At first glance, Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze by Eliza Haywood appears to be a mystical tale of a woman who uses her ability to change her appearance in order to pursue a lover. Once compared to Samuel Johnson’s idea of what the new task of novels should be, a variety of the elements of the novel contribute to the feeling of a romantic story, giving it the illusion of being meant purely for entertainment as opposed to being connected to the, “living world” (2924). However, Eliza Haywood adds enough complexity to the story that it becomes more a question of whether it is actually meant for entertainment, or if it is a more powerful commentary about women and their role in society. One of the many ways that this novel emerges as a more romantic
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The syntax of this passage adds more complexity though, because by saying “if he could not content himself,” and then connecting it with her willingness to “part with him for ever,” she ultimately lays the responsibility on him to be resolved with her decision or leave, with no other alternative, much in the way that he gave her no choice but to have sex with him when he knew her as Fantomina. This reversal in roles and transfer of power is pivotal in Haywood’s representation of Fantomina gaining agency, because it firmly establishes Fantomina as the one with the final ability to say yes or no, something that women in this society did not …show more content…
Without the veil of anonymity, she becomes just as powerless as the average woman in this society, and the incredibility of the whole story is pointed out when she tells the truth and it was, “difficult to determine if Beauplaisir, or the lady, were most surprised at what they heard; he, that he should have been blinded so often by her artifices; or she, that so young a creature should have the skill to make use of them” (2758). The illusion of a woman gaining power that had been present throughout the novel is suddenly shattered as the realism of the situation becomes apparent and both Beauplaisir and Fantomina’s mother’s reactions show that the entire story is in no way believable. By ending with Fantomina again powerless, Haywood is clearly showing how she turned a romantic story into something much more realistic and
The syntax of this passage adds more complexity though, because by saying “if he could not content himself,” and then connecting it with her willingness to “part with him for ever,” she ultimately lays the responsibility on him to be resolved with her decision or leave, with no other alternative, much in the way that he gave her no choice but to have sex with him when he knew her as Fantomina. This reversal in roles and transfer of power is pivotal in Haywood’s representation of Fantomina gaining agency, because it firmly establishes Fantomina as the one with the final ability to say yes or no, something that women in this society did not …show more content…
Without the veil of anonymity, she becomes just as powerless as the average woman in this society, and the incredibility of the whole story is pointed out when she tells the truth and it was, “difficult to determine if Beauplaisir, or the lady, were most surprised at what they heard; he, that he should have been blinded so often by her artifices; or she, that so young a creature should have the skill to make use of them” (2758). The illusion of a woman gaining power that had been present throughout the novel is suddenly shattered as the realism of the situation becomes apparent and both Beauplaisir and Fantomina’s mother’s reactions show that the entire story is in no way believable. By ending with Fantomina again powerless, Haywood is clearly showing how she turned a romantic story into something much more realistic and