1747: "The Speech of Miss Polly Baker" (1747)

"The Lost Portrait of Benjamin Franklin / Initiation" (2014) by Jordan Mendiola

The Speech of Miss Polly Baker (1747)

". . .I have hazarded the loss of the public Esteem, and frequenlty incurr'd public Disgrace and Punishment; and therefore ought, in my humble Opinion, instead of a Whipping, to have a statued erected in my Memory."

Ideology: Gender and Class

“The Speech of Miss Polly Baker” is a fictional work about a woman who struggles to have a fair trial.  It handles themes such as the equality of men and women under the law as well as some of Franklin’s religious thoughts.  Miss Polly Baker stands on trial for having children out of wedlock, and she says that this is the fifth time she has faced such charges.  She is poor, having “no Money to fee Lawyers to plead for me,” also adding a class aspect to the woman’s problem.  Baker talks about how she does not have any contempt for marriage, but even tried to be wed once, only to be abandoned with a child while the man continued on to be a magistrate.  She argues even further that she has worked for the good of society by reproducing, more so than the men who “leave unproduced” their posterity.  So it seems that Franklin is going against some of the Christian thoughts of the time to argue for a fair trial regardless of class or sex. 

Ideology: Church and State

. . . “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker” appeals for the acceptance of unmarried mothers, and abolishment of laws punishing adultery. One of the arguments made is that Ms. Baker, by being an unmarried mother of five children, has already, in their eyes, "offended Heaven, and must suffer eternal Fire” and asks “Will that not be sufficient?” If she has already been delivered spiritual reprisal, then why does she also deserve a legal one? In addition to this hypocrisy, another can be found that her former husband, an accomplice to her ‘crime,’ suffers no punishment at all, and has in fact found reward from the same system that apprehends her.

Ideology: What is Productivity?

One of the lines that I found thought-provoking was when Polly states "take into the consideration the growing number of bachelors, whom from fear of expense never honorably court a woman and live their lives unproduced. Is not theirs a greater offence to the public good”? It appears Ben Franklin is challenging the ideology of his time in a [satirical] way, pointing out the inequality faced by women. 

Ideology: A Woman's Voice

Something to point out too is that he wrote the story from the viewpoint of a woman, I presume he made this choice in an effort to give his argument more significance. Furthermore, it seems Franklin was perhaps wanting his male readers to look at the situation as if they were in a Polly’s shoes.

Aesthetics: Humor and SassFranklin seems to be using the argument of religion here, how God tells his people to be fruitful and multiply. Furthermore, Polly funnily states that she is determined, and her duty is one “of which nothing has ever been able to deter (her),” which to me sounds like she has been sexually active frequently and does not desire to stop. For her “duty,” she has “hazarded the Loss of the public Esteem.” Her continuous having children has led her to be estranged by society, and she feels that she is almost a martyr for it. I think this is funny, because it seems so dramatic. I do agree that she should not be punished for having sex or having children, but Polly seems like a very dramatic character in her sense of “duty.”