Abstract

This thesis attempts to deconstruct the Restoration double standard which linked male promiscuity to libertinism, and female promiscuity to prostitution. The emphasis is placed on assessing the sexual ideologies embedded in some of the literature of the period. The impact of socioeconomic status in shaping the contrasting identities of the libertine and the prostitute is also considered. In the first three chapters, the literary analysis is framed by brief portraits of historical libertine women. In the latter part of the thesis, consideration is given to the significance of a libertine identity as a model for female authorship during the Restoration, and a suggestion is made regarding the role of the female libertine in the development of early eighteenth-century notions of gender and class.