Elizabeth Marsh (1735–1785) was an Englishwoman who was held captive in Morocco for a brief period after the ship she was traveling from Gibraltar to England to unite with her fiancé was intercepted by a Moroccan corsair and overtaken by its crew.
[5] In the published version, Marsh also added quite a few details that helped reframe her narrative in a more novelistic form[5] and that heightened the sense of danger she felt as well as created dramatic tension around the question of whether or not she would escape.
After the Ann was ‘unhappily deserted’ by the Gosport, it was easily taken on 8 August by a Moroccan corsair of about 20 guns and 130 seamen, then carried to Salé.
In The Female Captive it is said, "Despairing of cowing his hostage into submission, the Prince grudgingly granted her freedom and permission to leave the country, yet not before Britain formally agreed to resume peace talks with Morocco.
Despite Marsh's position as an enslaved woman, she still holds power over her fellow white male captives, since whenever she desires an accommodation, she receives one.
Contrary to the males, female captives seemed to find themselves given a chance to travel, self-reliance and assertiveness, and non-domestic work opportunities.
[13] The term harem referred not only to wives and concubines, but all other female members of the household, including children and domestic slaves.
For example, Thomas Pellow, who was enslaved for 23 years in Morocco, claimed that the harem of Moulay Ismail had eight thousand wives living in it.
At the time, influential members of European society believed that women could be easily persuaded to undertake various actions thanks to the exotic allure of the Orient; these ideas were encouraged by the publication of a translated version of The Arabian Nights by French orientalist Antoine Galland (an English version of the book was first published in 1795, although French copies were available to Marsh).
[16] Elizabeth Marsh faced this same criticism when she returned home, preventing her from publishing her narrative due to fear of the backlash it would cause.
Even with her aforementioned display of strength when faced with Sultan Sidi Mohammad Ben Abdallah's offer of concubinage, Elizabeth was accused of being a liar and giving up her virtue to him.
[4] Along with these symptoms, the fact that she felt the need to narrate her story was a way for Marsh to digest what had happened to her and how to cope with it all, even if she was pressured into writing about it.
The awareness of mental disorders and disease is a new area of health that has only recently started to come to light in the past ten years.