African people "stand convicted
-- of a darker skin" ( 164) and are degraded and left without hope and consequently they become
" sullen" (222). More ridicules character judgments based upon skin colour and argues that it is
Britain' s participation in the slave trade that has damaged and debased the African character,
insinuating that the negative characteristics associated with the African slave identity are not a
natural development as the descriptions in the Universal History suggest.

20

At the same time, however, More's representation of the native African is not meant to
suggest that the African and the British are equal. The racial hierarchy is well established in
More' s poem: " Though dark and savage, ignorant and blind, I They claim the common privilege
ofkind" (The Slave Trade 167-68). While contending that the British are responsible for the
corruption and depravity of their fellow human beings, More also maintains that ignorance and
blindness are natural elements of the African identity. More reflects the traditional assumptions
set forth by individuals such as Jefferson who argue, " as a suspicion only, that the blacks are
inferior to the whites in endowments both of body and mind. It is not against experience to
suppose, that different Species of the same genus ... may possess different qualifications" (Notes).
Although the African is of the same ' genus' as the European, More and Jefferson suggest that the
two ' races' are distinct, and the European is inherently superior. Abolitionist concerns and
cultural assumptions regarding the African identity contradict each other; consequently, More' s
representation of Africans describes positive and negative characteristics that defy the simplistic
bestial identity while affirming British superiority.
In " On Being Brought from Africa to America," Wheatley distinguishes between the
African and the British by using the same language as More. Wheatley refers to the individuals
brought across from Africa as the "sable race" (5). In and of itself, the terminology is
understandable given the time; however, Wheatley goes on to suggest that an African slave
" [m]ay be refined and join the angelic strain" (8). Wheatley indicates her belief that salvation is
possible and that Africans will join all the other human beings, including the British, in the
spiritual realm of the choir of angels. Clearly, Wheatley' s Puritan faith, with the emphasis upon
the spiritual rather than the physical, is an important part of her life. However, whether intended
or not, the reference to the ' angelic strain' sets up a contrast between the spiritual and the

21
physical, forcing the reader to acknowledge both aspects of an Afiican' s existence: the
understanding that upon refinement an African may join the ' angelic strain' and, on earth, the
reality of society' s scorn for the ' sable race ' that is distinct from the European ' race.'
The differences between the Afiican and the British are further magnified by the focus
upon the Afiican savage-like identity. The term "savage" implies that Afiican society is at a lower
intellectual and moral level than Western societies, particularly British society. The construction
of the savage identity for Afiicans "denied [the Afiicans] complete human status, easing plunder
of their lands and allowing human bodies to be treated as commodities" (Azim 41). The
animalistic descriptions of Afiicans created a bestial identity that was too often used to excuse
oppression, enslavement, and cruelty. The abolitionists competed with descriptions of an Afiican
character such as those found in Philip Thicknesse' s A Year' s Journey through France and Part of
Spain (1778). Published in Britain, Thicknesse' s accounts drew on his experiences in Georgia and
fighting Afiican rebels in Jamaica which clearly had a negative impact upon his perception of the
Afiican identity: "Their face is scarce what we call human .... As to their intellects, not one was
ever born with solid sense; yet all have a degree of monkey cunning, and even monkey mischief,
which often stands them in better stead than sense" (qted. in Fryer 162). Descriptions such as
Thicknesse's are as negative as Linne' s notion that the Afiican is capricious, creating an
unsympathetic image that reinforces the separation and differences between the Afiicans and the
British.
In an attempt to promote sympathy and counter the unsympathetic image of the Africans,
Barbauld illustrates the horror of slavery. Ironically, she contradicts, possibly even negates, her
positive representation by describing a native African in pessimistic terms: "Dumb sullen looks of
woe announce despair, I And angry eyes thro ' dusky features glare" (Epistle 82-83). Although

22
Barbauld never refers to an African slave as a " savage," she describes the slave as 'dumb,'
' sullen,' and 'angry,' creating a debased, degenerate identity for the enslaved individual.
Barbauld does not refer to or create the image ofthe ' noble savage,' the natural being who lives
outside of and is therefore uncorrupted by the so-called civilized world; consequently, the term
' savage' conjures up negative images of a bestial, not-quite-human identity:f At times, it is
difficult to identify with the unsympathetic image that Barbauld creates unless we recognize that
the "angry eyes" suggest the image of an animal beaten to the extent that he or she no longer '>/:
trusts the master. Barbauld' s representation of the slave, then, implies that slavery turns Africans 'f
into animals.
Similarly, More describes the slave in bestial terms, referring to the African slave as a
" savage" throughout The Slave Trade (92, 153, 226). By referring to an African as a savage and
describing the African slave as a " sullen" (222) individual with "rude energy" (89), More creates
an image of a primitive, uncivilized being that, like Barbauld' s representation, is unrelated to the
concept of the ' noble savage.' We are encouraged to sympathize with the enslaved Africans, but
we are not led to believe that the Africans are the model of nobility to which the British could in
any way aspire. More argues that the slaves are human, but she goes on to characterize African
slaves as individuals who require guidance and instruction on appropriate behavior: "No: they
have heads to think, and hearts to feel, I And souls to act, with firm, though erring zeal" (85-86).
According to More' s representation, Africans have intellectual, emotional, and religious
capabilities, but they are prone to error without proper direction. More refutes Thicknesse' s
assertion that the African character is "in nature cruel" (qted. in Fryer 162), but she does imply
that the Africans require the guidance of the civilized and God-fearing British. More' s
assumption that the African is inferior and in need of British direction is an example of the way in

23
which identity reflects social assumptions and is not fixed but a continuous process that is
"constituted within .. .representation" (Hall 392). Consequently, although More's representation
of Africans reinforces a human identity, it denies the Africans the status of civilized human beings.
In contrast to Barbauld and More, Wheatley does not represent the African slave as a
"savage."

However, in "On Being Brought from Africa to America," Wheatley alludes to a

Biblical origin for Africans that associates the African people with betrayal and murder. The
reference in line seven, "Negroes black as Cain," identifies Africans with the malignant brother in
story of Cain and Abel. The traditional interpretation of the story of Cain and Abel is that God's
marking of Cain resulted in the creation of the first African ("On Being Brought" ref3). The
reference to the Biblical story thus associates the African people with a despicable act and
denigrates the African character and identity. Although Wheatley does not refer to African slaves
as a savages, her reference to Cain's act as the origins of all Africans creates an African identity
that is as discouraging as Barbauld's and More' s inferior and sullen descriptions.
The degraded image of the African character was at odds with the abolition movement's
objectives to promote sympathy and demonstrate that an African slave was a "victim" with little
or no power to alter her or his circumstances. By 1787, Wilberforce requested evidence of
cruelty inflicted upon African slaves to promote sympathy for the plight of the Africans and to
garner anti-slave trade votes in Parliament: "such facts or observations as may be useful to me in
the important task I have undertaken of bringing forward into Parliamentary discussion the
situation of that much injured part of the species, the poor negroes" (qted. in Pollack 76).
Focusing upon the image of an African victim may encourage sympathy; however, it also implies
(perhaps realistically) that it is only the "white" Western world who may, or even can, improve

.

24
the Africans' lives, establishing Africans as a powerless victim ofBritish control. British power
and African powerlessness are firmly established, reinforcing the image of British superiority.
Referring to these political debates, the opening lines ofBarbauld's Epistle set the
condition of the African character and identity, representing the slave as a powerless, helpless
victim:
The Preacher, Poet, Senator in vain
Has rattled in her [the Country's] sight the Negro's chain;
With his deep groans assail'd her startled ear,
And rent the veil that hid his constant tear;
Forc'd her averted eyes his stripes to scan,
Beneath the bloody scourge laid bare the man. (3-8)
Barb auld represents an individual who is completely powerless and at the mercy of the brutal
slave traders and owners. The African individual is passive and pitiful and has little or no control
over his fate . At the same time, the pitiful image also establishes a nonthreatening African
character that is resigned to British action. The image of a submissive African character helped
counteract the fear of a violent African nature that the abolitionists were forced to contend with
after 1789 when French-African individuals living in Paris encouraged rebellion on the island of
St. Dominique (D. Porter 66-67). For a year and a half, between 1789 and 1790, several
rebellions occurred on St. Dominique, causing fear of further revolt to spread from the Caribbean
to Britian where it almost destroyed Wilberforce's legislative program (67). In Barbauld' s
attempt to evoke pity rather than fear of African slaves, she creates an African image completely
lacking in agency, overstating the power of the authorities and understating the power of the

25
African character. The subsequent representation ofthe slave establishes a submissive, passive
African identity.
The dilemma between representing the power or powerlessness of the oppressor in
contrast with the

~ powerlessness of the oppressed affects the construction of the

oppressed individual's identity. Barbauld and More represent African slaves as objects ofBritish
action, implying that Africans are nothing more than a commodities that are controlled by the
owners or freed by government action. At the same time, if the African slaves have the ability to
gain their own freedom, the abolitionists would not have to work for almost one hundred years to
abolish the slave trade and slavery. In "Fanonism," Henry Louis Gates Jr. discusses the
predicament regarding the power of the colonizer and the colonized:
You can empower discursively the native, and open yourself to
charges of downplaying the epistemic (and literal) violence of
colonialism; or play up the absolute nature of colonial domination,
and be open to charges of negating the subjectivity and agency of
the colonized, thus textually replicating the repressive operations
of colonialism. In agency, so it seems, begins responsibility. (136)
Agency in literature, therefore, has a pressing affect upon the real efforts -- which were literary
efforts -- of abolitionists like Barbauld and More. The abolitionist concern to present the image
of a sympathetic African who is the victim of British inhumanity denied the Africans any 'agency'
and textually reproduced the physical oppression experienced by the slaves. The African slaves
remained an object of British control.
More, like Barbauld, represents Africans as passive victims and objects of British
subjugation. In an effort to evoke sympathy for the slave, More' s description of the African slave

26
creates an image of an individual who is dominated to the extent that sustenance, freedom, and
nationhood have been taken away: "To him whose food is groans, whose drink is tears; I Think
on the wretch whose aggravated pains I To exile misery adds, to misery chains" (The Slave Trade
138-40). The loss of country, which includes community, emphasizes the slave' s status as an
outsider and an alien in a foreign land. In this way, British superiority is affirmed, in part, by
negating the possibility that the Other can be anything more than a subdued, powerless object.
On the surface, Wheatley' s initial gratitude for her relocation to America and her
introduction to Christianity ("On Being Bought" 1-3) confirm Barbauld' s and More' s descriptions
ofthe passive African slave identity. The fact that Wheatley is "brought" (1) from Africa,
although she argues that it is " mercy" ( 1) that brings her to America, is significant because there is
never any doubt that another force is responsible for Wheatley' s departure from her homeland,
indicating powerlessness. However, Wheatley' s firt-person account-- "me" ("On Being
Brought" 1), " my" (2), and " I" (4) --indicates that she has a voice and the power to speak. The
last half of the poem then shifts to the impersonal, " sable race" (5), "Their colour" (6), and
"Negroes" (7), to indicate Africans. Is Wheatley starting from the singular and moving toward
the larger culture, or is she disassociating herself from a collective identity to present a less
threatening image? The evidence of an authoritative voice, ' I,' suggests that Wheatley is subtly
distancing herself from the hint of rebellion evident in the last half of the poem. At the same time,
Wheatley is arguably moving toward a collective ' they' and identifying herselfwith a larger ' like'
community. The African identity shifts between Wheatley' s submission and her assertiveness,
demonstrating the contrary instincts affecting Wheatley's voice -- submission and assertion.
Wheatley' s poetic voice also indicates that one must be careful to assert that the African character

