Erin Elizabeth Keenan
Group A
Eliza Haywood
October 11, 2015
Eliza Haywood’s novel Fantomina: Love in a Maze portrays the fictional story of a woman who disguises herself in a number of different identities in order to seduce the man she loves. This novel is apart of amatory fiction, a genre of 17th and 18th century British literature written by women for women concerning novels of romantic love and sexual desire. Haywood’s Fantomina was the best selling ‘50 shades’ novel of its day. This novel allowed women to live vicariously through the protagonist Fantomina, as she left behind her rigid high society life in pursuits of sexual freedom by engaging in exciting and illicit affairs with her conquest Beauplaisir.
The novel begins describing the …show more content…
This first glance at Fantomina characterizes her as a noble Lady of society; the languages describing her are words such as “distinguished”. She is a member of high society in England, which restricts her behavior. In this passage, the story begins at the theatre, where she is surrounded by an atmosphere of “celebrated Toasts, [where] she perceived several Gentleman extremely pleased themselves with entertaining a Woman who sat in a Corner of the Pit” (257). Fantomina is seated in a Box in the theatre according to her aristocratic class. She is bored with this life and decides she wants to pursue excitement. She renounces her social class by dressing up as a common prostitute, free to seduce Beauplaisir. In the text, their meeting is shown “she saw the accomplish'd Beauplaisir… they were infinitely charm'd with each other… she found a vast deal of Pleasure in conversing with him in this free and unrestrain'd Manner” (258). In this passage, the reader can gather that Fantomina desires Beauplaisir and finds “pleasure” talking with him in a “free and unrestrained manner”. Fantomina is not bound by propriety; she can speak freely to Beauplaisir, as he believes her to be a prostitute …show more content…
Fantomina’s tale is very similar to Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette as Eliza Wharton pursues sexual freedom by engaging in an illicit affair with Major Sanford. Fantomina also desires sexual freedom in this text. She exerts her desires of freedom by engaging in this sexual relationship with Beauplaisir. These two women, Eliza Wharton and Fantomina risk it all: their social class standing in order to gain sexual freedom to engage in these affairs outside the institution of marriage. The story has a comic ending, unlike many tales about women who have behaved ‘sinfully’. Unlike Foster’s The Coquette, the protagonist did not suffer death in childbirth like Eliza Wharton; rather Fantomina is sent to a monastery in France by her mother. The ending of this story is comic instead of a typical tragic ending for a woman who has
Group A
Eliza Haywood
October 11, 2015
Eliza Haywood’s novel Fantomina: Love in a Maze portrays the fictional story of a woman who disguises herself in a number of different identities in order to seduce the man she loves. This novel is apart of amatory fiction, a genre of 17th and 18th century British literature written by women for women concerning novels of romantic love and sexual desire. Haywood’s Fantomina was the best selling ‘50 shades’ novel of its day. This novel allowed women to live vicariously through the protagonist Fantomina, as she left behind her rigid high society life in pursuits of sexual freedom by engaging in exciting and illicit affairs with her conquest Beauplaisir.
The novel begins describing the …show more content…
This first glance at Fantomina characterizes her as a noble Lady of society; the languages describing her are words such as “distinguished”. She is a member of high society in England, which restricts her behavior. In this passage, the story begins at the theatre, where she is surrounded by an atmosphere of “celebrated Toasts, [where] she perceived several Gentleman extremely pleased themselves with entertaining a Woman who sat in a Corner of the Pit” (257). Fantomina is seated in a Box in the theatre according to her aristocratic class. She is bored with this life and decides she wants to pursue excitement. She renounces her social class by dressing up as a common prostitute, free to seduce Beauplaisir. In the text, their meeting is shown “she saw the accomplish'd Beauplaisir… they were infinitely charm'd with each other… she found a vast deal of Pleasure in conversing with him in this free and unrestrain'd Manner” (258). In this passage, the reader can gather that Fantomina desires Beauplaisir and finds “pleasure” talking with him in a “free and unrestrained manner”. Fantomina is not bound by propriety; she can speak freely to Beauplaisir, as he believes her to be a prostitute …show more content…
Fantomina’s tale is very similar to Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette as Eliza Wharton pursues sexual freedom by engaging in an illicit affair with Major Sanford. Fantomina also desires sexual freedom in this text. She exerts her desires of freedom by engaging in this sexual relationship with Beauplaisir. These two women, Eliza Wharton and Fantomina risk it all: their social class standing in order to gain sexual freedom to engage in these affairs outside the institution of marriage. The story has a comic ending, unlike many tales about women who have behaved ‘sinfully’. Unlike Foster’s The Coquette, the protagonist did not suffer death in childbirth like Eliza Wharton; rather Fantomina is sent to a monastery in France by her mother. The ending of this story is comic instead of a typical tragic ending for a woman who has