Eliza Haywood's Fantomin Or, Love In A Maze

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.

The life of a lady in the 19th century is painted in a romantic light. Pictured in her parlor, the lady sips tea from delicate china while writing letters with a white feathered quill. Her maid stands silently off in the background, waiting for orders to serve her mistress. What is not typically pictured, is the sadness or boredom echoed on the lady’s face. Perhaps the letter is to a dear friend, not seen in ages, pleading with the friend to visit, in hopes that the friend will fill the void in the lady’s life made from years spent in a loveless marriage; or possiblyk20 the lady isn’t writing a letter at all, but a novel or a poem, never to be read by anyone but her. Edith Warton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, are 19th Century ladies who dare to share their writing with the world. Through their works, the darker side of a woman’s life in the late 1800’s is exposed. Gender politics in the 19th dictates that a lady is dependent on her husband for her financial security and social standing; that is if she is fortunate enough to marry at all. In Edith Warton’s The House of Mirth, Lily Bart is a beautiful woman in her late 20’s, who fails to marry a wealthy man. The narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper slowly goes insane under her physician husbands misguided attempts to cure her of depression. The downfall of Lily Bart and the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper is

Fantomina is the opposite of the stereotypical woman in the eighteenth century. On page 1466,the author says that “she was so admirably skilled in the art of feigning that she had the power of putting on almost what face she pleased, and knew so exactly how to form her behaviour to the character she represented that all the comedians at both playhouses are infinitely short of her performances.This is about how Fantomina had learnt the art of conniving,that she was comparing herself to the comedian at playhouses. In a century where men were supposed to be the liars and connivers, Fantomina found a way to do against what stereotypically would have been done by women and do what would have been done stereotypically by man.This shows us that Fantomina had gone against the stereotypes and “beaten” Beauplaisir at what was supposed to be his role in society. So Fantomina learned skills of feigning shows that some woman could really change their affirmed gender roles to fulfill what their hearts and minds desired off.

The text ‘The Daughters of England’, is a book written to provide guidance for young women, pertaining to their character and behaviour; the book creates the framework for the role of women in the household. It instructs that women must offer a virtuous influence on men - as wives, mothers, and daughters - as part of their role within society. Estimated to have been written in 1842, in London, ‘Daughters of England’ was penned by Sarah Stickney Ellis; a popular author of Victorian conduct literature. Ellis’ popularity implies that the source was widely circulated at the time, thus represents an important view of contemporary society. This document reveals to us the ideals expected of middle class women of the time, and the principles that were envisioned for them, relating in particular to the ‘separate spheres’ ideology.

Fantomina, written by Eliza Haywood in 1725, elicits revolutionary topics calling into question the woman’s role in patriarchal societies and their lack of sexual freedom. Distinguished in the genre of amatory fiction, Haywood covers the transformation of the eighteenth century protagonist, from a “young lady of distinguished birth” (Haywood 632), to a series of different persona’s, including a prostitute, maid, widow, and an anonymous woman, in Fantomina. The reader is constantly aware of who the protagonist claims to be under disguise, but the original identity of the protagonist is left fairly nonexistent. Rather than remaining the mold of her original identity, the protagonist of Haywood’s novel consciously chooses to take the disguise

In Eliza Haywood's Fantomina, we are introduced to a female protagonist with no name who come across Beauplaisir at a play. She is instantly intrigued by his demeanor and discovers that she has sexual desires for him. However, her role as a lady prevents her from approaching him and expressing such desires.

The Elizabethan age regarded women’s sexuality as a form of currency. In England’s social structure currency was a means to power. A woman’s virginity was something to be bargained for, and when the time was right, sold to the highest bidder. In modern day, this slightly resembles prostitution, but during Elizabethan times selling a daughter’s virginity was the quickest way up the social ladder. During this time, the sacrifice of virginity implies marriage. Young women rarely married on the idea of love alone, due to the father’s interests in finding an ideal husband that will strengthen the family’s position within the community. Author of Shakespeare’s Women, Angela Pitt states “if for some reason it was impractical for a girl to marry she was encouraged to enter a nunnery,” (15). English women were predominantly ignored outside of the matrimonial and spiritual world.

This develops the idea that her future with this man as a married woman provided a stable lifestyle where she would not have to live by the rigid patterns of society, reinforcing a modern day feminist reader’s view of the expectations and restrictions placed on unmarried women during the Victorian era.

Isabella’s choice to remain virginal is symbolic of the choice everybody has to abstain from sex, particularly in regards to women. Whether or not a person chooses to have sex should not be regarded as a topic of intense debate or discussion. Rather, sex should be regarded as nothing extraordinary or bizarre. Therefore, the emphasis on sexual nature and sexual promiscuity is not aligned with benign violation, due to Shakespeare’s desire to express this underlying message – sex is benign, as is therefore, not a laughing

In the Victorian era, the status of women in society was extremely oppressive and, by modern standards, atrocious. Women had few rights, in or outside of the home. Married women in this period relied on men almost completely as they had few rights or independence. With this mindset in focus,

Most women were tied to the home in the 18th Century. Modesty had become an important part of family and society life. Women were considered to have a natural maternal instinct and a natural devotion to family. Attempting to leave this role of motherhood was seen as monstrous and unwomanly by society (Wolbrink, 4 Nov. 2011) Women expected to stay in the private sphere. This hiding from the outside world was an attempt to protect the purity of women reiterating that women are the weaker sex and must be protected. This philosophy is exemplified in an 18th century metaphor, “Women is a plant which in it’s own green house seclusion will put forth all its brilliant

During the Victorian Era in 1837 the period that was ruled by Queen Victoria I, women endured many social disadvantages by living in a world entirely dominated by men. Around that time most women had to be innocent, virtuous, dutiful and be ignorant of intellectual opinion. It was also a time associated with prudishness and repression. Their sole window on the world would, of course, be her husband. During this important era, the idea of the “Angel in the House” was developed by Coventry Patmore and used to describe the ideal women who men longed. Throughout this period, women were treated inferior to men and were destined to be the husbands “Angel in the House”.

In this piece I will be showing the role of women in the 18th century

The Regency time period was an era of great wealth. Both men and women worked vigorously to become part of the upper class. Marrying for upper class women was the only way to gain a source of income (Hall). Women would even change their way of life to be able to marry into wealth. A truth universally acknowledged, that a single main possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife, said Mrs. Bennett (Hall). In the Regency time period, wealth played a huge role in both men and women’s lives

In the start of the story, Haywood places Fantomina in an unusual place for a woman of her standard to be, a playhouse. She is seen observing the actions of those around her in her box seat. By purposefully placing Fantomina above the men in her location at the playhouse, this represents her power over men who are in the pit seats below her. Men are casted as “depraved” and deeply judged by the eye of Fantomina. (227). By allowing us to see the story from her perspective, Haywood furthers the division between men and women by showing the power that Fantomina currently holds while also foreshadowing the power she will gain by observing others and learning different mannerisms, such as those of a prostitute.