27
is only an object-victim of British control as abolitionist reasoning and Barbauld's and More's
poetry suggest.
The abolitionists focused upon the brutalities of slavery and the victimization of Africans
to amass popular and political support for the anti-slave trade campaign. The anti-slave trade
campaign would not be successful until the public regarded the African slave as an oppressed (if
inferior) human being who deserved freedom. Abolitionists asserted that it was the so-called
civilized British who were acting like savages by kidnapping Africans from their homeland and
transporting them to the colonies. Thomas Clarkson referred to an individual who captured
native Africans for transportation as a "savage man-stealer," establishing the African individual as
the human being and the kidnapper as the true beast (The History 75). Barbauld and More use
similar abolitionist strategies and contrast British slave trading and oppression with the
experiences and actions of African slaves to the detriment of the British. In this way, the poets
redefine the traditional definitions of civilized human behavior and the criteria by which an
individual is judged a savage.
Barbauld argues that an African slave is not a savage beast but a human being: "Beneath
the bloody scourge laid bare the man" (Epistle 8). Consequently, an African' s enslavement is an
immoral act that is compounded by the fact that the British claim to be a civilized, enlightened
country. By asking the question, " Shall man, proud worm, contemn his fellow-man?" (44),
Barbauld challenges the justification and participation in selling and enslaving human beings and
asserts that each African is a fellow human being. Evidently, the status of human being does not
indicate equality and can, as the hierarchy of ' races' indicates, contain gradations from the most
' primitive' to the most ' civilized.' For the abolitionists, the first step in altering the Africans'

28
primitive identity, began with the accepting and promoting the idea that each African was a fellow
human being.
Similarly, More maintains that everyone is a part of the human 'race' and thus everyone
deserves freedom "in earth's extended space" (The Slave Trade 305). More goes beyond
Barbauld's arguments and condemns the slave traders in a manner that has serious implications:
"Perish the proud philosophy, which sought I To rob them of the pow'rs of equal thought" (7980). Given the other descriptions of the African in The Slave Trade, it is difficult to believe that
More is suggesting that the Africans are an intellectual equal to the British. Evidently, More is
implying that an African slave, unlike the animal, is capable of human thought processes and
decision making but slavery treats human beings like animals and thus deprives individuals of the
ability to think or make decisions for themselves. The act of robbing the African individual of
freedom transforms the British slave trader into a "White Savage" (252) or beast lacking in
Christian and civilized behavior. More complicates the image of the savage by expanding it to
contain the image of the British slave trader, suggesting that the term ' savage' describes human
beings who are capable of the " pow' rs of equal thought" (80); however, their barbaric actions
and/or lack of Christian faith and morality transforms them into savages. Expanding the image of
the savage to include the British slave trader alters the traditional perception of the African
identity to suggest that savage does not equal beast but rather uncivilized and unchristian. At the
same time, the reference to ' White Savage' reveals More' s anxieties over her country' s actions
and her desire to reform a savage-like British identity.
Wheatley, on the other hand, is not concerned with reforming a savage identity or
establishing a human identity for herself or the other African slaves. In contrast to Barbauld' s and
More's lengthy assertions, Wheatley assumes and therefore represents Africans as simply a part of

29
humanity. During the abolitionist campaign, the poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to
America," provided evidence that a native African woman was capable of creativity and therefore
not a beast. The ability to create literature was an important measure of one' s humanity because
"the sheer literacy of writing was the very commodity that separated animal from human being,
slave from citizen, object from subject" (Gates Figures 24-25). Jefferson argued that an African
was incapable of intellectual or imaginative endeavours and was therefore inferior, possibly, less
than human: " Comparing them by their faculties of memory, reason, and imagination, it appears to
me that in memory they are equal to whites; in reason much inferior, ... and that in imagination they
are dull, tasteless, and anomalous" (Notes). During the eighteenth century, a proficiency or
command of the " arts" symbolized the boundary between " human being and thing," leading to the
conclusion that a written literature was the most important indication of a ' race ' s' intrinsic
humanity (Gates Figures 25). Wheatley' s poetry challenges Jefferson' s claim and contradicts the
assumption that an African is not quite human by demonstrating that an African woman is not
only capable of literacy, she is also capable of creating written literature.
The representation of African slaves is complicated by contradictions as the poets alternate
between abolitionist concerns and cultural assumptions regarding the character of Africans.
Wheatley is similarly affected by the conflict between her position as a slave and the power to
assert her voice in her poetry. In presenting an image of an unrefined or degraded African
character, Barbauld, More, and Wheatley endorse a ' racial ' hierarchy that defines Africans as
Other-- other than civilized, other than Christian, and other than enlightened. Each poet ' s
creation of an African identity is caught in the ambiguities and contradictions of her responses to
her culture, the represented African slave, and her abolition goals. The inability to present a

30
consistent African identity is inevitable because the poets are influenced by personal interests and
the external environment.

31

Chapter Three

The Problem of Freedom: Eighteenth-Century Historical
Events and Representation of the African

At the end of the eighteenth century, revolution, rebellion, and reform dominated the
poets' external environments. Political, social, religious, and economic changes occurred
throughout society, affecting individual abolitionists and the momentum of the abolition
campaign. Individuals need only look to the effects of the American Revolution as proof of the
changes occurring within the colonies and to understand the significance of the desire for ' liberty.'
America' s struggle and ultimate ' independence' from Britain in 1776 demonstrated the need for
British reform to counteract dissatisfaction and the possibility of further rebellion (Blackburn
133). Furthering complicating the issue of ' liberty,' the passage of the 1807 abolition bill
outlawing the slave trade was delayed because abolitionists and the anti-slave trade campaign
were associated with the beliefs and consequences of the French Revolution (D.Porter 68). The
events at the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, including the storming of the Bastille,
the uprising of the "Fishwives," and the confiscation of property, indicated the impact ' liberty'
could have on social order and the entire social structure (Willis 113-19). The connection

32
between abolition and revolution prompted pro-slave trade responses such as the Earl of
Abingdon's questions:
what does the abolition of the slave trade mean more or less in effect ...
than liberty and equality? What more or less than the rights of man? And
what is liberty and equality; and what are the rights of man, but the foolish fundamental
principles ofthis new philosophy? (qted. in D.Porter 68)
The effects of the American Revolution, the social changes in France, and the possibility of the
spread of further rebellion forced the abolition movement to contend with anxieties concerning
African uprisings and British control. Barbauld and More reflect their society's anxiety over
possible violence and alternate between establishing Africans as human beings deserving of
freedom and asserting the legitimacy of British control.
To alter society's perception of Africans and promote the anti-slave trade movement,
abolitionists had launched a public campaign to educate the populace on the realities of the slave
trade. By the time Barbauld and More wrote their anti-slave trade poetry, a group of individuals
involved in the anti-slave trade movement had already officially established themselves in 1787 as
the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade (Oldfield 331). The Abolition Committee
established concrete goals, demonstrating the knowledge that change could only occur by
educating and uniting support from all sectors of society: "Our immediate aim is, by diffusing a
knowledge of the subject .. . to interest men of every description in the Abolition of the Traffic;
but especially those from whom any alteration must proceed- the Members of Legislature" (qted.
in Anstey The Atlantic 255). Barbauld and More employed strategic methods similar to the
Committee's goals to disseminate knowledge and alter political opinion, indicating that their
poetry adhered to common anti-slavery tactics. The two poets' works are political statements

33
that are intended to influence public and political thoughts regarding the moral, economic, and
political advantages to ending Britain' s connection to the slave trade.
Abolitionists employed anti-slave trade poetry to publicize the shocking treatment the
Africans experienced at the hands of their ' masters.' In Epistle, Barbauld details the effects of
slavery upon African slaves, but, in the process, she creates a dubious image of the African
identity prior to enslavement:
In sickly langours melts his nerveless frame,
And blows to rage impetuous Passion' s flame :
Fermenting swift, the fiery venom gains
The milky innocence of infant veins: (49-52)
The above passage forces the reader to question the cruel consequences of slavery in an effort to
influence the country to abolish the slave trade. At the same time, however, Barbauld' s
description of the African' s ' nerveless frame ' establishes an image of a feeble, sickly individual
prone to ' impetuous' and rage-like behavior. The possibility of rage contradicts Barbauld' s
earlier portrayal of a submissive, passive African character (3-8), demonstrating the contradictory
perceptions that affects the poet ' s representation and the way in which it subsequently affects the
creation of an identity. In her description of African slaves, Barbauld cannot disassociate the
human African from the degraded slave; consequently, her representation is fraught with
conflicting perceptions. In attempting to depict the tragedies of slavery, Barbauld creates an
image of a nerveless but impetuous African identity, oddly countering rather than reinforcing the
abolitionist attempt to create a sympathetic, positive image of Africans.

34
Similarly, More's efforts to reveal the vicious results of slavery create a negative image of
African slaves. More argues that a slave feels pain, but, due to a lack of refinement, an African's
pain is not as severe as the pain suffered by 'nicer' individuals in comparable circumstances:
Their sense of feeling callous and obtuse:
From heads to hearts lies Nature's plain appeal
Though few can reason, all mankind can feel.
Though wit may boast a livelier dread of shame
A loftier sense of long refinement claim;
Though polish' d manners may fresh wants invent,
And nice distinctions nicer souls torment;
Though these on finer spirits heavier fall,
Yet natural evils are the same to all. (184-93)
There is little doubt that a native African may feel pain, but the 'nicer souls' and 'finer spirits' feel
more than the brutish slave. More' s abolitionist attempts to argue that an African is a human
being who feels pain and the effects of' evil' are inflected by her preoccupation with
distinguishing the ' civilized' British from the ' primitive' African. In the end, More implies that an
African slave is not as refined, civilized, or polished as the British, affirming many of the cultural
assumptions concerning the African identity.
Wheatley also implies that Africans are inferior to the new ' white' culture into which they
are sold. By associating Africans with possible refinement, Wheatley insinuates that there is a
need for African improvement, at least on some level: "Negroes black as Cain I May be refined"
(8). Admittedly, the line also suggests that an African is capable of civilization, but Wheatley's
reference to refinement assumes that each African lacks a fundamental quality that predetermines

35

not only status but also identity. Ironically, the abolitionists frequently implied otherwise. In
1788, abolitionist Thomas Clarkson argued that if Phillis Wheatley "was designed for slavery ...
the greater part of the inhabitants of Britain must lose their claim to freedom" (qted. in Richmond
Bid 54). Wheatley the poet and Wheatley the slave provided evidence that an African was not
' designed' for slavery, was not merely capable of refinement, and thus was far more complex than
'racial' definitions indicated. Although the abolitionists may not have completely understood the
impact of Wheatley's enslavement upon her poetry, they recognized the sympathetic effect of her
position and achievement upon some of her audience.
Wheatley' s degree of refinement was in part assessed by the aesthetic strength of her
poetry. A 1773 review, in a response similar to Jefferson' s assessments, argued against
refinement in Wheatley' s poetry by claiming that the "poems written by this young negro bear no
endemial marks of solar fire or spirit. They are merely

~ and, indeed, most of those

people have a tum for imitation, though they have little or no invention" (qted. in Shields
Collected 267). On the other hand, Wheatley' s discussion of her work with individuals such as
Benjamin Franklin, abolitionist Grenville Sharp, and Lord Dartmouth and the publication of her
work on two continents seemed to prove her aesthetic merit (Shields Collected 169-70). The
abolitionists employed eighteenth-century standards of achievement and refinement to prove that
her poetry was evidence which could refute the savage, uncivilized image of the African identity.
Establishing African humanity by publicizing Wheatley' s poetic abilities and encouraging
sympathy for the slave helped abolitionists alter public opinion, but they also focused upon
influencing the political opinion necessary for legally abolishing the slave trade. Barbauld was a
vocal supporter of abolition, and the title of her poem, Epistle to William Wilberforce. Esq. on the
Rejection of the Bill for Abolishing the Slave Trade, attests to her intended purpose to sway

36

political opinion regarding the 1791 anti-slave trade debate (Todd Dictionary 37). Publicly
criticizing the politicians for failing to understand the importance of the Abolition Bill, Barb auld
argues that the political process is corrupt: " In Britain' s senate, Misery' s pangs give birth I To
jests unseemly, and to horrid mirth" (39-40). By attacking Britain's Parliament, Barbauld
contrives to shame the pro-slave trade faction into reconsidering its actions. The political intent
of the poem shifts the focus away from the realities of the slave experience to national
considerations regarding abolition. With this change of focus, Barb auld depersonalizes the
repercussions of slavery, suggesting that " Afric bleeds" (15) and "injur' d Afric" (45) is the victim.
The individual African identity is overshadowed by a collective geographical identity that does not
allow for religious, cultural, or personal differences. The political intent and focus ofBarbauld' s
work seems to entail a lack of recognition ofthe individual African identity.
Similarly, the focus ofMore' s work overshadows the representation of the individual
African identity. As a friend ofWilberforce and a member ofthe Clapham Sect 5, More was a
strong supporter and campaigner in the abolition movement (Hall 76). As Evangelicals, the
Clapham Sect, including More, believed that all children of God deserved liberty. God ' s love for
all humanity was a model that each individual must imitate for his or her fellow human being.
Equality under God was stressed since all human beings require Christ for their salvation, and
because all true Christians must reveal their faith by assisting other individuals, Evangelicals
promoted many social causes, including the anti-slave trade and anti-slavery movement (Anstey
The Atlantic 198, Landow). The Evangelicals thus regarded the abolition movement as a means
by which to respond to God ' s mercy, as a way in which to repay the debt for being redeemed, and

5

The Claphman Sect deriYed its name from the area outside of London \Vhere many of the influential leaders of the
Evangelicals resided, including Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Henry Thornton, M.P., Granville Sharp, James
Stephen, M.P., and Zachary Macauley, M.P .. Reginald Coupland, The British Anti-Slavery Movement (London:
Thronton Butterworth, 1993) 74-79.

