Female Experience And Feminism: Correlation

In most literary representations, there are implicit and binary distinctions between men and women. Women are often portrayed as archetypes that strive for constancy in relationships. Men are typically portrayed in a libertine way, seeking novelty, multiple identities, and other rakish fantasies. Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina is a sex-love-deception adventure. Fantomina challenges these stereotypes by changing identities and being multiple. Fantomina’s foresight, her ability to be one step ahead, and her willingness to deceive Beauplaisir are what allow Fantomina to challenge the traditional gender dynamics. By expressing her sexuality, deceiving Beauplausir and using verbal expressions, Fantomina rebels against feminine constructs, which ultimately helps to establish Fantomina’s status as a protofeminist work.

The protagonist’s first sexual transformation is a disruptive one, but her sensual declaration that follows exemplifies both her determination as well as her ingenuity. The nameless protagonist adopts a fantomina persona to appear as a professional prostitute. However, at first, Beauplaisir is the one who initiates the sexual encounter and rapes the woman. Fantomina learns quickly and reacts sensually to this incident (Levin). She uses many disguises in order to fool Beauplaisir to believe that he seduces her when, in fact, she seduces him. “…remembering what a high she experienced when Beauplaisir was at her foot, begging for her favors the first time, she wanted to experience the same feeling again. Beauplaisir falls for her tricks and thinks he is in control. However, the protagonist controls her sexual decisions. Eliza Haywood used sexual imagery when describing Fantomina’s plans: “Her design, once more, was to engage, hear him sing, to see his languishing, feel the straining pressures of eager arms. To be compelled was what Fantomina wanted. This rhetorical convention captures the sensual experience and speaks to the woman’s desire, which is certainly not typical for that time. It is evident that, despite her rape, the heroine embraces and exploits her sexuality in order to gain control over Beauplaisir.

After her sexual declaration, the heroine uses confident language and verbal expression to reveal her wit and clever scheme. She weighs up the consequences of her deception plan before she begins. She recognizes that the deception she perpetrates will have little effect on her public image and character. She employs clever rhetoric in order to prove the effectiveness of her disguises. She continues to be more and more deceived by Beauplaisir as the plot unfolds. She notes with mischief her ingenuity. The heroine, in a departure from tradition, proudly embraces and applauds her trickery and retaliation. Haywood takes advantage of the protagonist’s wit, confidence and tone with rhetoric and tone.

Using her sexual forwardness combined with a clever but scheming rhetoric, she finally manages to con Beauplaisir. She gives him the illusion that he has a variety of love objects throughout the story. Despite being a woman who is unable to control “the heart that roves” (Haywood 50), she plays tricks on him, taking advantage of his multiple personalities: “But, I have outwitted all the subtle deceivers, and he, while thinking to fool me himself, has only been tricked” (Haywood 60). She continues to outwit him until she is stopped by her mother, and then her pregnancy. Beauplaisir’s shock at the revelation of the truth is not diminished by the ending. Haywood’s heroine leaves him confused and makes him powerless. This Fantomina character is able to trick him and dispel the typical female power dynamics.

Fantomina, in the middle of her multi-decoration foray, muses that men will always fall into their own trap if they use the same methods she does. They would not be able to criticize their “easy, crying, wailing” sex (Haywood 51). Fantomina is a feminist novel because of the woman’s assertive sexuality, her confident verbalization, and her trickery. It remains to be seen whether the protagonist is a victim reacting from her traumatic past or one who is always one step ahead. Fantomina, a feminism achievement, is also a synthesis of the confusions and contradictions of female experience.