Female Society in Turkey and England in the 1700s

In the 1700s, people used travel writings as a way to experience and learn about another culture that they had never visited.  Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s writings about her travels in Turkey were good examples of that.  Because she was a woman, Montagu was also able to provide a certain perspective that travel writing had previously been lacking.  We can learn many things about the differences between women and society in Turkey and England in the 1700s from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s letters written about the Turkish baths.  Montagu’s position as an influential woman allowed her to give us some insight into the Turkish culture that we would not be able to get from a man. 

Due to her unique position, Montagu was able to enter the Turkish baths and spend time with the women there.  One of the first things Montagu notices when she arrives at the baths is that she is dressed very differently from the others.  She observes that “I was in my traveling habit…and certainly appeared very extraordinary to them.  Yet there was not one of them that showed the least surprise or impertinent curiosity, but received me with all the obliging civility possible” (2761).  Her clothing is very out of place there, but they still treat her very kindly.  She comments that women in England would never have been this polite to a stranger, particularly one dressed as differently as she is.  In England there are “…disdainful smiles or satirical whispers…when anyone appears that is not dressed exactly in fashion” (2761).  The Turkish women are much more accepting of Montagu’s differences than British women would have been in a similar situation.  The women in these baths were much kinder and more considerate than the women Montagu was used to being with.  Their kindness and acceptance was so enjoyable, in fact, that Montagu was disappointed by other attractions she later saw in Turkey. 

Source:
Montagu, Lady Mar Worley. "Letters...Written During Her Travels." The Norton Anthology English Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: Noton, 2012. 2760-2762. Print.