A Simple Reflection
By completing Fantomina before reading any of the introductions or supplement articles, I was able to attempt understanding how readers in 1725 may have initially reacted. Of course, I can't deny that I already have preconceived notions regarding eighteenth-century literature: it can be wordy, strict social customs depending on class, race and so forth. However, Fantomina fascinated me throughout the entire story. Not only is the story material itself rather provocative for the mid-1720s, it's pretty stunning even in today's "anything goes" western society.
I imagine Haywood had some pretty harsh feelings towards most men. Certainly in the time of frequently handwritten words (instead of text messages) and mandatory social courtesies, I believe she might have thrived on the idea of people working the Victorian system to their advantage or unintended disadvantage as in the case of Fantomina herself.
As the story unfolds, I immediately gathered from the narrator's tone that young Fantomina wanted to be able to flirt, but her social class blocked that. Her curiosity couldn't be satiated without taking on a disguise and holding her prized affections for Beauplaisir. When the man's true intentions are perceived, Fantomina takes on more disguises as if to experiment with him while also trying to fulfill her growing desires for him. The whole self-orchestrated circus ends abruptly for her upon her mother's arrival and later: the baby girl.
In particular, I enjoyed the names used for the characters in Fantomina. They are fun with both phonetic and descriptive purposes. Beauplaisir can be broken up into two French words: beau-beautiful, plaisir-to like, or be liked. The name Widow Bloomer made me crack up, all I could think was, "Mrs. Bloomer, yep, hope she can bloom well for Beauplaisir". Of course, I could be completely mistaken but I wouldn't be surprised if, after further research into Haywood's style, I find that she purposely played with certain words or names to increase awareness of her writings' intentions.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Haywood's Fantomina: Youthful Ignorance Unrestrained
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1 comment:
One aspect of Ramona's post struck me as especially relevant to our inquiries into early women's prose fiction--the raciness of it all, the provacative ways these women writers engage issues of class, gender, and power. Haywood should indeed strike us as risque, even today; it struck her original readers as such, and it seems a testament to the way we've been morally inculcated by the very novels we'll be reading later in the gendered conventions of a middle-class world view. We still do think it's somehow immoral or risque for a woman to embrace her own sexuality, to go out and get what she wants. Her pregnancy at the end takes on a sense of "punishment" that implies it is natural--even inevitable--she should be punished. But I'm also interested in the fact that Fantomina's child is, specifically, a girl--what are we to make of this detail?
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