"Mr. Collins was not left long to the silent contemplation of his successful love; for Mrs. Bennet, having dawdled about in the vestibule to watch for the end of the conference, no sooner saw Elizabeth open the door and with quick step pass her towards the staircase, than she entered the breakfast-room, and congratulated both him and herself in warm terms on the happy prospect or their nearer connection. Mr. Collins received and returned these felicitations with equal pleasure, and then proceeded to relate the particulars of their interview, with the result of which he trusted he had every reason to be satisfied, since the refusal which his cousin had steadfastly given him would naturally flow from her bashful modesty and the genuine delicacy of her character."
Pride and Prejudice chapter 16

"By buying and selling luxury items and services with the explicit aim of enhancing pleasure and reducing pain, men and women pursued happiness in the manner that both Locke and Hobbes described- as a 'continual progress of the desire, from one object to another, the attaining of the former desire still but the way to the latter.'"
Happiness: a History page 206

In the first quote, Jane Austen gives an example of the language used in regard to happiness in the 18th century. This moment, taking place after Mr. Collins has explicitly described his plans to keep Elizabeth happy with his substantial income and inheritance, exemplifies the concept of happiness described in Happiness: a History. The couple has a "happy prospect"according to Mrs. Bennet, who throughout the entire novel is concerned with marrying her daughters to men of wealth. In accordance with the 18th century concepts of happiness, Mrs. Bennet believes that her daughters will live long happy lives as long as they have suitable funds to satisfy them. Collins also is depicted as having "equal pleasure" in the matter. These two characters have entirely disregarded the lack of emotional fondness between Elizabeth and Collins as a result of the belief that happiness is gained from material gain, a topic supported by popular opinion in the 18th century.

Honors Option Blog Post:

“A woman could enhance her social status usually only by marrying. Women were often accused of undue social ambition, as were prosperous tenant farmers and anyone else who threatened, in the words of one observer, ‘to mingle every man with the class that is superior to him, and… to support a gay and splendid appearance utterly inconsistent with their station and circumstances.’ The upper classes liked to ridicule or pity the poor for their lack of social graces, but heaven help the man or woman who made an attempt to learn those graces. The reason for the hostility was simple: the appearance of gentility was often most of the substance of gentility.”

Daily Life in 18th-century England By Kirstin Olsen pages 15-16

"Certainly, my dear, nobody said there were; but as to not meeting with many people in this neighbourhood, I believe there are few neighbourhoods larger. I know we dine with four-and-twenty families."

-Mrs. Bennet

"Oh! certainly," cried his faithful assistant, "no [woman] can be really esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with.  A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half-deserved."

-Miss Caroline Bingley

            The first quote above describes the strict stratification of social classes in 18^th century England, relating directly to Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice. In the novel, the Bennet family contains five young women who are out in society and in search of suitable husbands in order to maintain and enhance their place in society, due to the fact that statutes of inheritance of property dictated their meager wealth sent to a distant male cousin. Additionally, their mother has a pattern of eagerly seeking out proper husbands in a manner which could suggest she is “of undue social ambition” as mentioned by Kristen Olsen. The second quote comes from a speech of Mrs. Bennet’s that was given in response to a comment of the wealthy Mr. Darcy.  He stated that the country lacked the social qualities of the city, but Mrs. Bennet proclaims that he is blatantly wrong. However, she has overlooked the fact that Darcy has much higher standards for the people that he associates himself with. As well, Miss Bingley personifies the upper class sense of entitlement to ridicule all members of inferior social classes. The third quote mentions her depiction of a suitable upper class woman. Her requirements are lengthy and strict social graces that would only be possible to learn in a wealthy upper class. They lack, however, the critical independent thinking that defines Elizabeth Bennet in her role as a revolutionary woman who, though entirely vulnerable to poverty without a husband, maintains her values in direct contrast to her mother’s attitudes. The complexities and intricacies of the 18^th century social roles are exemplified in the characters of Miss Bingley and Mrs. Bennet, and are contrasted with the radical idea of an independent woman such as Elizabeth Bennet.

Thesis: Eliza Haywood's Fantomina, or Love in a Maze explores the damaging implications of 18th century depictions of curiosity and desire in women, as well as the absence of these implications for men. These themes are present in the descriptive language used throughout Fantomina’s corruption by a curiosity that becomes intense desire and shameful pregnancy, as well as the blameless sexual exploits of Beauplaisir.

The following are a few quote that I have begun to analyze and would use in my paper, but are in no way permanent or complete:

             “Therefore thought it not in the least a Fault to put in practice a little Whim which came immediately into her Head” In contrast to the later Fantomina who is full of curiosity and desire, she is initially depicted as an entirely innocent “Stranger to the World.” The above quote depicts her as not having any idea of the possible repercussions that follow indulging a curious whim. Her innocence is reasserted through the language of curiosity landing upon her. She has not actively sought out this state of mind, but is almost depicted to be a victim of its happenstance choice to land in her mind.