37
as a necessary reform measure to save the nation from " providential judgment" for its
participation in the immoral practice of slave trading (Anstey The Atlantic 198-199). More' s
Evangelical beliefs and her connections to the politically influential Clapham Sect provided her
with motivation, information, the opportunity to play an important role in the abolition campaign,
and social connections.
In the opening lines ofThe Slave Trade, More uses a subtle manner and indirect language
to hint at the poem' s political intent. In contrast to Barbauld who advises Wilberforce directly,
More obscurely addresses the anti-slave trade movement and the nature of her work: "0 great
design! Ye sons of mercy! 0 complete your work; Wrench from Oppression' s hand the iron I
rod" (1-2). The poem, then, is More' s contribution to the anti-slave trade campaign, and, as such,
it reflects the abolition movement's national concerns. More' s representation of African slaves,
like Barbauld' s, is influenced by her national concerns. In other words, More' s contrary instincts
regarding British abolition and the needs of the African slaves ensure that one concern is given
precedence over the other (Other) to the detriment of the African identity.
By 1789, national concerns and fears of civil unrest contended with abolition goals,
inspiring a variety of responses that ranged from demands for African freedom to dire predictions
ofthe results of rebellion. The violent outcome of mass uprisings, the effects ofthe French
Revolution, and slave revolts inspired fear, compromising the abolition movement ' s credibility
and their demands for the abolition of the slave trade and slavery (Coupland 95-96) . The
rebellions on the island of St. Dominigue, which began in 1789, demonstrated that the
repercussions of the French Revolution were widespread and violent (D.Porter 66-67). In 1791 ,
Wilberforce wrote: "People here are all panic-struck with the transaction in St. Domingo
[Dominique], and the apprehension or pretended apprehension of the like in Jamaica and other of

38

our islands" (qted. in D.Porter 67). The tension between the plea for African freedom and the
fear of what freedom could mean also affected the poets, resulting in contradictory images
throughout the poetry. More participates in the campaign to free African slaves from the power
of the slave owner while simultaneously instructing the British poorer classes to accept the
"legitimate" power of landlords, church, and state. Barb auld and More, in the wake of revolution
and rebellion, struggle to reconcile the desire for significant social change with the fear of violence
and mass disorder.
At the same time, Wilberforce indicated that the pro-slave trade supporters and politicians
'pretended apprehension' to further their cause. Ironically, it appears that the poets also used the
threat of violence to sway opinion by inciting fear and suggesting that abolition was the only
rational solution to imminent violence. Barbauld warns the country that violence is imminent as
long as the British continue to participate in the slave trade . According to Barbauld, an oppressed
African does not remain an unresisting victim oftyranny: "And injur'd Afric, by herselfredrest, I
Darts her own serpents at her Tyrant's breast" (Epistle 45-46). Violence is inevitable and thus
Barbauld cautions the public that an oppressed African slave is a threat with the ability to inflict
serpents, the symbol of evil, at the oppressor. Barbauld reinforces the warnings expressed by
Ottobah Cugoano four years earlier. Cugoano, a free African working with Granville Sharpe for
the abolition of slavery, warned the British populace that the oppressed will be avenged: "I must
yet say, although it is not for me to determine the manner, that the voice of our complaint implies
a vengeance, because of the cruel injustice done unto us Africans" (Thoughts and Sentiments 61) .
Consequently, when the slaves on St. Dominique revolted, the abolitionists insisted that it was not
in the country's best interests to increase the number of hostile, and possibly violent, slaves in the
colonies (Blackburn 145). Barbauld hints at the possibility of violence to further the abolitionists'

39
cause, and, in the process, she creates a threatening, vengeful African identity. The potential
brutalities, or ' serpents,' of rebellion become a part of the African identity that expands to include
the promise of violence.
Barb auld and More also arguably reflect their society' s anxieties over the threat of slave
uprisings that were evident well before the slave rebellions in St. Dominique or the French
Revolution. Individuals publicly demanded radical changes to British policies regarding slavery,
attempting to incite civil unrest and violence. In a "pseudonymous" London pamphlet published
in 1760, "J. Philmore" demanded that all citizens unite in destroying the oppressive slave owners:
And so all the black men in our plantations, who are by unjust
force deprived of their liberty, and held in slavery, as they have
none upon earth to appeal to, may lawfully repel that force with
force, and to recover their liberty, destroy their oppressors; and
not only so but it is the duty of others, white as well as blacks, to
assist those miserable creatures, if they can, in their attempts to
deliver them out of slavery, and to rescue them out of the hands
of cruel tyrants. ( qted. in Blackburn 94)
Barbauld's and More's emphasis upon the possibility of rebellion and civil unrest corresponds to
the nature and direction of the debate surrounding the abolition of the slave trade and slavery.
The abolition movement campaigned for legal political change; however, literature such as the
above pamphlet advocated violent immediate change. Barbauld and More struggled to represent
African slaves and the need for change without inciting mass violence and disorder. Reconciling
anti-slavery rhetoric, condemnation of violent change, and descriptions of Britain as the model of

40
true faith and freedom resulted in contradictions in the representation of the both the Africans and
the British.
In The Slave Trade ( 1790), More cautions against the possibility of rebellion and violence
to imply that legal abolition is the only peaceful, logical solution. More warns the country that the
oppressed peoples may be overcome by "that mad liberty" (27),which had afflicted France a year
earlier, a liberty which overpowers reason and leads to violence and chaos. According to More,
'mad liberty' is a monster with the capacity to incite uprisings: "Not that unlicens'd monster of
the crowd, I Whose roar terrific bursts in peals so loud, I Deafning the ear of Peace" (29-31).
More advises against mob violence, advocating peaceful solutions that oppose the advice of
individuals such as 'Philmore' who call for the use of force against oppression. The legal
abolition of the slave trade is presented as the only peaceful solution that will prevent the slave
from turning to 'mad liberty' and violence.
Even as early as the 1770s, anxieties over the possibility of rebellion prompted individuals
to fear the numbers of Africans in England and the results of the freeing the vast number of
Africans. In 1773, the London Chronicle published an article in which the writer predicted that
abolitionists were dangerous to public peace, demonstrating that the fear of slave rebellions was
apparent long before the revolts on St. Dominique in 1789: "[abolitionists] may inspire our
Colony Negroes with endeavours to steal away from thence, in order to come into this land of
liberty .... [T]hey may instil such enthusiastic notions of liberty, as may occasion revolutions in our
colonies" (qted. in Fryer 156). More's representation of African slaves typifies her society's fear
of uncontrolled liberty, which have expanded exponentially by 1790, resulting in her threatening
image of the African identity and her emphasis upon a rational, Christian British identity.
Focusing upon ideal principles demonstrates More's anxieties over the temptation of 'mad

41

liberty'; her insistence that Britain is "Freedom's genuine coast" (47) is a clear ideological ploy
that allows her to condemn demands for liberty at home. Further, according to More' s
representation, legitimate British authority in the colonies is necessary because African slaves are
susceptible to madness and monstrous behavior and thus a threat to peace and, it seems, the entire
social structure.
More ' s poetry also implies that legitimate British authority is necessary to control and
guide the actions of the discontented classes in Britain. Eighteenth-century Britain experienced
over four hundred labour disputes, the stoning of minorities, the destruction of Dissenter' s
property, and mob violence against a variety of individuals for a number of reasons that included
everything from unpopular political decisions to an increase in the price ofbeer (R. Porter 101).
Serious rioting broke out, for example, in 1753, against the naturalization of Jews (101). Mobs
targets were diverse, including violence against the Irish labouring classes in the Rag Fair Riots of
1736, against Swiss actors in the Noverre riots of 1755, and against farmers and their properties
in 1755 (Langford 44, 320, 443-44). In 1780, the Gordon Riots in London spread from violence
against Catholic property and churches to include the violent destruction ofbreweries and the
release of inmates from prisons (550-1). Mass uprisings were sudden and could not be simply
defined as the work of criminals because the violence and destruction were often carried out by
"Englishmen at large" (R.Porter 102). Clearly, More did not have to look far for evidence of civil
unrest or attacks upon social order.
The perceived threat to societal order and peace reflects the concern of the time,
necessitating More' s attempt to balance the demand for a rational liberty with the fear of ' mad
liberty.' In seven lines, More assaults the reader with contrasting images of order and chaos,
illustrating the consequences of a mass uprising of the oppressed: "Peace" (31 ), " Sedition" (32),

42

"mad misrule" (32), "Reason's reign" (33), "frantic vulgar draw" (35), "law" (36), "grave
Authority and Pow'r" (37). Ironically, More implies that the oppressed individual's liberty must
be directed and controlled to ensure that 'Authority' and ' Reason' continue to reign. The
concern for social order creates an image of Africans and 'vulgar' British who are incapable of
understanding rational liberty without the guiding force of Britain's "enlighten'd few" (316), of
whom we are to assume More is one.
Although Britain is plagued by problems, More maintains that her country shall remain the
model of Christianity, freedom, and civilization and thus the guiding force of other nations.
Britain shall maintain control, ensuring order and authority throughout mass uprisings and social
change. More devotes the beginning of The Slave Trade to a discussion of freedom and its
unequal distribution over the earth: "While Britain basks in thy [freedom' s] full blaze of light, I
Why lies sad Afric quench' d in total night?" (21-22). In the process, More establishes a contrast
between the light British identity and the dark African identity, implying that Britain remains in the
light of freedom, regardless of the country's current problems. Maintaining British superiority
enables More to assert that Britain is capable of reestablishing authority and order: " And
beauteous ORDER reassumes his power: I Lord of the bright ascendant may he reign, I Till
perfect Peace eternal sway maintain! " (50-52). Abolition remains the answer to both the threat of
violence and the return to order with Britain guiding the changes and controlling the disbursement
of liberty because, according to More, "Faith and Freedom spring from Britain' s hands" (352).
Each poet's discussion of "freedom" affects her arguments against British participation in
the slave trade and her representation of African slaves. Barbauld, More, and Wheatley examine
and consider the subject of freedom from different perspectives, but it is the extent to which they
affirm that freedom that affects their constructions of an African identity. Influenced by social and¥

43

cultural traditions, the poets challenge and affirm eighteenth-century assumptions regarding
Africans, creating an alternative image of the Other. Revolutionary events involving political,
social, and religious changes that focus upon the principles of liberty and independence also
influenced each poet's perception of Africans and response to the concept of freedom. With
trepidation, subtlety, or authority, the three women explore the effects of oppression and the
implications of liberty. Ultimately, Barbauld' s, More' s, and Wheatley's poems are about
freedom.
Barb auld ' s discussion of freedom is a political position from which she condemns her
country's failure to abolish the slave trade. According to Barbauld, the slave trade is a " stain"
(Epistle 122) that blots Britain' s reputation and corrupts the country' s principles, including
liberty. In his influential Commentaries on the Laws ofEngland (1765-69), William Blackstone
claimed that the British were guided by the principle of liberty: "the spirit of liberty is so deeply
implanted in our constitution ... that a slave or a negro, the moment he lands in England, falls
under the protection ofthe laws, and so far becomes a freeman" (qted. in Michals 205). Barbauld
focuses upon the ' spirit of liberty' and the corruption ofher country' s principles, transforming the
African slaves into a secondary consideration. The notion of freedom for each individual African
slave is forgotten in the attention given to political considerations and national concerns.
In The Slave Trade, More also indicates that each African' s rights are secondary to her
country' s interests. Much of More ' s poem is a theoretical and religious examination of freedom
with questions regarding its dissemination: "Was it decreed, fair Freedom! at thy birth, I That thou
should' d ne' er irradiate all the earth?" (19-20). The discussion of freedom depersonalizes the
plight of the slaves and suggests that the individual African' s interests are secondary to a grander
vision of liberty for all human beings. More is not a radical or revolutionary and consequently her

