The significance of the protagonist’s second disguise being a servant is that the role offers more freedom than she had as a “distinguished” young lady. Celia does not resist at all, but simply gives herself to him as easily as an amorous servant girl might. Actually, she seduces Beauplaisir and makes him believe that he seduced her. At this point, the knowledge allows her to have the upper hand as she now can strategize and scheme her actions to benefit herself, rather than benefiting Beauplaisir. Furthermore, she knows more about Beauplaisir’s characteristics and reasoning. Haywood’s protagonist realizes that in order to keep him around, she must let him assume he is in control and be available to him purely for sexual pleasure. As her final identity, Incognita, her relationship with Beauplaisir is the shortest of all schemes, but she holds the most power between the various personas, remaining mysterious to him. At this point, she still has a great deal of desire for Beauplaisir, but she also does not want to lose at the game she herself has created. Incognita does not have much of an identity; she is different being not based on her appearance. She writes a very passionate letter to Beauplaisir and shows how well educated and proper she is. Not revealing her name, face, or really what type of person she is, is her tactic for luring Beauplaisir back in. And because of that Beauplaisir is dying to know who she really is and seems to be most enchanted by her. When they have sex, she chooses to conceal her face completely, “setting forth the others with the greatest Care and Exactness. Her fine Shape, and Air, and Neck, appear’d to great Advantage.” (21). She seduces him once again, and with her personality hidden to emphasize her body more and increase her availability, she holds a great amount of power and reaches the peak of her sexuality. From start to finish there are feminist elements, although some are more distinct than others. Everything that the main character does is because she is forced to by the male dominated society. Haywood sends the message that women are equal in intelligence to men and they can control sexual relationship for personal pleasure. The title of Haywood’s story actually tells us something about the story. When a person tries to complete a maze or walk through a maze, they generally choose a path and then proceed on it until it reaches a dead end. Then, they might try a new path to find their way to the ultimate goal. The main character takes on one personality and runs with it until it reaches a dead-end by means in that Beauplaisir stops being attracted to the character. Then she simply chooses a new character and tries a new path to achieve her desire of being consistently Beauplaisir 's lover. Haywood describes her actions as "[taking] another course" (9). Thus, I feel that Haywood punishes her protagonist for her improper actions by having her mother send her to a Monastery in France, which leaves her entangled in the love maze she created for she ends up with a baby.
Works Cited
Haywood, Eliza. “Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze.” The Longman Anthology of World Literature. Vol. D. 2nd Edition. David Damrosch and David L. Pike. New York: Pearson, 2009. Print. 569-586.
Cited: Haywood, Eliza. “Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze.” The Longman Anthology of World Literature. Vol. D. 2nd Edition. David Damrosch and David L. Pike. New York: Pearson, 2009. Print. 569-586.
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