        Fantomina's plans to partake in experimenting with her curious whim "excited a curiosity in her to know in what manner these Creatures were address’d.” This quote, once again, depicts her innocence through the language in regard to the word creature. This word gives her curiosity a studious and scientific quality, suggesting that she is purely testing an innocent experiment rather than indulging in a potentially seductive fantasy. However, Fantomina’s curiosity is described as gaining the ability to give animation to an internal facet of her being. This is the beginning of a shift towards internal satisfaction of curiosity, rather than an innocent and passing whim.

        “She was naturally vain, and receiv'd no small Pleasure in hearing herself prais'd, tho' in the Person of another, and a suppos'd Prostitute.” In the quote above, Fantomina is listening to the adorations and praises of the men who wished that they could spend the night with her. This is the first example in which her curiosity has been described as giving pleasure, and this a great amount. Curiosity has become an indulgence to her conceited and proud cravings, and these are depicted as being natural to her character. Additionally, this is the first account of Fantomina’s personality being described to stray from innocence. It suggests that the girl’s curiosity has awoken the vain desire to be praised for her physical beauty.

        Fantomina shifta from receiving “no small Pleasure” to finding “a vast deal of Pleasure in conversing with him in this free and unrestrain'd Manner.” The language depicting the amount of pleasure she is receiving is becoming much more blatant and unrestrained, mirroring Fantomina’s actions. Her goals have shifted from being simply the testing of a social scientific experiment towards attaining pleasure from interacting with a man. The freedom that Fantomina is described to be experiencing has come from her curiously breaking from her role in society, and she is enjoying it immensely.

Quotes for the week:

"Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley's attentions to her sister, Elizabeth was far from suspecting that she was herself becoming an object of some interest in the eyes of his friend. Mr. Darcy had at first scarcely allowed her to be pretty; he had looked at her without admiration at the ball; and when they next met, he looked at her only to criticise. But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she hardly had a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness. Of this she was perfectly unaware; to her he was only the man who made himself agreeable nowhere, and who had not thought her handsome enough to dance with."

Pride and Prejudice Chapter 6

“It may mean that our enjoyment of fiction is predicated- at least in part- upon our awareness of our 'trying on' mental states potentially available to us but at a given moment differing from our own.”

Why We Read Fiction page 17

Thesis: Eliza Haywood's Fantomina, or Love in a Maze explores the negative implications of 18th century depictions of curiosity and desire for women, as well as the absence of these implications for men. These themes are present in the descriptive language used throughout Fantomina’s corruption by a curiosity that becomes intense desire and shameful pregnancy, as well as the blameless masculine sexual exploits of Beauplaisir.

I was hoping that by shifting my thesis and paper to cover more of the gendered nature of desire in this period that I would avoid rewriting my first paper and could actually use more of the information I have gathered. In order to plan my paper I have gathered my literary quotations and placed them in an order that seems appropriate, followed by a few of my notes.

·      “Therefore thought it not in the least a Fault to put in practice a little Whim which came immediately into her Head”

·      “having at that Time no other Aim, than the Gratification of an innocent Curiosity.— She had no sooner design'd this Frolick, than she put it in Execution”  

·      “young, a Stranger to the World,”

• · Innocent, external, experimental curiosity
• ·      “excited a curiosity in her to know in what manner these Creatures were address’d.”

o   Use these to depict her initial innocence

·      “She listen'd to 'em all, and was not a little diverted in her Mind at the Disappointment she shou'd give to so many, each of which thought himself secure of gaining her.”

·      “She was naturally vain, and receiv'd no small Pleasure in hearing herself prais'd, tho' in the Person of another, and a suppos'd Prostitute.”

o   Has begun to internalize curiosity and shift towards pleasurable goals of desire

·      “And she found a vast deal of Pleasure in conversing with him in this free and unrestrain'd Manner.”

• ·      “she in a Hackney-Chair hurry'd home to indulge Contemplation on the Frolick she had taken”
• ·      “She fearful, – confus'd, altogether unprepar'd to resist in such Encounters, and rendered more so, by the extreme Liking she had to him.”

·      “Strange and unaccountable were the Whimsies she was possess'd of, – wild and incoherent her Desires, – unfix'd and undetermin'd her Resolutions, but in that of seeing Beauplaisir in the Manner she had lately done.”

·      “it was only he whose Solicitations could give her Pleasure” No one else, zero religious concern

·      “Her Design was once more to engage him, to hear him sigh, to see him languish, to feel the strenuous Pressures of his eager Arms, to be compelled, to be sweetly forc'd to what she wished with equal Ardour, was what she wanted, and what she had form'd a Stratagem to obtain, in which she promis'd herself Success.” Clearly indulgence in unrestrained, instant sexual satisfaction

·      “and remembring the Height of Transport she enjoyed when the agreeable Beauplaisir kneel'd at her Feet, imploring her first Favours, she long'd to prove the same again.”

o   Has become purely desire and indulgence

In women, any curiosity, even in an innocent individual, is shown to have the ability to become an intense desire.