44
views on liberty are misleading (Brown I 09). Although More discusses freedom for all of
humanity, her anxieties regarding ' mad liberty' indicate that, for More, liberty must be governed
by an authority-- Britain. More' s concept of freedom endorses the racial hierarchy (Midgley 29),
establishing the African people in a lower position.
The ambiguities in Wheatley' s poetry suggest that she also endorses the racial hierarchy
that defines her as inferior. However, in a 1774 letter to Reverend Samson Occom, Wheatley
clearly establishes her views on freedom and oppression: "in every human Breast, God has
implanted a Principle, which we call Love ofFreedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for
Deliverance" (Shields Collected 177). It is therefore impossible to read "On Being Brought from
Africa to America" and suggest that Wheatley is truly grateful for her status as a slave.
Circumstances restrict Wheatley' s actions and her language, but her poetic voice and example that
defy the eighteenth-century descriptions of an inferior " race" and, instead, represent an alternative
human image of the African identity with all the human complexities and contradictions.
Categorizing humanity into a hierarchy of ' races' established Africans as an inferior,
subordinate caste in contrast to the ideal of achievement in Western, specifically British,
civilization, morality, and social structure. More' s assertion that Britain controls the dispersal of
faith and freedom suggests that Britain is the only civilized nation, reinforcing the racial hierarchy
that defines the European as governed by laws rather than caprice (Pratt 32). The belief that
Africans are too uncivilized to promote freedom or liberty on their own reflects the sentiments
expressed earlier by David Hume in the 1753 reprint of his influential work, "OfNational
Characters": " I am apt to suspect the negroes ... to be naturally inferior to the whites. There
never was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white, nor even any individual eminent
either in action or speculation" (qted. in Gates Figures 18). More asserts that African slaves are

45
human beings, but she reveals opinions similar to Hume' s concerning the relative abilities of the
Africans and the British.
By asserting superiority, More claims that it is only the British who have the power or
ability to alter the slave's circumstances: "Faith and Freedom spring from Britain' s hands" (The
Slave Trade 3 51). 'Scientific' theories regarding non-Europeans reinforced More' s conviction in
her country' s inherent right and ability to control the direction of other nations. Writing at the
same time as Linne, French naturalist Buffon argued that "any nation where there is neither rule,
nor law, nor master, nor regular society is less a nation than a tumultuous assembly of
independent barbarians, each obeying only their own particular passions" (from Histoire Naturelle
qted. in Hudson 257). Buffon' s description establishes the African people as inferior to
Europeans and therefore requiring direction and guidance. By asking, "Shall Britain, where the
soul of freedom reigns, I Forge chains for others she herself disdains?" (The Slave Trade 298-99),
More reinforces the conviction that her country directs the freedom of other individuals and has
the power to grant liberty or withhold it, particularly if one believes that the African populace is
not a ' nation' according to Western standards. More' s declaration ofBritain' s dominance
maintains British control and authority and affirms ' scientific' definitions of the inferior African
identity.
The repercussions of the American and French Revolutions and civil unrest emphasized
the need for control and guidance throughout Europe, in many of the British slave colonies and in
Britain. Works such as Thomas Paine' s that called for equality or liberty could be interpreted as
seditious or, worse, as inspiration for the lower, oppressed peoples to overthrow the social order
(Kirkpatrick 217). Barbauld and More carefully detail the moral responsibilities between human
beings while maintaining British power and authority. According to Barbauld and More, God is

46
the only power who imparts retribution against the slave traders or provides justice for the slaves.
The poets outline the potential for violence and provide abolition as the solution without ever
suggesting that the oppressed individuals could or ought to seek justice or liberty on their own.
Justice and liberty are best handled by higher powers -- God and Britain.
The pessimistic tone of Epistle leads the reader to believe that ultimate justice will only be
meted out by God. Barbauld warns the country that the oppression cannot continue without
violent repercussions and retribution: however, in keeping with Christian beliefs, vengeance will
not come from the slave: " And swell th' account of vengeance yet to come; I For, not unmarked
in Heaven' s impartial plan, I Shall man, proud worm, contemn his fellow-man?" (42-44). By
aligning the " proud worm[ s]" of slave owners with the " serpents" of African resistance, Barbauld
debases each, insinuating that divine justice is the only proper method of vengeance. Mass
uprisings and violent resistance are evidence of oppression, but they are not solutions to the
problems of oppression. By associating African resistance with the problems of oppression,
Barbauld reinforces a negative image of Africans whose violent responses are inappropriate and
incapable of providing freedom or justice. British abolition remains the only rational course of
action.
Barbauld and More suggest that it is Britain' s duty, as a civilized nation, to avoid further
violence and follow the rational course of action -- the legal abolition of the slave trade. Focusing
upon Britain' s duty and contrasting British abolition with violent rebellion emphasizes British
superiority and action and establishes African passivity as the ideal, distancing abolition from any
connection to rebellion. The concept of divine justice reinforces the rationale that abolitionism
does not promote or incite slave revolts. More, however, approaches the possibility of divine
justice from a different perspective. Rather than focusing upon the possibility of divine vengeance,

47

More confines herself to benevolent concepts such as mercy and salvation. On behalf of African
slaves, More ends the poem with a plea to God: "with thy wide salvation make them free!" (The
Slave Trade 359). The oppressed individual will, ultimately, find freedom with God but only
upon death. According to More, death is merciful because it provides release from human
oppression and cruelty:
0 thou sad spirit, whose preposterous yoke
The great deliverer Death, at length has broke,
Releas'd from misery, and escap'd from care,
Go, meet that mercy man deny'd thee here.
(228-231)

More's ultimate advice to the enslaved individual is to accept death as a merciful end to misery.
Clearly, More does not expect an African slave to read and accept her counsel; therefore, she is
revealing her disapproval of violent resistance, assuring her readership that she does not advocate
violence against authority, and ensuring that her work does not incite revolt among the British
discontented. More maintains that active resistance is not the answer to oppression, reinforcing
the image of the passive African slave identity by condemning active resistance.
Fears of active or violent rebellion affected the poets and their concerns, which, in tum,
affected their poetry and their own understanding of Africans and oppression. Specific themes
dominate each woman' s poetry, indicating that personal considerations and assumptions are a part
of the representations of African slaves. Abolitionist and political concerns play an important role
in Barbauld's poetry; consequently, the political focus ofBarbauld' s abolitionist argument reflects
a personal interest. More's anti-slavery sentiments are similarly affected by her personal
preoccupation with maintaining the present social order. In contrast, Wheatley's discussion of

48
slavery is not affected by a dominant concern so much as it is limited by her status as a slave.
Each poet's personal concerns, interests, or limitations suggests a predisposition toward the
African slave trade and highlights possible influences which affect each woman's representation of
African slaves. It is a mistake to over emphasize the importance of other works in relation to the
individual poems of this

~ however, a recurring interest in political issues, social order, or or

slavery provides insight into each of the poets and points to possible reasons for the
contradictions in their representations of African slaves.
As a Dissenter and a vocal advocate of legislative changes regarding civil rights for

Dissenters, Barbauld's recurring interest in political issues provide possible explanations for her
contradictory representation of African slaves in Epistle by indicating that her interest in the slave
trade involved more than a simple desire to end the trade (McCarthy and Kraft xxv). Horace
Walpole criticized Barbauld for letting her Dissenting ideals and concerns influence her poetry,
claiming that Epistle was compromised by a "measure of faction" (qted. in Ferguson Subject
164). Discussing abolition or related political bills allowed individuals to address the contentious
issue of human and civil rights (Ferguson 164). Barbauld wrote poems such as " To Dr. Priestley,
Dec. 29, 1792," establishing her allegiance with vocal Dissenter Joseph Priestly who gained the
reputation as the "most polemical of Dissenters" (Butler 14). It would be unfair to accuse
Barbauld of simply addressing abolition in order to condemn her country's actions regarding
Dissenters for, surely, Barbauld's interest in religious freedom would not preclude an interest in
the end of the slave trade and the emancipation of African slaves. At the same time, the focus
upon Dissenters' civil rights and freedom accounts for the political nature of Epistle and the
emphasis upon her country's behavior rather than African slaves.

49
Barbauld' s poetry focuses upon politics, freedom, and her country' s inability to uphold the
principles it espouses. In "The Apology of Bishops, in Answer to ' Bonner' s Ghost, "' Barbauld
argues that the " State, in spite of all our pains, I Has left us in the lurch" (13-14), associating
herself with the individuals whom the nation has failed and condemning the ' State's' practices. In
a separate poem, "To a Great Nation," Barbauld provides the solution to her country's failures by
advising the nation to adhere to its principles: " Obey the laws thyself has made, I And rise- the
model of the world! " (34-35). Along with a national model, Barbauld indicates that the individual
also plays a role in larger issues such a freedom, because the "philosophic" (25) mind is
sympathetic to all humanity: " Casts round the world an equal eye, I And feels for all that lives"
("The Mouse ' s Petition" 27-28). In Eighteen Hundred and Eleven. A Poem, Barbauld brings
together condemnation, warning, and the subject of freedom to counsel her country on the
repercussions of its actions and the progress of a rising power -- America:
Ardent, the Genius fans the noble strife,
And pours through feeble souls a higher life,
Shouts to the mingled tribes from sea to sea,
And swears - Thy world, Columbus, shall be free .
(331-34)
Barbauld' s Epistle corresponds to her concern for individual freedom and her country' s inability
to guarantee its principles of freedom. Political interests influence the tone and content of
Barb auld ' s poetry and thus her discussion of Africans. Contradictions in both the African and the
British identities are inevitable because Barbauld attempts to incorporate national interests,
concerns for the improvement of the British identity, and individual considerations. In the
process, Barbauld demeans the African identity and relegates the slave to a secondary role.

50
In a similar manner, More' s personal concerns for civil order, her anxieties over the British
identity, and her desire to preserve the status quo negatively affect her representation of the
African. More' s writings prove that she was not a radical and was dismayed by revolutionary
attempts to alter the government, church, social order, or dispersal of wealth (Todd Dictionary
226). It was acceptable to question the country' s morality; however, More carefully upholds the
present social, political, and economic status quo . In an attempt to counteract the influx of
revolutionary literature devoted to social change, More devotes much of her poetry to defending
and maintaining the status quo by recommending obedience and resignation (Kirkpatrick 218-19).
More wrote responses against suggestions of anti-religious public schools, warnings against the
dangers of Thomas Paine' s ideas, and tracts admonishing aspirations in the poor (226). In the
Cheap Repository Tracts, a collection of moralistic tales and poetry, More provides careful
instructions on religion, morality, politics, education, and social responsibility in an effort to deter
social unrest and the possibility of mass uprising. An excerpt from one of the tales from the
Tracts, "The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain," illustrates More' s goal:
' You are exposed to great cold and heat,' said the gentleman: ' True
sir,' said the shepherd; ' but then I am not exposed to great temptations;
and so throwing one things against another, God is pleased to contrive
to make things more equal than we poor, ignorant, short-sighted creatures
are apt to think .... ' (qted. in Kirkpatrick 219)
The moral ofthe story is all too obvious. While instructing the poor on the benefits of poverty,
More creates the ideally passive, nonpolitical commoner who is encouraged not to think (Philp
61). The Slave Trade and More's representation of African slaves reflect similar sentiments
regarding Africans, establishing the ideal African as one who remains passive toward British

