So I'm reading Fantomina by Eliza Haywood
and find out that this fictional piece has a lot to do with prostitutes.
After figuring that out, I was a little disappointed that we were going
to again see a female portrayed as someone who serves a man to make him happy,
satisfied, aroused, you get the picture. Although slightly annoyed at
this portrayal of women as servants basically, I realized that although the
woman in the book (whose name we never figure out) tries increasingly hard to
please Beauplaisir and to keep his interest in her, she uses her intelligence
for her own gain.
Now I'm sure while reading this in the
early 18th century, men were going wild over the radical idea of a woman being
sexually aware and in charge of her own affairs, and manipulating a man using
her own intelligence. The story of Fantomina showed readers of the time that
women were wise to the thought processes of men and that women were smarter
than any man thought. “Fantomina” was
clever enough to never actually reveal her true identity, which mocked how men
can be so easily fooled by a scantily clad, flirtatious woman.
I do believe however, that the story ended
the way it did so that although these fresh ideas of women were in the thoughts
and minds of all the readers (men), Eliza Haywood would still be in good
standing as an author. She was after all
one of the few female authors of the time.
While I'm on this female empowerment kick, I thought Beyoncé said it better than anyone else…
I also agree that I have become very tired of women always being depicted the same way in literature. This story, however, showed a woman's power of deceit and the ability to use sexuality against a man to fool him. She may be pinning over a man, but she uses her own clever schemes and tactics to deceive him. Although she is ultimately giving him what he wants, three lovers pinning for his affection, she has a sense of control and empowerment. What I also found very interesting was that there was a theme of reputation throughout the story. Like many other works of literature we have read, in this story there was a desire to keep a high reputation. Also, she was very concerned with her looks. Although I admired her ability to fool Beauplaisir, the woman in this story was very similar to the depiction of woman in this times. Ultimately, what she was concerned with was looks, reputation and the affection of a man.
ReplyDeleteAlso, love the song choice!
I agree with the fact that Fantomina displays aspects of a strong female protagonist – which is something that was uncommon for the time. She manipulates Beauplaisir into thinking that she is three different people and believing that he has control in all situations because if you think about it, it appears in all three situations that Beauplaisir kind of directs the relationship and what happens. However, Fantomina completely sets up the situation by putting herself right where she needs to be iin just the right look in order to gain the attention of one Beauplaisir. It is obvious she is a master manipulator and fools Beauplaisir, but at the same time, she is never truly herself in front of him, because she is so concerned with gaining his affections through her different characters – but also because if he knew that she had been partaking in all of this deceit, then her reputation would be ruined.
ReplyDeleteKathryn- I totally agree with you that it is sad to see women portrayed as servants to men by committing sexual acts in exchange for money and attention. However, you got to love how the protagonist in this story almost tricks Beauplaisir 4 times!!!! Her beauty and wit disguises her true identity and she is able to seduce and get what she wants out of him on four different occasions without him realizing it's the same woman! I know in the beginning we all thought that this was going to be another typical prostitute story we have been reading so far this semester. Surprisingly there were many twists and turns out the woman was just disguising herself to get what she wanted out of these men, especially Beauplaisir. I honeslty thought it was pretty "bossy" of her getting away with all this even though to others she probably just seemed really really desperate for attention.
ReplyDeleteUgh my girl Beyonce killing it as always!! But yes I think that Haywood is sending a message to her audience that women are equal in intelligence to men. Even though men usually control every aspect of women's lives from limiting their education to controlling their sex lives, in this story, we see a women regaining control of her relationship...in a unique way. I think its interesting that even today male promiscuity is acceptable to a degree but female promiscuity is looked down upon and during the 18th century it was punishable. This was probably why Haywood ended her story by sending Fantomina to a convent so that it was a "realistic" consequence that a girl would face in that time and also kept Haywood on the good side of the male writers of her time. I really enjoyed this piece and found it amusing that Fantomina basically did all of this because she was just as horny as Beauplaisir seemed to be! Awesome post :) -Megan Harpel
ReplyDeleteOh, what a story. Prostitutes and sex once again taking a prominent role in the literature of the time period. I can't imagine what the general public would have said about this story. I agree with Megan, that the ending was definitely thrown in there at the end to make the story have a more realistic feel. I also feel as though it were added to pacify the male readers and to prevent an outraged uproar. I kind of wish it wasn't there. A very pro-female rights story takes a dumb turn at the end that says "Squash the woman! She's had too much power!" It seems kind of like a cop out by the author. "Did I push my limit too far in promoting feminine rights? Quick! Get thee to a nunnery!" In my opinion, the story makes Beauplaisir (that's a mouth full) look like a pretty big idiot. He falls for her trick again and again. This must have upset the male writers of the time, and I think the ending is a way to refute that.
ReplyDeleteBut here's what I'm wondering: we had to read this story as a hand out, which means it isn't included with the dead white guys' writing. Perhaps there was some sort of conspiracy that kept this novel--written by a woman and staring a woman--out of anthologies; out of the lime light. Perhaps that ending was just quickly tacked on in order for the novel to be allowed to be published?
Oh, what a story. Prostitutes and sex once again taking a prominent role in the literature of the time period. I can't imagine what the general public would have said about this story. I agree with Megan, that the ending was definitely thrown in there at the end to make the story have a more realistic feel. I also feel as though it were added to pacify the male readers and to prevent an outraged uproar. I kind of wish it wasn't there. A very pro-female rights story takes a dumb turn at the end that says "Squash the woman! She's had too much power!" It seems kind of like a cop out by the author. "Did I push my limit too far in promoting feminine rights? Quick! Get thee to a nunnery!" In my opinion, the story makes Beauplaisir (that's a mouth full) look like a pretty big idiot. He falls for her trick again and again. This must have upset the male writers of the time, and I think the ending is a way to refute that.
ReplyDeleteBut here's what I'm wondering: we had to read this story as a hand out, which means it isn't included with the dead white guys' writing. Perhaps there was some sort of conspiracy that kept this novel--written by a woman and staring a woman--out of anthologies; out of the lime light. Perhaps that ending was just quickly tacked on in order for the novel to be allowed to be published?
It's interesting that only females responded to this piece. I often found Fantomina problematic because the protagonist must wear masks in order to experience sexuality. And everyone seems to forget that her first encounter with Bleuaplaisir results in rape, after which she rejects his money offering, and proclaims her love for him. And she was extremely confused and scared, and didn't want to admit to playing a role, and risk her reputation being tarnished so she instead stayed silent. That first interaction just seemed so awful, and then it spurred three more encounters and a really screwy understanding of what sex should be. I didn't see her in the position of power as much as everyone in class, mainly because of the fact that she had to disguise herself. She was so worried about her reputation, that this was simply a role she was playing in order to explore a curiosity.
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