A Text of Identity: Frances Brooke and the Rhetoric of the Aging Spinster

Frances Brooke, writing in 1755 in London, England, selected the figure of the aging spinster as her alter ego when she wrote and edited a thirty-seven issue periodical, The Old Maid. Analysis of the periodical and the cultural environment in which Brooke wrote explains her choice of persona in terms of the issues she faced as a woman producing writing to be read largely by male contemporaries. This analysis reveals some of the underlying stereotypes of aging and identity in the period as well as the way these stereotypes could be used by a clever writer.