51

action and control. Regardless of the oppression or the oppressed, More's concern for social
order and for British authority took precedence over individual needs.
In Wheatley's case, her identity as an African slave influenced the public perception of her
poetry to the extent that it, at times, took precedence over her poetry. Initially, in 1773, the
publishers questioned the authenticity of Wheatley's poetry, believing that writing was beyond the
capabilities of an African woman (Gates Introduction 8-9). To counter accusations offraud, John
Wheatley, Phillis Wheatley's master, added an "[a]ttestation, from the most respectable
Characters in Boston, that none might have the least Ground for disputing" the authenticity of
Phillis Wheatley's collection of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects. Religious and Moral (1773).
The men who signed the affidavit for Poems, including the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and
seven clergymen, verified a slave-poet's ability to create art:
we verily believe [the poems were] written by Phillis, a young
Negro girl, who was but a few years since, brought an
uncultivated Barbarian from Africa, and has ever since been,
and now is, under the Disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a
Family in this Town. She has been examined by some of the
Judges, and is thought qualifies to write them.(qted. in Poems)
The need for an affidavit illustrates the extent to which Wheatley's poetry encountered disbelief
and resistance. The ambiguities and contradictions in Wheatley's work and representation of
African slaves reflect the social pressures and circumstances of her life.
Wheatley's brief life reveals the incongruities between slavery and publication, accounting
for the ambiguities in her poetry. Is the opening line, "Twas Mercy brought me from my pagan
Land," ("On Being Brought" 1), a sign ofWheatley's cultural assimilation, evidence that she is a

52

traitor to her people, or bitterly ironic? Furthermore, how do we come to understand the poems
praising the American struggle for independence? Wheatley's poetry dedicated to the American
Revolut•ion records the beginning of armed rebellion in 1770 in "On the Death of Mr. Snider
Murder' d by Richardson; the Boston Massacre of 1770 in "On the Affray in King Street, on the
Evening of the 5th ofMarch," General Washington's efforts in "To His Excellency General
Washington,"and the eventual victory over Britain in "Liberty and Peace," which was written in
1784 (Shields Collected 233, 237, 239). The African slave, Wheatley, composed her poetry
during a time when many individuals fighting for personal freedom were slave-owners (Willard
236). Contradictions were inevitable. Wheatley's master allowed her to write and publish her
poetry; therefore, her representation of African slaves was defined by her external environment,
her owners, her readership, and herself Submission, gratitude, and a subtle desire for change
reflect Wheatley's contradictory instincts between her status as an African slave and her
creativity.
The external world affects each poet and influences the way she thinks about herself, her
society, and, in this case, African slaves. The process of representation is a complicated blending
of the author-self, the author's perception ofthe represented-Other, and social and cultural
assumptions that the author both reacts against and affirms. Contrary concerns and contradictions
are therefore inevitable and result in the creation of contradictory images of Africans. Barbauld
maintains that an African slave is a fellow human being; however, the focus upon national
concerns overshadows African interests and establishes Africans as secondary considerations.
More's comparable attempts to emphasize African humanity are diminished by her determination
to defend the status quo, resulting in the creation of a passive, submissive African identity.
Similar contradictions in Wheatley's representation are the result of her attempts to reconcile her

53
position as a poet with her status as a slave. An examination of each woman's poetry in relation
to its historical context illustrates the way in which the literary representation of African slaves is
also dependent upon the poet' s connections and responses to the world around her.

54

Chapter Four

Women' s Sphere: Eighteenth-Century Social and Gender
Perceptions and Represenatation of the African

In a similar manner, the poets' gender and socially defined roles also affect the nature of
their anti-slave trade discussions and thus their representations of African slaves. Social
expectations regarding each poet ' s actions are an important component of the poetry because the
woman poet is also responding to eighteenth-century gender and social assumptions regarding a
woman abolitionist or an African slave. Eighteenth-century women were understood to be -lf
incapable of logical, active lives and consequently they were taught domestic duties and instructed
to be quiet and subservient to their fathers and, later, to their husbands (R.Porter 164-65, 23).
Conduct books, sermons, and novels expounded upon the need for a woman to be virtuous,
meek, obedient, and silent. An eighteenth-century treatise maintains that women' s "bodies as well
as minds are less strong and energetic than men; but to compensate for their defects, nature has
bestowed on them ... an economy which renders them at once the ornament and comfort of
home" (Methe-Fenelon 102). The ideal woman was an object with decorative and comforting
abilities who remained in the privacy of the home, seeing to the needs of the family . Society

55
accepted women's participation in charitable activities, but instructed a woman to focus primarily
upon the private sphere of husband, family, and home (Baker-Benfield 228-29).
For the most part, women did not violate gender traditions by participating in the abolition ¥.
movement because the movement's goals and justifications were grounded in morality and thus
associated with female characteristics and pursuits (Midgley 20). Moreover, the abolition
movement was a politically respectable cause that attracted individuals from all levels of society
and united the civil and the religious (Walvin "The Public" 65). Barbauld's and More's
abolitionist interests did not violate social codes because society viewed a woman's participation
in the abolition movement as a continuation of her role as moral guide and guardian of Christian
~

and family values (Halbersleben 64). In 1787, a letter in the Manchester Mercury directly
appealed to women, requesting charitable aid in the male political campaign against the slave
trade:
If any public Interference will at any TIME become the Fair Sex;
if Their Names are ever to be mentioned with Honour beyond the
Boundaries of their Family, ... it can only be, when a public
Opportunity is given for the Exertion of those Qualities which are
peculiarly expected in, and particularly possessed by the most
amiable Part of the Creation- the Qualities of Humanity,
Benevolence, and Compassion. (qted. in Midgley 20)
The qualities ofhumanity, benevolence, and compassion, closely associated with the ' fair sex,'
were also the qualities that the abolitionists expounded upon to encourage sympathy for the plight
of African slaves. To create sympathy for the slave, abolitionists focused upon an African' s
familial connections that, along with compassion, fell under the domain of women and provided a

56
measure of authority for female abolitionist voices. Examining the poets and poetry within their
social contexts reveals both the poets' reinforcement of and challenge to social conventions and
illustrates the degree to which the poets opposed eighteenth-century social roles (Newton 772).
The degree to which the poets affirmed or opposed eighteenth-century expectations affected their
poetry and thus their representations of African slaves.
In direct contrast to gender expectations, Barbauld does not address the suffering
experienced by an African family. The title, Epistle to William Wilberforce. Esq. on the Rejection
of the Bill for Abolishing the Slave Trade, attests to the poem' s political character and to
Barbauld' s political objective. Barbauld' s poetry shifts the focus from the private anguish of an
African woman to public and national considerations. In "Hymn VITI," Barbauld appears to mix
political and familial interests in her discussion of God' s family, including a common labourer, a
slave, and the monarch: "Negro woman, who sittest pining in captivity, and weepest over thy sick
child; though no one seeth thee, God seeth thee." Barbauld' s focus upon the woman' s distress
would have been perceived as an indication of her inherent compassion for her own gender and
the proper subject of her abolitionist poetry (Midgley 95). Barbauld, however, asserts her own
political interests and moves from the emotional portrayal of the slave woman to a political
discussion ofthe Monarch' s conduct: "God is above thee, his powerful arm is always over thee;
. and ifthou doest ill, assuredly he will punish thee" ("Hymn VIII"). Political and religious
motivations thus take precedence over family sentiment. The effects of Barb auld ' s political
interests, as previously discussed, separate the individual slave story from the abolition campaign,
while maintaining the presentation of an African deserving of human status and freedom.
The abolition campaign' s goal focused upon presenting a positive image of an African
deserving of freedom that the public could understand and accept as part of humanity and God ' s

57
plan (Hurwitz 26-27). Consequently, presentations like Wilberforce's 1807 account emphasized
the destruction of African families: "Conceive, if you can, the agony with which, as he is hurried
away by his unfeeling captors, he looks back upon the native village which contains his wife and
children who are left behind" (A Letter 72). Wilberforce's description disputed arguments like
those put forth by Hume's 1753 assertion that anyone "may obtain any thing of the NEGROES by
offering them strong drink; and may easily prevail with them to sell, not only their children, but
their wives and mistresses, for a cask ofbrandy" ( 214). The argument implies that the African
people were complicit in their own enslavement, creating an image that provokes condemnation
rather than understanding or sympathy.
In keeping with abolitionist goals, More challenges Hume's unsympathetic description of
the capture and transportation of native Africans. In The Slave Trade, More, unlike Barbauld,
describes the emotional and physical effects of the Atlantic slave trade, and, in the process, she
emphasizes native Africans' familial connections as evidence of their humanity:
See the dire victim torn from social life,
The shrieking babe, the agonizing wife!
She, wretch forlorn! is dragg' d by hostile hands
To distant tyrants sold, in distant lands! (117-20)
Describing the bonds between a mother and child presents the image of an African woman that
British society is capable of understanding and, more importantly, accepting. More's focus upon
the plight of women, wives, and mothers conforms to abolitionist goals and reaffirms gender and
social expectations regarding the nature of her abolitionist argument. Descriptions of the impact
of slavery upon male slaves in The Slave Trade are not as emotional or as personal as More ' s
account of the 'agonizing wife.' Critics suggest that women focused upon the plight of female

58
slaves because it justified their involvement in a public campaign and did not violate social codes
(Midgley 95). More's concern for maintaining the status quo reinforces the notion that she,
unlike Barbauld, took pains not to threaten social expectations regarding women or African slave.
Such threats appeared to involve a radical, political stance, whereas a moral position
which maintained the present social and political order was not associated with revolutionary
rhetoric (Todd The Sign 227). With a few exceptions, eighteenth-century society accepted the
three women poets, enabling them to publish extensively and disseminate their ideas. Reverend
Richard Polwhele, however, took exception to Barbauld's focus upon human rights and likened
her to Mary Wollstonecraft: "She [Wollstonecraft] spoke: and veteran BARBAULD caught the
strain" (The Unsex'd Female 91). In her Vindications (1790 and 1792), Wollstonecraft condemns
the enslavement of men and women, expressing politically radical views. Polwhele condemns
Barb auld's political focus, claiming that Barb auld's political tracts, "if not discreditable to her
talents and virtues, can by no means add to her reputation" (The Unsex'd Female). In "The
Rights ofWoman," Barbauld distinguished herself from Wollstlonecraft by mocking
Wollstonecraft's revolutionary rhetoric; however, Barbauld ends the poem with the assertion that,
in love, both man and woman lose their "separate rights" (32), insinuating that the husband does
not maintain rights over his wife. Still, for individuals such as Polwhele, Barbauld's aggressive
political stance threatened traditional gender roles and spheres ofknowledge.
Polwhele's concerns, and Walpole's criticism ofBarbauld discussed earlier, indicate that
individuals recognized that women's participation in the abolition movement provided
opportunities for female commentary on political issues. In 1792, the York Courant went so far
as to publish an article that suggested women should play a political role in the abolition
campatgn:

59
It has been said that a Petition from the Ladies to Parliament, for an

Abolition of the Slave-Trade, would have a good effect. The idea
is certainly a proper one- for, as Female Misery is included in the
wretched Allotment of the Africans, an Appeal in their Behalf from
the same Sex must carry great Weight with it. (qted. in Midgley 24)
The article implies that women naturally sympathize with African ' female misery,' legitimizing
female involvement in the abolition campaign. Although the article's proposal was never put into
effect, it insinuates that a petition signed by women on behalf of women would have a greater
impact upon Parliament than the petitions signed by men (Midgley 24). Abolitionist activities
such as boycotting sugar or focusing upon the African family unit did not necessarily threaten
traditional social roles, but they could provide opportunities for change.
Although More discusses political issues, she, unlike Barbauld, defends the status quo and
therefore she is not perceived a threat to traditional roles. For Polwhele, Hannah More and her
sisters represent ideal submissive, innocent women: " Soft on each tongue repentant murmurs
died; I And sweetly scatter' d (as they glanc' d away) I Their conscious ' blushes spoke a brighter
day"' (The Unsex' d Female 204-6). More is not perceived as a Wollstonecraft because she
concentrates on moral reform and African freedom while maintaining British superiority and the
status quo . Although More was an influential and popular writer, she was not a perceived threat
because, for the most part, she addressed the issue of abolition from the domestic sphere,
adhering to social expectations.
Wheatley, like More, was never considered a threat to the social order. In fact, until
recently, her critics condemned her passive acceptance of slavery (Johnson 206-7). The
perception of a threat is an important factor in Wheatley' s work because, as a slave, she could not