·      “THEY pass'd the Time of their Journey in as much Happiness as the most luxurious Gratification of wild Desires could make them”

·      “The Passion he profess'd for her, was not of that humble Nature which can be content with distant Adorations: – He resolv'd not to part from her without the Gratifications of those Desires she had inspir'd” – His discontented desire is her fault

·       “His wild Desires burst out in all his Words and Actions” –undeniably he allows desire to guide his choices

·      “BUT he varied not so much from his Sex as to be able to prolong Desire” –expected in society for men to stray and be inconsistent

·      “His Stay at Bath exceeded not a Month; but in that Time his suppos'd Country Lass had persecuted him so much with her Fondness, that in spite of the Eagerness with which he first enjoy'd her, he was at last grown more weary of her, than he had been of Fantomina” Though he initially was extremely intent on being with her, his desire has once again failed to last

·      “being tir'd of her Conversation, he was willing to be at liberty to pursue new Conquests; and wisely considering that Complaints, Tears, Swooning, and all the Extravagancies which Women make use of in such Cases, have little Prevailence over a Heart inclin'd to rove, and only serve to render those who practice them more contemptible, by robbing them of that Beauty which alone can bring back the [Page 268] fugitive Lover” –women are blamed for becoming less attractive to men who cheat by becoming upset

·      “This, indeed, must be said of Beauplaisir, that he had a [Page 278] greater Share of good Nature than most of his Sex, who, for the most part, when they are weary of an Intreague, break it entirely off, without any Regard to the Despair of the abandon'd Nymph. Though he retain'd no more than a bare Pity and Complaisance for Fantomina, yet believing she lov'd him to an Excess, would not entirely forsake her, though the Continuance of his Visits was now become rather a Penance than a Pleasure.” – this man is respected in society because he remains in contact with Fantomina out of pity for her female emotions, while most would be expected to abandon her. Suggests that nearly all men flee from woman to woman, with their desire quickly causing them to discard of each woman carelessly in search of a new exciting encounter. Only the good ones will remain in any slight contact with their pitiful ex-lovers.

·       “O that all neglected Wives, and fond abandon'd Nymphs would take this Method! – Men would be caught in their own Snare, and have no Cause to scorn our easy, weeping, wailing Sex!” Reiterates that men are inconstant in their devotion and that women can only fight this by manipulating the fleeting nature of male desire.

Desire is an acceptable and expectable trait in men, but is a shameful dishonor in women.

·      “She found the Consequences of her amorous Follies would be, without almost a Miracle, impossible to be concealed: – She was with Child”

·      “and little fearing any Consequence which could ensue from such an Encounter, resolv'd to rest satisfy'd till he was inform'd of every Thing from herself”

·      “All the Pity and Tenderness she had been for some Moment before possess'd of, now vanish'd, and were succeeded by an adequate Shame and Indignation”

·      “he never had a Thought which tended to her Dishonour.”

·      “a Parent she had dishonour'd in such a Manner”

·      “I cannot live, and bear this Shame!”

·      “Is this the Gentleman, (said she,) to whom you owe your Ruin?”

·      (not sure how to use this one) “Oh! no, (resum'd the trembling Creature,) he is, indeed, the innocent Cause of my Undoing”

·      “The Blame is wholly her's, and I have nothing to request further of you, than that you will not divulge the distracted Folly she has been guilty of.”

·      “as soon as [Page 291] her Daughter was in a Condition, sent her to a Monastery in France”

o   ends in her total shame and exclusion from society, while he remains respected and deemed innocent.

Eliza Haywood's Fantomina, or Love in a Maze compares, contrasts, and explores a possible transition between 18th century depictions of curiosity and desire.

I am still working on which specific methods Haywood uses in order to accomplish these goals, but I think there is a definite ability to find similarities, differences, and describe the transition suggested to occur between curiosity and desire in Fantomina.

“Dismissing then those pretty feminine phrases, which the men condescendingly use to soften our slavish dependence, and despising that weak elegancy of mind, exquisite sensibility, and sweet docility of manners, supposed to be the sexual characteristics of the weaker vessel, I wish to shew that elegance is inferior to virtue, that the first object of laudable ambition is to obtain a character as a human being, regardless of the distinction of sex; and that secondary views should be brought to this simple touchstone.”

Page 264 Excerpts from “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”

“'Tis the gross Lust of Hate, that still annoys,

Without Distinction, as gross Love enjoys:
Neither to Folly, nor to Vice confin'd;
The Object of thy Spleen is Human Kind:
It preys on all, who yield or who resist;
To Thee 'tis Provocation to exist.”

Page 189 "Verses Address'd to the Imitator of Horace" by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu