In spite of the enormous admiration and approval of Eliza Haywood’s novellas, which at the time of their exact publication were genuine sale rivals to the works of writers such as pope and Swift, traditional scholarship has attached little to no importance to the name of Haywood. Such scholarship, however, is terribly injudicious and ill-advised. As one of the creators of popular literature, especially the influencial and well circulated novel, Haywood is one of the key figures in Eighteenth Century literature whose name and influence has remained with us still to this day. Haywood’s work has always been revolutionary in theme as they all have a focal point largely resting upon the role of the female within a patriarchal society, as well as dipping in to themes of the possibilities of female empowerment and even the taboo matters of female promiscuity and sexual freedom. In Fantommina, Haywood’s revolutionary stand points on society come into relation with the concept of female identity in a patriarchal civilization. In this troubling novella we are presented and forced to notice the very notion that female identity is completely displaced by patriarchy, which forces women into constricting and ultimately ineffective and defenseless roles. Fantomina: or love in a maze, is fittingly labelled “A masquerade Novel.” It is very true that the centralized plot of the piece circles arounf the masquerade as the protagonist constructs her herself several different personas
“Wake up, wake up!” says my owner, Eliza Emerson. She has been my owner ever since her husband, my old owner, died. I have been a slave my whole life and when our old owner died I thought that maybe our new owner Eliza, would set us free if I paid her. She actually liked me here and liked the earnings she got for paying me out. What I thought I could do after she said no was go to court. When our old owner died we had already lived in a free state so I thought that since I lived in a free state I was free.
Being ambitious means that you have big dreams, and that you plan on achieving those dreams quickly and efficiently. You become more confident after you know what you want, when you want it, and how to get it. In the little piece of “Late Nights on Air”, I focused on the personality and behavior of Gwen Symon, a girl who wanted to be a better radio DJ, and acted like she was the best. This, however, was presented to her colleagues as being arrogant. It reminded me of how I had a similar situation when I tried to the whole “fake it until you make it”.
Robert Browning provides a critical view of gender and power relations in his dramatic monologues “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess.” The dramatic monologue, as S.S. Curry has written, "reveals the struggle in the depths of the soul” (11). Browning delves into the minds of characters to show their conceptions of women and ideas of power. He explores the mental processes of the characters, and invites readers to question societal ideas of power and gender. The mental pathologies of the speakers is emphasized, which forces readers to examine the sanity of their own notions of gender dynamics.
Furthermore, the woman was never recognised as an equal in the world; with a “mane” for hair she is immediately relatable to an animal. When this connection is made, the woman is perceived as some strange creature; a mere mimicry of a real human. Harwood’s description of is a taste of how society views women; not quiet human. Now equipped with darker views of the flower filled day; the contemporary day reader is pondering to whether or not this vile practice is still belittling women of today.
The commandment, “women must submit to the dominance of man,” (Roland de Vaux) counseled many societies, western and abroad. The precedence of a submissive woman has dated back to the most basic societies, however with the evolution of cultures and communities, the idea of male dominance was undoubtedly amended; this is where humanity divides uncovering the struggle between the oppression of women and the precedence that has been set forth for centuries. Khaled Hosseini and Nathaniel Hawthorne both comment on this societal disconnect in their domestic narrations of female characters. In Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns the character Mariam depicts a women who endures rape, abuse, and imprisonment in her own home under the hand of her husband. Similarly Hester in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is prosecuted by the male leaders of the puritan society as she is forced into solitude for the sinful act of adultery. Together these seemly different bodies of work challenge and confront society’s censure of women as shown by the revelation of unrealistic social standards of women through distinct religious historical settings, the development of characterization, and the narrative point of view of both novels.
Margarita Engle, a poet, and novelist, once said, “Marriage without love is just one more twisted form of slavery.” In the eighteenth century, marriage was the exit door of many women from their homes whether they believed in love and filled their hearts with hope, or had no choice, and they were sold to men as if they were cattle. In The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin shows complex issues such as marriage, independence, symbols, and ironies. After hearing the news that Brently Mallard was dead in a railroad accident, Richards, Mr. Mallard’s friend, went to the house to be next to Mrs. Mallard and to help her at this difficult moment. Contrary to what everyone was worried about, Mrs. Mallard knew that she would lament her husband’s death, but she was full of hope, dreaming of her freedom, appreciating life beyond the window, and a new beginning. Unfortunately, Mrs. Mallard’s dreams faded when she went downstairs and her husband arrived alive, and she could not stand it and died. Focusing on The Story of an Hour, there are three main points related to women in the early eighteenth century, such as oppressive marriages, women’s new perspective and ways of liberation, and women’s submission and obedience that demonstrates how women survived, even though they were not heard.