60

overtly condemn the practice of slavery without alienating her ' masters' --the Wheatley family.
Wheatley' s poetry crosses boundaries and defies her image as an inferior, savage African, but the
ambiguities in her poetry allow for a variety of interpretations and provide a measure of
protection. In her letters, Wheatley also avoids overt criticism, but her opinions are unmistakable.
In a letter to the Reverend Samual Hopkins (1774), Wheatley comments upon missionary
activities in Africa and subtly criticizes "Philip," the missionary: "if Philip would introduce himself
properly to them [Africans], ... he might be more Successful, and in setting a good example which
is more powerfully winning than Instruction" (qted. in Shields Collected 182). Wheatley' s
contrast between ' good example' and instruction could refer to the contradictions between
Christian practice and Christian doctrine or the American glorification of freedom and American
enslavement of Africans. Wheatley' s subtle criticism and resistance to oppression represents
Africans as more than passive victims of British control without overtly threatening social
expectations; consequently, Wheatley' s representation of African slaves vacillates between
affirming and denying eighteenth-century cultural assumptions.
Contrary instincts and considerations influence each poet's desire or need to conform or
challenge social expectations that, in turn, affect her representation of Africans. Challenging
social or gender conventions alter the tone and content of the poem and complicates the
representation of African slaves. In contrast to More' s emotional depiction of the African
woman, Barbauld devotes fourteen lines ofEpistle to the portrayal of a slave owner' s wife,
suggesting that the wife is responsible for the atrocities of slavery:
See her, with indolence to fierceness join' d,
Of body delicate, infirm of mind,
With languid tone imperious mandates urge;

61
With arm recumbent wield the household scourge;
And with unruffled mien, and placid sounds,
Contriving torture, and inflicting wounds. (65-70)
Barbauld avoids the sentimental portrayal of an agonizing female slave and concentrates on a
startling image of female abuse of power. Focusing upon the cruelty of a female slave owner and
describing the female slave owner in masculine terms -- " monstrous fellowship" (Barbauld
Epistle 61) -- confirms the need for philanthropic women to fight against corruption and suggests
that it is male participation in the slave trade that encourages the monstrosity to continue
(Ferguson Subiect 161). Barbauld' s description ofthe female slave owner challenges the reader
to question the male authorities and their continued acceptance of the slave trade because, clearly,
women had little power over the legalities and organization ofthe slave trade (161). Similarly,

¥

Barbauld' s description of the cruel slave owner' s wife presents an alternative savage depiction of
womanhood that contrasts with the perception of African slaves and challenges the traditional
image of the so-called savage African. The contrast between the perceived " savage" African and
the slave owner' s wife indicates that the criteria by which one is defined " savage" is deceptive.
Barbauld challenges traditional assumptions and asks the reader to consider an alternative
representation of an African slave and of a European or American "white woman."
More also challenges the traditional assumptions and practices of her society, although her
criticism is subtler and, in many ways, rather conventional. In a discussion of the consequences of
exploration and discoveries, More condemns the explorers: "All Cortez murder' d, all Columbus
found; I 0 ' er plunder' d realms to reign, detested lord, I Make millions wretched, and thyself
abhorr'd" (261-63). Whether one is a Caesar or a Columbus, the " means may differ, but the ends
the same, I Conquest is pillage with a nobler name" (265, 261 , 268-69). In condemning the

62
enslavement of other peoples, More also condemns a long history of exploration and expansion.
More, however, concentrates on the millions who are made 'wretched' due to the explorers'
immoral practices which is a conventional argument and adheres to the socially defined woman' s
sphere-- morality. Nevertheless, More' s detailing of the explorers' conquests challenges the
definition of savagery and the standards by which one is judged a barbaric being.
Wheatley' s references to slavery and the individual Afiican slave experience also challenge
the image of a 'savage' Afiican. By referring to her position as a slave and to Afiica in a number
of her works, Wheatley announces her status as a slave, as an Afiican, and as a poet. Who else is
Wheatley? The presentation ofher native land in negative images suggests that Wheatley' s new
'family' has assimilated her into the "white" culture: "The land of errors, and Egyptian gloom: I
Father of mercy, 'twas thy gracious hand I Brought me in safety from those dark abodes" ("To
the University" Poems 4-6). In the same manner as " On Being Brought from Afiica to America,"
considering "To the University" in its social context suggests an ironic subtext and indicates that
Wheatley composed under physical and creative constraints. If there are any doubts as to
Wheatley' s feelings regarding slavery and her position in her new culture, the following quotation
from "To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth" illustrates that Wheatley was not
assimilated or deceived into believing that mercy, not oppression, was responsible for her
position:
Should you, my lord while you peruse my song,
Wonder from whence my love ofFreedom sprung,
Whence flow these wishes for the common good,
By feeling hearts alone best understood,
I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate

63

Was snatch' d from Afric ' s fancy ' d happy seat:
What pangs excruciating must molest,
What sorrows labour in my parent' s breast?
Steel' d was that soul by no misery mov' d
That from a father seiz' d his babe belov' d:
Such, such my case. And can I then but pray
Others may never feel tyrannic sway? (20-31)
Ostensibly, the entire poem glorifies the American struggle for independence; however,
Wheatley's prayer that others may not experience her fate is an indictment ofher oppressors and
the slave system (Richmond Bid 29). By arguing that she is ' snatch' d' from her home, Wheatley
emphasizes her physical bondage and contradicts the image of a merciful transportation from her
pagan country. Clearly, Wheatley is subtly rebelling against her masters, the legalities of slavery,
and her position as a slave. In the process, Wheatley represents an African voice against African
enslavement.
Each woman represents an active voice against African enslavement; however, social
expectations and personal interests influence the manner in which they speak and the nature of
their attack. Barbauld and More were influenced by abolition practices and social conventions
which assumed women to be emotional, intuitive, and well suited to the role of defenders of
morality (Turner 43-45). Wilberforce reinforced the notion that women were the protectors of
social morality, arguing that women were "the faithful repositories of the religious principles, for
the benefit both of the present and rising generation" (qted. in Hall86). Women' s participation in
the abolition campaign further emphasized their roles as their country' s moral instructors. By
1787, Wilberforce's connections between moral reform and abolition committed himself and

64

others to the successful completion of two tasks: "God Almighty has set before me two great
objects, the suppression ofthe Slave Trade and the Reformation ofManners" (qted. in Pollack
69). Barbauld's and More's anti-slave trade poems reflect Wilberforce' s goals, focusing upon the
ways in which the abolition of the slave trade would assist in reforming their country's manners
and Britain's identity.
Abolitionists concentrated upon the country's reformation of manners, depicting African
slaves as object examples ofthe nation's corruption. Clarkson argued that corruption ofBritain
was worse than the suffering of African slaves: "The misery of the oppressed is, in the first place,
not contagious like the crime ofthe oppressor .... The body, though under affliction, may retain its
shape; and, if it even perish, what is the loss of it but ofworthless dust?" (The History 79). In
comparing the sins of the oppressor with the suffering of the oppressed, Clarkson defines
individual torments as inferior to the corruption of the oppressor:
Nor are the two evils of similar duration. By a decree of Providence,
for which we cannot be too thankful, we are made mortal. Hence the
torments of the oppressor are but temporary; whereas the immortal part
of us, when once corrupted, may carry its pollution with it into another
world. (79)
Emphasizing the 'crime of the oppressor' defines the individual suffering of each African slave as
inferior to the impact of the slave trade upon British society. Barbauld and More display similar
concerns, focusing upon the corrupting influence of Britain's participation in the transporting and
selling of human beings. By using the African slave experience as evidence of their principal
concern, the reformation of their country's actions, Barbauld and More objectify the African and
belittle each slave' s experiences.

65
The first two lines of Epistle establish Barbauld' s interests and, in the process, dehumanize
African slaves. Barbauld begins her poem by advising Wilberforce to halt his noble efforts:
"Cease, Wilberforce, to urge thy generous aim! I Thy Country knows the sin, and stands the
shame" (1-2) . Slavery is a sin that shames Britain and her people. Advising the abolitionists to
end their campaign emphasizes Barb auld ' s preoccupation with the country' s moral decline: " But
seek no more to break a Nation' s fall, I For ye have sav' d yourselves--and that is all" (116-17).
Barbauld's advice attacks the individuals who voted against the abolition bill, but it also implies
that abolition is an effort to save the country not the native Africans who are sold into slavery. If,
according to Barbauld, slavery is merely " a stain" (122), what, then, are the Africans? If the slave
trade is, as Wilberforce suggested, " the foulest blot that ever stained [the] National character"
(from A Letter 72), the African experience is simply a ' blot' upon Britain' s honourable history,
and the African human identity is lost in the concern for the British identity.
Barbauld maintains that the country' s honour is lost because individuals are willing to
accept and participate in the selling of human beings for economic gain. As long as the " seasoned
tools of Avarice prevail" (Epistle 25), Wilberforce and the abolitionists will fail in their efforts to
halt the " human traffic" (16). In the same manner that Barbauld' s concern for her country's
honour belittles the slave experience, the emphasis upon greed and the corruption of Britain' s
principles denigrates the individual African slave experience. In both examples, Africans become
object lessons of British greed or the country' s ' fall ' from ideal principles and past glories. By
implying that abolition is the answer to the problem of greed and corruption, Barbauld insinuates
that the reformation ofBritain' s identity is more important than African liberty.
More also expresses concern for the corruption of Britain' s principles, but she focuses
upon the misrepresentation of the Christian rather than the political process, implying that the

66
slave's experience is secondary to the corruption ofBritish faith and ideals. In standard
abolitionist fashion, More maintains that halting the slave trade is the answer to saving Britain,
arguing that abolition has the ability to restore the country: "Redeem OUR fame, and consecrate
OUR age" (The Slave Trade 309), "To curb False Freedom and the True Restore" (311), and
"Restores the lustre of the Christian name" (326). Once again, each African slave and his or her
emancipation becomes an object and the means to restoring British fame and the Christian
example. Ironically, More insinuates that African enslavement or freedom is the most powerful
cause of Britain's problem and solution, yet she represents Africans as powerless objects whose
fate rests entirely within British control. The contradictions are further complicated by the fact
that it is never entirely clear if abolition is necessary for the African slaves or for Britain, revealing
More' s primary concern for the British identity.
Abolitionists and pro-slave trade supporters debated the necessity of continued
participation in the Atlantic slave trade, addressing economic concerns and the issue of legal
commodities. In a 1788 report to the Privy Council Committee for Trade, a committee ofthe
Jamaica House of Assembly attempted to disassociate themselves from the actual transporting of
Africans and discuss the legalities of the slave trade: "The Connection and Intercourse between
the Planters of these islands, and the Merchants of Great Britain trading to Africa, extend no
further than the mere Purchase of what British Acts ofParliament have declared to be legal
objects of Purchase" (qted. in D.Porter 58). Proponents of slavery and the slave trade generally
provided economic evidence and legal arguments to counter the abolition campaign's statements
(Drescher Capitalism 19). West Indies planters, merchants, slave traders, and creditors advocated
slavery using the rationale that slavery had always existed; slaves were legal property; slaves were
necessary for the labour and the continued prosperity of the West Indies; the slave trade was

67
necessary to ensure the availability of said labour; the slave trade supported manufacturing,
shipbuilding, and education for sailors; and Britain must participate in the slave trade or rival
countries would benefit (D.Porter 54-67). The pro-slave trade campaign maintained that Britain' s
involvement in the trade, ultimately, benefited the country.
In 1789, the West Indian Planters and Merchants, slave trade supporters, compiled the
above arguments and officially transformed them into nineteen resolutions that were published in
the morning and evening newspapers (D.Porter 54). Both sides of the slave trade debate
publicized their arguments, enabling individuals like Barbauld and More to respond to the
differing viewpoints. By responding to the economic debate regarding the slave trade, the poets
illustrate their knowledge of the political pro and anti-slave trade reasoning and demonstrate their
willingness to step outside of the domestic sphere. Barbauld and, to some extent, More challenge
women' s roles and social limitations and expand the narrow scope ofwomen' s defined domestic
concerns. The attempt to reconcile their personal interests with social limitations contributes to
the contradictory nature of the poets' representations African slaves. Barbauld and More address
the slave traders' justification for selling and enslaving human beings, joining the public and
political debate surrounding the economic benefits of the slave trade.
Barbauld rejects the pro-slave trade arguments and claims that the country's involvement
in the slave trade is corrupting the nation. The country' s focus upon economic concerns indicates
that greed is responsible for the nation' s participation in the slave trade and the subsequent
corruption of its principles: "By foreign wealth are British morals chang' d, I And Afric' s sons, and
India's, smile aveng'd" (Epistle 104-5). Along with the warning, Barbauld employs the
conventional 'feminine' associated moral argument to counter pro-slave trade supporters.
Barbauld' s assertions are also significant because they are specifically about economics rather

