Fantomina Summary: Desire & Deceit in Alisoun and Fantomina

Sexual Powerplay: Challenging 18th Century Norms in ‘Fantomina’ and ‘The Wife of Bath’s Tale’

“Fantomina” by Eliza Haywood and The Canterbury Tales: “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer both challenge an idea that is seen as sinful during the 18th century. The Concept of Sex. Haywood and Chaucer’s ideas are conveyed through Fantomina and Alisoun. Two females with the desire for internal happiness and satisfaction. So much they would go through any means necessary to get them.

Under this umbrella of Sex are the other themes of dominance, ignorance, marriage, and morality.

As stated before, Sex is one of the main themes of The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath’s Tale and Fantomina by Eliza Haywood. During this time, Sex was believed to only be for married couples with the sole purpose of giving birth to children. In both pieces, it is used as a weapon to exercise power.

Dominance and Deception: The Tactical Pursuits of Alisoun and Fantomina

This brings up the theme of dominance. The Wife of Bath dominates her husband using Sex. In the prologue, Alisoun discusses her tactics for obtaining power through her five marriages. She uses her body for financial independence. “I governed them so well after my lawe.

That each of hem ful blissful was and face, to bring me gaye things fro the fayre” (lines 219-221). Alisoun’s view of power is similar to Fantomina’s. Fantomina decides to become a prostitute because she sees how much power they have, and she wants that for herself. Her approach to gaining this power is through deception. “…She was so admirably skilled in the art of feigning that she had the power of putting on almost what face she pleased…” (line 540).

Marriage and Morality: The Church’s Hierarchy and Chaucer’s Critique

Marriage was essentially the gateway to Sex, according to the church. In the Wife of Bath, a social hierarchy was created by the church. Virgins were at the very top, widows, married, then those who were prostitutes. Prostitutes and those married in the church were at the bottom because the church truly believed that a life of chastity should be followed by everyone. Jordan says that, unlike most married couples, “the Wife and her husbands lack the essential quality of the Christian marriage, charity, a divine gift” (Jordan 952). He later goes on to make the claim “women like the Wife lack moral integrity, something that should be valued in relationships” (Jordan 956). This, however, may have been another theme Chaucer was alluding to. Marriage is destined to be unsuccessful and unhappy if there is no faith.

Fantomina Analysis: Ignorance, Deception, and the Quest for Love

In contrast to “The Wife of Bath,” “Fantomina” also focuses on one more theme, ignorance. Fantomina is naïve when it comes to coming to an understanding of the relationships between man and woman. She is also blind when it comes to the true nature of Beauplaisir, and Haywood puts a major emphasis on that. One scene that depicts her ignorance is when she receives replies to the letters she sent to Beauplaisir. She calls him a “traitor” and says ‘tis thus our silly, fond, believing Sex are served when they put Faith in Man: So, had I been deceived and cheated…” (line 610). She does not seem to focus on the true problem. Her “lover” grows tired of each woman easily. She believes he is still a “great man” for continuing his relationship with the widow and herself.

In conclusion, Chaucer and Haywood use Fantomina and Alisoun to convey their themes of Sex, dominance, ignorance, marriage, and morality in their works. Both women try to use Sex as a means of power to obtain what they truly want, real love. In order to do this, they become deceitful, ignorant, and they lose their sense of morality.

References

1. Haywood, Eliza. “Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze.” Broadview Press, 2005.
2. Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Canterbury Tales”. Oxford University Press, 2008.
3. “The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer.” Edited by Piero Boitani and Jill Mann, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
4. King, Andrew. “The Works of Eliza Haywood.” Pickering & Chatto, 2000.
5. Richetti, John. “Popular Fiction before Richardson: Narrative Patterns 1700–1739”. Oxford University Press, 1969.
6. “The Wife of Bath: Geoffrey Chaucer.” Edited by Peter G. Beidler, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1996.
7. Todd, Janet. “The Sign of Angellica: Women, Writing and Fiction, 1660–1800”. Columbia University Press, 1989.
8. Jordan, Robert M. “Chaucer’s Poetics and the Modern Reader.” University of California Press, 1987.
9. Spencer, Jane. “The Rise of the Woman Novelist: From Aphra Behn to Jane Austen.” Blackwell, 1986.
10. “Reading Haywood: Studies of Female Playwrights, 1660–1820”. Edited by Tiffany Potter, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

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