Eliza Haywood\'s Fantomina

In Catherine Crafts essay, she attempts to consider the possible encoding of distaff discourse to locate the make of gender on writing (822). Craft argues that Eliza Haywoods Fantomina portrays the one time pedigreeen, forever fallen business relationship (828) as Fantomina eventually succumbs to her fancy dress and becomes the very thing she sets protrude impersonating. Fantomina takes on one hide after another to limit Beauplaisirs transient and decrease affections. The subtle irony therein lies in the f map that although her impersonations rhytidectomy in status, yet she becomes more(prenominal) readily available. Craft points come out of the closet that this plays out the conventional masculine sexual fantasy (829) that as well ultimately culminates into Fantominas fall from grace, as she becomes publicly open(a) and sent of to a convent (829). \nYet, what is unconventional is the degree of freedom Fantomina possesses with abide by to the women of her time. C raft argues that her masquerades ar a resistance to the dominant kindly and moral codes (830), a portrayal of the empowerment of women. Fantomina is not repulsed by her actions, but quite prides herself upon them as a conscious act of her choice. Yet, through the guise of this ostensibly empowered fe priapic enable with a great come in of freedom, Craft also contends that the novel carries deeper underpinnings of the powerlessness of women, as visualized through the characters of Fantominas disguises who are victimized by the male sex. \nCraft asserts that matrimony should not be the desired windup to the novel as it undermines the adult womanlys autonomy. She reads the sending finish off of Fantomina to the convent not as a punishment for her misdeeds, but rather a continuation of [the] female society, to a dimension where Fantominas pleasures and freedom ordain suffer no relief (832). She concludes: Writing with feminine artfulness and fabrication, [] women novel ists manage to embody, within ...