Because novels of the late eighteenth century had a Heroine Problem. A heroine must experience something remarkable to hold the reader’s interest; yet in this era, saying that a woman had “adventures” was a euphemism for illicit liaisons that would likely lead to being cast out of high society. She must be both faultless and yet, somehow, not boring. That’s the Heroine Problem: How could authors compose an exciting story when moral authorities demanded that their main character never be a “bad example” to other young women readers?
