ENG 2120
Dr. Bailey
June 27, 2013
Fantomina Reading Response In the 18th century a woman just like the unnamed woman in Fantomina would have so many restrictions on her. A woman who is wealthy is not allowed to dress inappropriately, pursue men or even hold a conversation with the opposite sex. Although this woman is of higher wealth, and is supposed to sit in the balcony to help show her wealth, she decides to go against all of these rules. At some point this woman sees Beausplair, a male who is also of the same wealth. Although a woman of this age and wealth would be ordered to be seated and not do anything, she decided to dress into clothes of a prostitute so he wouldn’t recognize her and go to pursue Beausplair. Here is where she started to go wrong. In the 18th century a woman of her wealth would be expected to dress classy to show that she was from higher wealth. Along with dressing well, the women in her time period were not allowed to pursue men in any way, shape or form. By going against both of these rules, it showed that she was not fitting into the category of the “typical woman of the 18th century.” Even though this woman of wealth disobeyed her strict rules, she did not stop there. Because this woman dressed in clothing of a prostitute, Beausplair didn’t recognize who she was. The two started to have a sexual relationship, which was also against the rules, although at this point didn’t matter because she took over the identity of Fantomina who was a prostitute. When Beausplair becomes tired of Fantomina, he leaves her. Again, this woman goes against the rules and disguises herself again and follows him. When she fallows him, she is no longer Fanomina but is now known as Celia. Celia becomes Beausplair’s maid and the two start to have another relationship, Beausplair still not knowing that she is the same woman as Fantomina. Again, he becomes bored with her and decided to leave the city that he is in. Yet again, this woman goes against the rules and undergoes the identity of Mrs. Bloomer, a widow. And again with another called incognita. With both of these disguises, they have sexual relationships. Also gaining a bit of control over Beausplair. As you can tell, this unknown woman defies the typical woman of the 18th century. A woman of that wealth and age shouldn’t have done any of those things. They were ordered to keep quiet, not to have sexual relationships, must obey men, dress wealthy, not pursue men and not to have a conversation with the opposite sex; all of which she went against. At the end of this story, this woman becomes pregnant out of wedlock and as a result, got sent to a Montessori . I do believe that this punishment was the correct for the time period, although I was trying to find information online about it and I couldn't really find anything about it. Even though this punishment was "correct" back then, I do not really think it was right. I know that she did get pregnant out of wedlock and have a bastard child but she wasn't the only one that committed the "crime" so to say. I believe that if she got punished that Beausplair should have gotten punished as well. I know that life isn't exactly fair, but I believe that if two people do the crime then two people should get the punishment, not only the woman. Normally, it takes two people to have sex, not only one. They were both willing to do the act so I think they either should both be punished or not punished at all. I know that times today, no one gets punished for having sex before marriage and if they do get pregnant, there's no punishment for that either.
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