68

than souls, and they are political. The reference to India brings to mind Britain's problems with
the Indian population, the actions of the East India Company, and the impeachment and trial of
Warren Hastings6 (1788-1795), reinforcing Barbauld's political concerns and the nature ofher
attack on slave trade supporters. Uniting Africa and India also emphasizes Britain's "shame" (2)
and increases the number of individuals who 'smile avenged' at Britain's fall.
Further countering slave trade justifications, Barbauld suggests that slave labour is not J.)
"cheerful labour" (76) and thus it is more detrimental than beneficial. Barbauld contrasts
plantation life with the British rural landscape, illustrating the true costs of slave labour:
No blooming maids, and frolic swains are seen
To pay gay homage to their harvest queen:
No heart-expanding scenes their eyes must prove
Of thriving industry, and faithful love:
But shrieks and yells disturb the balmy air (77 -81)
In The Wealth ofNations (1776), Adam Smith argued that "the work done by slaves, though it
appears to cost only their maintenance, is in the end the dearest of any .... Whatever work [the
slave] does beyond what is sufficient to purchase his own maintenance can be squeezed out of him
by violence only" (qted. in Anstey The Atlantic 117). Barbauld demonstrates similar sentiments,
hinting that the economic advantages to slave labour are not beneficial to the country because
greed and violence are destroying the principles associated with 'thriving industry' and 'faithful
love.'

6

In an undated letter to a friend, Barbauld demonstrated her interest and awareness of Hastings ' trial: ;.I expect to
be highly gratified in hearing Mr. Hastings ' trial, for which we are to have tickets some day." Moira Ferguson.
"British Women Writers and an Emerging Abolitionist Discourse" The Eighteenth Centurv Theory and
Interpretation 33.1 (Spring 1992): 7.

69

In contrast to Barbauld, More's references to British greed and corruption focus upon the
buying and selling of souls rather than foreign wealth or industry. More condemns Britain's
commercial activities in the slave trade because it is immoral: "Sees MAN the traffic, SOULS the
merchandise" (The Slave Trade 174). Falling back upon the moral argument to counter economic
considerations, More moves away from the economic and the political and concentrates on the
corruption of Christian principles. An African individual who is sold into slavery has a soul that
Britain has turned into a commodity, violating God's laws and rational thought: "Insulted Reason
loathes the inverted trade" (171). More applies moral ethics, Christian principles, and 'reason' to
denounce the slave trade, maintaining that each African is a fellow human being rather than a
commodity.
To strengthen her argument, More also addresses the slave traders . In a manner similar
to Barb auld's attempt to shame the politicians, More illustrates the similarities between the native
Africans and the British in an effort to appeal to the slave traders: "Respect the passions you
yourself possess, I Ev'n you of ruffian heart, and ruthless hand, I Love your own offspring, love
your native land" (The Slave Trade 130-32). Unfortunately, More's appeal insinuates that one
need not be 'civilized' or moral to feel attached to one's children or country. An African, like a
slave trader, experiences human emotions, but this is not an indication of a 'nicer' individual, only
a human one.
In attacking the slave traders and the politicians, Barbauld and More imply that their
opinions and efforts are appropriate and beneficial to the abolition campaign. In contrast, critics
suggest that eighteenth-century women, including Barbauld and More, projected their own
enslavement concerns and subordinate status onto their representations of African slaves,
reinforcing a negative image ofthe African identity (Ferguson Subject 3, Coleman 341). The two

70

women's poetry, however, suggests that their concerns derived from political and religious
considerations rather than from gender anxieties or inferiority concerns. The tone and content of
each woman's poem display confidence in thought and action.
Through the entire poem, Barbauld uses an authoritative, confident voice that never
becomes submissive or sentimental. In the first word of Epistle, Barb auld addresses Wilberforce
and the nation very firmly, giving the impression that we are to take her work as seriously as any
man's: "Cease" (1). Moreover, Barbauld does not appear at all anxious or concerned about
alienating the male politicians who are responsible for refusing to legislate against the slave trade.
In Epistle to William Wilberforce, Barbauld defines the ideal model: "In vain, to thy white
standard gathering round I Wit, Worth, and Parts and Eloquence are found" (19-20). The term
'white standard' evokes images ofthe crusading spirit who fights against evils ofwhich the slave
trade is one. Wilberforce symbolizes the proper political leader who places Christian behavior
above national or personal greed. Barbauld is unafraid to condemn the country's politicians or
counsel them on their proper Christian roles as leaders of the country. Certainly, as an
eighteenth-century woman, Barbauld was limited in her power and constrained by social codes,
but Barbauld projects authority into her poem and indicates that she is entitled to discuss her
country's political affairs.
In contrast, More subtly voices her feelings, indirectly presenting her views on the political
debate regarding abolition. Barbauld speaks directly to Wilberforce, an abolitionist and a
politician, whereas More concentrates on the moral cause and directs her poem to the abolitionists
who are the "sons of mercy" (The Slave Trade 1). Regardless of the subtlety, More' s voice is
neither passive nor presented from an inferior position. More accepts responsibility for her
country's actions: "Whene'er to Afric's shores I tum my eyes, I Horrors of deepest, deadliest

71
guilt arise" (113-14). The connection between Africa and guilt suggests that the entire British
population bears the responsibility for British participation in the slave trade. More' s comments
insinuate that she also bears some responsibility for Britain's behavior and therefore holds some
measure of power over the authorities and events. As a woman, More is legally and socially
restricted; however, it would be unfair to suggest that More projects her own feelings of
enslavement onto African slavery when, in fact, More does not demonstrate feelings of inferiority
or subjugation.
The tone of each poem also has an impact upon the representation of African slaves. The
poet' s choice of language creates a mood or suggests a dominant sentiment regarding the literary
representation. Barbauld' s poem is a direct attack upon the political authorities that moves
beyond criticism into pessimism. In contrast, More creates a benevolent, even paternal, voice that
suggests a hopeful resolution to the slave trade problem, if individuals adhere to her advice. In
Wheatley' s poem, however, the dominant sentiment is difficult to identifY. The choice between
submission and confidence has confounded critics since "On Being Brought from Africa to
America" and her other poems were written (Johnson 209). In each case, the tone has a
significant effect upon the presentation of the slave and the representation of African slaves,
promoting sympathy, fear, discouragement, or change.
Clearly, Barbauld sets out to promote change, specifically a change in the political world
and sentiments regarding the slave trade. In attempting to shame the politicians into voting for
abolition, Barbauld creates a pessimistic tone that affects more than her attack on Wilberforce ' s
opponents. Throughout the poem, the reader is bombarded with images of futility, plague, and
cynicism until the only emotion left is discouragement. Between lines 94 and 101 , the words
"undistinguished" (Epistle 94), "O'erwhelms" (95) , "Corruption" (96), " shameless" (97),

72
"leprosy" (98}, "taints" (98}, "Infects" (99}, " sickens" (99}, "Weeping" (101}, and "violated"
(101) suggest that it is already too late to heal the country or save Britain's honour. Barbauld's
cynical tone condemns the politicians, but it also confines the slave, the beneficiary of abolition, to
a secondary role.
Healing the country is also More's primary concern, although, unlike Barbauld, More
establishes an altruistic, benevolent tone to promote abolition. To avoid misrepresenting her
concerns or confusing the worthiness of her efforts, More candidly informs her readership that her
goals are pure: "The cause I plead shall sanctify my song" (66). In this one line that sets the tone
for the entire work, More insinuates that her work is blessed because it serves a greater purpose.
Claiming that her work is sanctified also insinuates that More is blessed with greater knowledge
and understanding, and it is this wisdom that she is presenting in her work. In contrast to
Barbauld' s combatant tone, More claims to 'plead' her cause, creating the image of meekness in
keeping with the sanctity of the work and her gender.
In comparison, Wheatley' s tone is difficult to assess because her poetry is truly
ambiguous. It is uncertain whether Wheatley is presenting a humble, submissive self and therefore
creating a humble, submissive African identity, or ifthe poem is a subtle indictment of her forced
transportation and enslavement in America. In order to appreciate Wheatley's ambiguous tone,
"On Being Brought from Africa to America" is quoted here in its entirety:
Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there' s a God, that there' s a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view that sable race with scornful eye:

73

' Their colour is a diabolic dye.'
Remember, Christians, Negroes black as Cain
May be refined and join the angelic strain.(l-8)
The movement from submissive gratitude in lines one and two to the strong assertion in lines
seven and eight suggests that Wheatley is indirectly denouncing her oppressors. The tone starts
softly, submissively, but it builds and ends with a bold idea and strong emotion, indicating that
Wheatley's tone cannot be dismissed as simply submissive. Critics who condemn Wheatley' s
passive acceptance of her enslavement fail to recognize the confidence required to assert that the
slave' s identity may one day change, suggesting that Wheatley uses a "mask of harmlessness" in
her work to enable her to voice her feelings on slavery and freedom (Shields "Phillis" 647).
Wheatley establishes an active, somewhat rebellious African voice against slavery, but it is
concealed and therefore softened by her ' mask' and the implication that the slave requires
refinement.
Barbauld and More openly challenge the British participation in the slave trade and slavery
in an assertive manner that Wheatley, as a slave, could not adopt. As abolitionists, Barbauld and
More were a part of an enormous and respectable movement which united religious and political
interests and provided an opportunity for women to participate in a public debate. Due to
women' s confinement to the private sphere, individuals believed that women were naturally
inclined toward religion as they were not corrupted by public affairs (Hall 86). Consequently,
religious concerns were accepted and, even, expected in women' s reform efforts, providing a
measure of authority for women and the justification to speak out on behalf of the slave.
Nevertheless, in direct opposition to the authority granted women, Barbauld contradicts
her society' s gender expectations and concentrates on political interests. Ironically, Wilberforce' s

74
objections to granting Dissenters civil rights may have contributed to the nature and tone of
Barbauld' s political attack, providing personal motivation for her criticism against the rejection of
a bill (Ferguson "British Women" 17). Moreover, the few references to heaven in Epistle
reinforce the threat of retribution rather than providing an altruistic motivation for abolition (The
Epistle 43 , 111). In 1789, Barbauld stated that " the purest love of history and justice" motivated
individuals to join the abolition campaign, and that the "voice of the Negroes could not have made
itselfheard but for the ear of pity; they might have been oppressed for ages more with impunity, if
we [Britain] had so pleased" (qted. in Ferguson "British Women" 3). One is never quite sure
where Africans fit into Barb auld's abolition goals, but the concern for history and justice suggest
that African enslavement is secondary to Britain' s interests.
More' s emphasis upon the impact of the slave trade on Christianity results in a similar
diminishing ofthe interests of African slaves. As an Evangelical, More concentrated on the moral
reform of society and the salvation of all souls regardless of their origins; consequently, she
condemned slavery because it prevented reform and salvation (Anstey "Religion" 40). More
illustrates the bonds between Africa and Britain, arguing that they share the same blood and a
common creator. The connection to God enables More to counter the image of the unworthy
African pagan: "He [Jesus Christ] died for those who never heard his name" (The Slave Trade
245 ). Granted, More inflicts her Western Christianity upon Africans; however, at the same time,
she suggests that the African religious state is not a justification for enslavement. The end of the
poem emphasizes More' s principal concern for religious matters:
Look down with mercy in thy chosen time,
With equal eye on Afric' s suff'ring clime:
Disperse her shades of intellectual night,

