Roxana by Daniel Defoe (Part Three)

Background

• Fantomina and Roxana end up the same way: pregnant and tracked down by their estranged children
• Roxana and Amy were punished for their murder, but the punishment is ambiguous
• The women writers we have read so far have been punished by the body for sins by the body

Roxana (Part Three)

Roxana is constantly in pursuit of an escape wither to acquire money or to be with another man. Roxana can never really escape her woes. Roxana's daughter Susan pursues her and gets too close for comfort, thus punishing Roxana. 

Roxana is fearful of the men leaving her and is forced to confront her ex-husband, which she has tried to avoid for a long time. Roxana pursues different identities and her children force her to face her real identity which she is not comfortable with. 

Susan thinks that Amy is her mother and Amy begins to dress and act like Roxana. Roxana's real name is Susan. Roxana admits in part of the novel that she wishes Susan were not present and Amy takes this very seriously. Roxana is trying to kill her old identity as Susan and by killing her angry, aggressive daughter (Susan) she would get rid of the old identity. Roxana's daughter Susan wants to reveal Roxana's true identity because Susan is mad that Roxana is living a privileged life and Susan is living life as a poor maid. 

Roxana is brought up with a lot of money, loses it in the middle of her life, and gains the money back later in life. The more money Roxana acquires, her disguises and actions become more and more bold. Roxana bases the value of her relationships with the men in her life off of how much money they have to offer. Towards the end of the novella, Roxana no longer has to sell her body for money, but she continues to do so because she is addicted to the money. 

Roxana goes through a lot of strife in the novel, but we never know what happens to her. Novels of this time period typically have nice closure, but Roxana never gets any closure. Roxana is left with five children after her husband left her, so this may have turned her emotions and caused her to enter survival mode.