In the 1700s women were supposed to play the role of doting woman standing by her man virtuous and loving. However, one can say that gender power dynamics could easily be turned when the idea of sex and prostitution in placed in the dynamics. The two texts to support this thesis will be Eliza Haywood’s short story Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze. Being A Secret History of an Amour between Two Persons of Condition, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s poem “The Reasons that Induced Dr. S to write a Poem called ‘The Lady’s Dressing Room’”.
Haywood’s cautionary tale warns lower class women to beware of sexual misconduct as their bodies are more available to men. Carrie Shanafelt explains in her essay “Vicarious Sex and the Vulnerable Eighteenth Century Reader” how specific people risk more in reading pornographic novels: “namely, young, female, and lower-class readers” in the eighteenth-century (262). For example, Celia, one persona, is a young countrywoman who works as a maid at the inn where Beauplaisir lives during his stay in Bath. Haywood creates this low class character to warn readers of the potential for sexual assault because of their class and gender. Celia notes that: “Fortune in this Exploit was extremely on her side; there were no others of the Male-Sex in the House,
Voltaire’s Candide is a complex literary work that sheds the light on many themes and exposes different problems of the 18th century. And the subject of women is one that was rarely if ever discussed in a period where male domination was still in its highest. The first evidence of this is the fact that in the entirety of Candide, a novel hugely dominated by male presence and power, exist only three women referred to by names and given bits of back story. Nevertheless, despite taking a back seat to Candide, Pangloss and other male characters, these three women are essential not only from a story related
Presenting literature to the public that is meant to be a commentary on social or political issues, masked under the guise of entertaining and fictional, is a tool implemented by authors and activists for centuries. While not all satire is as overt as Jonathan Swift’s suggestion that we eat the babies, it does not diminish the eyebrow raising suggestions that are conveyed once the meaning has been discovered. In Aphra Behn’s The History of the Nun and Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina, the established expectations of the female role within society are brought into question then directly rejected. These expectations establish that women should be deferential to men, morally unblemished, and virtuous at all times. Men, however, are not held to these expectations in the same way. The masculine roles assumed by Isabella and Fantomina demonstrate a private rebellion against the established patriarchal society as it warns against the under-estimation of women and proves that women exist independently.
Jane Eyre and Incidents in the life of a slave girl are two opposite literary texts which, despite being 19th century texts, belong to different historical periods. Brontë sets her character in the Victorian England. Jacobs, on the other hand, writes about slavery during the civil war in order to relate the treatment of slaves, and more precisely that of female slaves. We will analyse, in this essay, the differences as well as the similarities which exist between Jane Eyre and Incidents in the life of a slave girl written by herself. We see that they differ in terms of genre, the period of history in which they find themselves, the way the characters are presented and so forth. However, they share some of the main
The 18th century was a time where there were very strong gender norms that were strictly followed. But in Eliza Haywood's Fantomina, those gender norms are challenged with the creation of a cunning, and manipulative female protagonist. We are given a text that empowers the main character, Fantomina, throughout the story and shows us a woman's power to exercise their control over men. As a women of a higher class, Fantomina would have been expected to follow a certain code of conduct and uphold a good reputation. However, her ability to deceive Beauplaisir shows her power over him, as well as her skill and intelligence.
Fantomina was a novel written in 1725 by Eliza Haywood. It was not the norm during this time period for women to have successful careers as an author. Contrary to writers before her, Eliza Haywood was one of the first women to publish a successful novel (Eliza Haywood Biography 1). Haywood typically published her stories using an anonymous name (1).
In the poem “The Lady’s Dressing Room,” written by Jonathan Swift, one may say he portrays himself to be a chauvinist by ridiculing women and their cryptic habits. However, others may say he wants to help women from the ideals placed upon them by society and prove to be an early feminist. This poem written in the 18th century represented women to be fake and sleazy at first. Then during the 20th century, the feminist movement used it as an attack against women, depicting the poem’s meaning as not valuing their rights and freedoms. The truth far hidden from these points of views became uncovered recently. This essay will explain both sides of the views and using critical thinking will uncover the real message the author intended to portray.
Surprise! Women have sexual desires just like men do. Roles set for women in the 18th century demonstrated the constrictions women endured. The idea of sex, status, and character to a woman depended on what men thought of them. However Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina demonstrates what occurs when the gender power roles are reversed and women are the dominant gender.