75
Repeat thy high behest -- Let there be Light
Bring each benighted soul, great God, to Thee,
And with thy wide salvation make them free!
(354-59)
Unfortunately, More contradicts her earlier, moderately positive representation of Africans by
implying that Africa is under 'intellectual night' and 'benighted,' thereby insinuating that Africans
are intellectually and religiously inferior to the West. The Evangelical goals promoted the end of
slavery and salvation, but they did not promote equality.
Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America," also addresses salvation
and the possibility of a reward in heaven without referring to earthly equality. The Wheatley
family was Puritan, and Phillis Wheatley became a devout Christian and a baptized member of the
Old South Meeting House (Richmond Phillis 33, 53). Wheatley's assertion that Africans may
"join the angelic strain" ("On Being Brought" 8) suggests that Wheatley is looking to heaven
rather than change in the physical world. Death becomes a celebration because there is a new
order in the next world that enables Africans to move above that status of slave and become apart
of next life (Shields The Collected 231, 24 7). Wheatley's belief in an improved afterlife indicates
her religious beliefs, but it also emphasizes her resistance to her enslavement and justifies her right
to resist her masters, announcing the potential for a new order in which African slaves will be
raised up to the 'angelic.'
During the eighteenth century, the ideal model ofWestern humanity remained the
civilized, refined, Christian (or Deist), whereas the 'pagan' symbolized the 'dark' and uncivilized.
Surprisingly, More does not blame African slaves for not being Christians, but, she publicly
censures British Christian society for accepting and participating in the slave trade. Britain should

76
be presenting the ideal model of Christian behavior for the rest of the world to freely adopt.
More reflects Clarkson' s assertions that a freed Africa would " be in a better state to comprehend
and receive the sublime truths of the Christian religion" (The History 80). Strangely, it is only
Wheatley who appears to disparage the pagan Africans.
More neglects the possibility of the 'pagan' Africans, focusing upon the British who are
ignoring Christian ideals and their responsibility to provide a moral example for the rest of the
world. The British are teaching Africans to fear Christianity because the slave traders are
misrepresenting Christian practices: "Savage! thy venial error I deplore, I They are not Christians
who infest thy shore" (The Slave Trade 226-27). Consequently, Africans are conditioned to fear
individuals who espouse Christian doctrines: "For he had leam'd to dread the Christian' s trust; I
To him what mercy can that GOD display, I Whose servants murder, and whose sons betray?"
(223-25). More is concerned with both African and British Christian faith; however, her appeal to
the Africans indicates that she does not condemn an African slave' s fear of Christianity because
she blames the so-called Christian slave traders and owners for causing the Africans to distrust
Christianity. While African slaves are not blamed for being pagans, the ideal remains the true
Christian.
In contrast, Wheatley presents an alternative assessment of African paganism that is more
disturbing than More' s judgments. As the African, the Other, Wheatley complicates the
representation of African slaves by crediting the slave traders for bringing her to Christian
America: " Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land" (1). Ironically, it is Wheatley, not
Barbauld or More, who declares that her life is better in America than it would have been had she
been allowed to remain in her 'pagan land. ' Apparently, ' mercy' is also responsible for teaching
Wheatley' s " benighted soul to understand I That there ' s a God, that there ' s a Saviour too" (2-3 ).

77
If Wheatley the African slave, the Other, is considered along with her poetry, the poem

complicates representation and the voice of the Other because Wheatley portrays both submission
and rebellion. Individuals who represent are subject to contrary instincts and thus the
representations and the subsequent literary identities are also subject to contradictions.
The contradictions found within the representation of African slaves and the African
identity are further complicated by religious arguments against slavery. The three poets argue or
imply that in God's eyes, at least, human beings are equal and will, eventually, be forced to live
according to His laws. Religious concerns dominate More and Wheatley's poems, whereas
Barbauld devotes only one line to the possibility that justice will prevail, even if it is only in
heaven. In 1789, Wilberforce emphasized the connection between abolition and God's laws in a
speech promoting abolition before the Members of Parliament: "when we think of eternity, and
the future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life which should make any
man contradict the principles of his own conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion,
and of God?'' (qted. in Pollack 90). Implying that individuals who do not support abolition risk
eternal damnation creates a powerful argument for abolition.

t Barbauld utilizes a similar argument, claiming that her country's participation in the slave

trade and its unwillingness to abolish slavery violates God's laws. The country's actions are not
going unnoticed: "not unmarked in Heaven's impartial plan" (Epistle 43). Heaven's plan is
impartial, suggesting that colour is irrelevant and judgments are made according to deeds. Much
of this argument is based upon the fact that Barb auld is writing about the Abolition Bill and
consequently her language is intended to sway political opinion and publicize standard abolitionist
views. The line implies that God's plans are impartial whereas, in contrast, the country has lost its
unbiased and tolerant principles. The reference to 'impartial' also indicates that the Africans are

78

not being treated fairly on earth which is an indictment of the British slave traders and owners for
ignoring their responsibilities towards their fellow human beings.
Using similar language, More also asserts that each African is a part of God' s creations
and humanity, but her arguments are more forceful and overt than Barbauld's discussion of
African and British fellowship . More maintains that the Africans and the British have the same
origins: " And Thou ! great source ofNature and of Grace, I Who of one blood didst form the
human race" (The Slave Trade 352-53). The belief that the Africans and the British were created
from the same blood not only implies that Africans are humans and not savage beasts, it also
insinuates that there are fewer differences between the Africans and the British than scientists,
philosophers, and pro-slavery individuals claim. More also states that each African has a soul, a
"Pagan soul" (94), but a soul nevertheless and therefore each African is a part of the ' human race'
and deserving of human status and freedom. Contradictions are inevitable because More is
burdened with maintaining the political status quo while challenging the political position on the
slave trade, maintaining British superiority while challenging the traditional definitions of the
Other, and maintaining the traditional social order while challenging the enslaved status of the
African people. With the argument that the Africans and the British share the same blood, More
represents a sympathetic human African identity that is, to some extent, negated by her anxiety to
ensure British superiority on all levels, including souls.
Wheatley, unlike Barbauld and More, is not concerned with the African' s identity as much
as the possibility that African slaves may "join the angelic strain" ("On Being Brought" 8). It
appears that only in heaven is there the prospect of justice for the Other because, on earth, " Some
view that sable race with scornful eye" (5). In a very subtle indictment of slavery, Wheatley also
rebukes the individuals who scorn Africans and fail to recognize that the Other is not savage but

79

may, in fact, become a part of the angelic strain. The poem implies that there will be an ultimate
reward and Africans will become something greater, something angelic. Until then, Wheatley
implies that African slaves will remain victims of scorn.
To different extents, each woman' s representation of African slaves as individuals to be
pitied or scorned challenged eighteenth-century society' s understanding of gender and the abilities
of African slaves. Barbauld, More, and Wheatley confronted eighteenth-century assumptions and,
to some degree, overcame the limitations placed upon them as women or, for Wheatley, as an
African slave. Political debates, personal interests, external pressures, and social conventions
affected the nature and content of the poets' representations of African slaves, impelling them to
question and, at times, affirm eighteenth-century perceptions of the African ' race.' The
representation of African slaves was complicated by the pressures and constraints placed upon
Barbauld, More, and Wheatley, resulting in contraditions in their understanding and literary
representation of African slaves.

80

Chapter Five
Conclusion

The three eighteenth century poets' works illustrate the positive and the negative aspects
of literary representations and demonstrate the forces or contrary instincts which act upon the
creation of identity, specifically an African slave identity. Barbauld, More, and Wheatley
attempted to reconcile traditional religious assumptions, moral and political concerns, and cultural
and gender barriers with their own personal concerns and motivations and thus contradictions
were inevitable. At the same time, the very act of speaking out against slavery and creating a
different perception of an African native and slave aided in creating an anti-slavery climate that
eventually convinced the politicians to abolish the slave trade and slavery (Anstey The Atlantic ad
passim, P.Richardson 82, Midgley 70).
Barbauld, More, and Wheatley contributed to the image of the passive, submissive
African. The three poets' representations insinuated that African slaves were inferior to the
British people, reinforcing the notion that British reform was more important than African
freedom. An African remained an uncivilized individual who represented a potential threat to the
peace and harmony of society. At the same time, the three women also created a positive African

81
identity that concentrated on African humanity. Wheatley, in her poetry and her voice, provided
the image of an assertive African with intellectual and creative capabilities. In contradiction to
their own objectification of African slaves, Barbauld and More emphasized the African human
identity. The three women poets' works demonstrate that literary representations cannot be
separated from their historical or cultural contexts. An unsigned 1789 article in the Critical
Review suggested that women were not influenced by politicall motivations:
By the ladies this subject [slave trade] has been contemplated
through the pure medium of virtuous pity, unmixed with those
political, commercial and selfish considerations which operated
in steeling the hearts of some men against the pleadings of
humanity: to find them, therefore, writing on it, by no means
excited wonder. (qted. in Ferguson Subject 163)
However, an examination of the poetry indicates that Barbauld, More, and Wheatley were
affected by political interests as well as personal considerations. The external environment
affected each poet's perception of Africans and her representation of African slaves.
Several questions arise out of the above analysis of representation and the creation of a
literary identity, beginning with the original questions. How are we to reconcile the positive and
negative results of literary representation? Can we? We do not have a choice because
it becomes apparent that literature as one of the most persuasive
uses of language may have an important influence on the ways in
which people grasp themselves and their relation to the real
relations in which they live. (Belsey 598)

82
The eighteenth-century abolition movement's deliberate use of literature to promote anti-slavery
sentiments indicates that we recognize that literature influences the ways in which individuals
understand themselves and the Other. In this way, a literary representation creates a fixed identity
with determined characteristics and thus affects our perceptions of individuals, cultures, and the
Other. Consequently, it is necessary to understand the process of representation because it is the
key to understanding the ways in which identities are created. An examination ofBarbauld's,
More's, and Wheatley's works demonstrates the ways in which representations are a complex
amalgamation ofthe author, the author's perception ofthe self and the represented, external
influences, and contrary instincts, indicating that contradictions are inevitable.
If contradictions are inevitable, it is necessary to question the fairness of representing
another individual or group in literature. British abolition history demonstrates that popular
support for the enslaved African people aided in the eventual abolition of the slave trade and
slavery. Historians detail the ways in which the massive mobilization of individuals against the
slave trade created an anti-slavery climate that influenced political change. Therefore, silence
implies acquiescence, allowing the oppression of one group or country to continue. Speaking out
against oppression and representing the needs of the oppressed promotes resistance and,
eventually, change.
However, who may speak? In speaking out, the speaker speaks for the individual who is
being represented in the literature. Barbauld and More employed their poetry to represent the
interests of African slaves. In doing so, Barbauld's and More's representations also reflect their
concerns and anxieties about the self as well as the Other, resulting in inconsistencies in both the
British and the African identities and emphasizing the ambiguity of identity in general. To
understand the representation and the created identity, then, it is also necessary to consider who

83

or what is representing (C .Walker 569). Deciding upon who may or who may not represent an
individual in literature is also problematic because it leads to the predicament of determining who
maintains the right to make the decisions. As the Other, Wheatley appears to speak for the slave;
however, her language and subjects are constrained by her enslavement and her experiences are
unique, indicating that her voice is not the voice of all slaves. One representative voice speaking
out for a group of individuals does not allow for differences.
How do we represent a group in literature and allow for differences? Speaking for a
group of individuals results in a collective identity which is created out of the author' s
understanding of common characteristics as well as internal and external influences. Barbauld' s
and More' s discussion of African slavery illustrates the way in which the personal and the unique
are lost to a collective representation. Abolitionists portrayed a common African identity without
considering distinct geographical regions, cultures, tribal affiliations, or religious beliefs; similarly
Barbauld and More portrayed a common British identity that effaced class and geographical and
religious differences. Individual differences were also lost to the collective identity, resulting in
the depersonalization of the representation of Africans.
Clearly, the author, as ' representee,' must examine personal and external motivations for
representing another individual or group in literature. The responsibility begins with the author
who determines the nature and content of the representation. Although Gayatri Chakravorty
Spivak is primarily concerned with the feminist tradition, she presents relevant questions that have
an impact upon all literary representations: "there has to be a simultaneous other focus : not
merely who am I? but who is the other woman [the represented]? How am I naming her? How
does she name me?" ("French" 39). Without a relationship between the speaker and the
represented, the most compassionate motivations will go awry (39).

84
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