Eliza Haywood\'s Fantomina

In Catherine swops essay, she attempts to examine the possible convert of female person discourse to come on the effects of gender on writing (822). Craft argues that Eliza Haywoods Fantomina portrays the once go, forever fallen story (828) as Fantomina in the end succumbs to her masquerade and becomes the very topic she sets out impersonating. Fantomina takes on champion dis make-believe after another(prenominal) to secure Beauplaisirs passing(a) and waning affections. The subtle jeering therein lies in the detail that although her impersonations rise in status, insofar she becomes more readily available. Craft points out that this plays out the formulaic male sexual semblance (829) that as well ultimately culminates into Fantominas fall from grace, as she becomes publically exposed and sent of to a convent (829). \nYet, what is unconventional is the degree of freedom Fantomina possesses with respect to the women of her time. Craft argues that her masquerades are a resistance to the governing social and moral codes (830), a portrayal of the empowerment of women. Fantomina is not repulsed by her actions, that instead prides herself upon them as a apprised act of her choice. Yet, through the guise of this seemingly empowered female endowed with a peachy amount of freedom, Craft also contends that the novel carries deeper underpinnings of the powerlessness of women, as portrayed through the characters of Fantominas disguises who are victimized by the male sex. \nCraft asserts that spousals should not be the desired ending to the novel as it undermines the womans autonomy. She reads the move off of Fantomina to the convent not as a punishment for her misdeeds, but rather a law of continuation of [the] female society, to a place where Fantominas pleasures and freedom will suffer no abatement (832). She concludes: Writing with feminine artfulness and deceitfulness, [] women novelists manage to embody, deep down ...