Final Idea’s on Fantomina

Ok before I post on Pamela I need to wrap things up with my Fantomina.   I said a couple weeks ago that I considered Fantomina and Beauplasir are the same person; sex aside.  They are both educated, deceptive and manipulative, see people as a means to their happiness, and both have money (although Fantomina is higher in the social world).  The only real difference is that Fantomina is made to pay for her actions through pregnancy and getting sent away to a nunnery.  Haywood tackled many touchy subjects in her time, in Fantomina we have a sexually adventurous woman who lies and manipulates people to have her way.  I believe that having a male and female character that are so similar helps to highlight the differences that one gender may have over the other.  It is especially clear after having witnessed both Beauplasir’s and Fantomina’s sexual escapades that neither of them are sound role models, or even good people (subjective, yes I know).   The fact that Beauplasir gets off scott-free suggests (at least to me) that their is more going on.  For Fantomina to get sent to the nunnery while Beauplasir “lives to Koop another day” is particularly illuminating on how both sexes were treated for conduct unbecoming of a male or female for that period.

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