Fantomina
Hi everyone!
I really liked this week's readings. I haven't finished Betsy Thoughtless yet, but I enjoyed reading it so far. I liked the carrying on of Miss Forward and her lover, and think the storyline is kind of cute...
I had read Fantomina already this term for another class, but I just reread it now online to get some quotations and to remember the full story. I really liked reading this. Most of the stories in this class I find myself trudging through, but tonight, when It was time to eat dinner, I was actually kind of annoyed that I had to take a break from reading it.
I liked reading this story because it was so familiar to things we see and read today. Like the reason that she starts this whole thing in the first place is because wants to see what it would be like, "having at that Time no other Aim, than the Gratification of an innocent Curiosity." Well... we all know that "curiosity killed the cat" as my grandfather would say, and she totally ended up way over her head with this guy. And even though she ended up unfavourably, I still admire her determination. She knew exactly what she wanted and made sure that she got it for as long as she could. And she was never really in the dark about anything, and he didn't really cheat on her because it was her the entire time. I guess I just liked how much control she had over him, and control he had no idea about.
Furthermore, I didn't really like the way that Mr. Beauplasir thought about "undoing" her, "In fine, she was undone; and he gain'd a Victory, so highly rapturous, that had he known over whom, scarce could he have triumphed more." It was like a contest that he had won, and she had won as well, but she realized too late it was a game she should not have been playing.
I was also kind of disapointed that in Chapter 6 Beauplaisir decided that she was going to end up as a prostitute anyhow, even though she did not start out as one, "by the Beginning of her Conduct, but that in the End she would be in Reallity, the Thing she so artfully had counterfeited."
Also, in Chapter 8 I was really reminded of a torrid affair that you would see on a contemporary movie, he left her in her night gown and then an hour later she was all dressed and at some fancy event, going about her life as though she had had an uneventful afternoon… Except this scheme was so much more intricate, instead of the protagonist trying to keep the affairs a secret from her husband and society, she is keeping the affairs a secret from the very man she is having the affair with. I think this would be wild to see played out on the big screen. "— Slippers, and a Night-Gown loosely flowing, has been the Garb in which he has left the languishing Fantomina; — Lac'd, and adorn'd with all the Blaze of Jewels, has he, in less than an Hour after, beheld at the Royal Chapel".
Her transitions from Fantomina, to the Rude Country girl (Celia), to the Widow (Bloomer), and then the mystery woman, and finally into herself, whom beauplaisir had only "admired from afar" were so unbelievable that they were believable. I did get a kick out of the section in Chapter 16 when the writer addresses the audience and says, "I know there are Men who will swear it is an Impossibility, and that no Disguise could hinder them from knowing a Woman they had once enjoy'd." I don't know why I found that funny, but I did. I don't think these days anyone could meet up with an ex-boyfriend and them not know them, whatever they were wearing, even if years passed. Fantomina is meeting him in a matter of days and he is not noticing. This was hard for me to accept.
Oh, and in Chapter 22, when she talks about how a man always wants to be with someone new, "because they were the same Person; but the Widow Bloomer was a more new Acquaintance than Fantomina, and therefore esteem'd more valuable." reminded me of a movie I saw a few years ago when this girl gets hurt by a man and decides to pretend she is a relationship expert and writes an article equating men to cows in the sense that boy cows will not mate with a girl cow more than once, you always have to bring in a new cow. Ha ha, it was a silly movie, and she ended up realizing she was wrong in the end anyhow...
Anyhow...My point is that this idea of men always wanting something new and that they get tired of the same girl after a while is still very prominent in literature and movies today... Not that I agree with it or anything....
Again, I admire how strong she is in her ability not to get hurt by this philanderer, in chapter 26. "she could not forbear laughing heartily to think of the Tricks she had play'd him, and applauding her own Strength of Genius," She did this to him, it is not fair to really call him a cheat because no one really knows if she would have cheated on her, if he had met a woman not as beautiful. As her mother put it at the end, "The Blame is wholly her's"
Anyhow, this was a bit of rambling, but I really did like reading this story and hopefully I will get another post up about Betsy once I read more of the book.
Later
Abby
I really liked this week's readings. I haven't finished Betsy Thoughtless yet, but I enjoyed reading it so far. I liked the carrying on of Miss Forward and her lover, and think the storyline is kind of cute...
I had read Fantomina already this term for another class, but I just reread it now online to get some quotations and to remember the full story. I really liked reading this. Most of the stories in this class I find myself trudging through, but tonight, when It was time to eat dinner, I was actually kind of annoyed that I had to take a break from reading it.
I liked reading this story because it was so familiar to things we see and read today. Like the reason that she starts this whole thing in the first place is because wants to see what it would be like, "having at that Time no other Aim, than the Gratification of an innocent Curiosity." Well... we all know that "curiosity killed the cat" as my grandfather would say, and she totally ended up way over her head with this guy. And even though she ended up unfavourably, I still admire her determination. She knew exactly what she wanted and made sure that she got it for as long as she could. And she was never really in the dark about anything, and he didn't really cheat on her because it was her the entire time. I guess I just liked how much control she had over him, and control he had no idea about.
Furthermore, I didn't really like the way that Mr. Beauplasir thought about "undoing" her, "In fine, she was undone; and he gain'd a Victory, so highly rapturous, that had he known over whom, scarce could he have triumphed more." It was like a contest that he had won, and she had won as well, but she realized too late it was a game she should not have been playing.
I was also kind of disapointed that in Chapter 6 Beauplaisir decided that she was going to end up as a prostitute anyhow, even though she did not start out as one, "by the Beginning of her Conduct, but that in the End she would be in Reallity, the Thing she so artfully had counterfeited."
Also, in Chapter 8 I was really reminded of a torrid affair that you would see on a contemporary movie, he left her in her night gown and then an hour later she was all dressed and at some fancy event, going about her life as though she had had an uneventful afternoon… Except this scheme was so much more intricate, instead of the protagonist trying to keep the affairs a secret from her husband and society, she is keeping the affairs a secret from the very man she is having the affair with. I think this would be wild to see played out on the big screen. "— Slippers, and a Night-Gown loosely flowing, has been the Garb in which he has left the languishing Fantomina; — Lac'd, and adorn'd with all the Blaze of Jewels, has he, in less than an Hour after, beheld at the Royal Chapel".
Her transitions from Fantomina, to the Rude Country girl (Celia), to the Widow (Bloomer), and then the mystery woman, and finally into herself, whom beauplaisir had only "admired from afar" were so unbelievable that they were believable. I did get a kick out of the section in Chapter 16 when the writer addresses the audience and says, "I know there are Men who will swear it is an Impossibility, and that no Disguise could hinder them from knowing a Woman they had once enjoy'd." I don't know why I found that funny, but I did. I don't think these days anyone could meet up with an ex-boyfriend and them not know them, whatever they were wearing, even if years passed. Fantomina is meeting him in a matter of days and he is not noticing. This was hard for me to accept.
Oh, and in Chapter 22, when she talks about how a man always wants to be with someone new, "because they were the same Person; but the Widow Bloomer was a more new Acquaintance than Fantomina, and therefore esteem'd more valuable." reminded me of a movie I saw a few years ago when this girl gets hurt by a man and decides to pretend she is a relationship expert and writes an article equating men to cows in the sense that boy cows will not mate with a girl cow more than once, you always have to bring in a new cow. Ha ha, it was a silly movie, and she ended up realizing she was wrong in the end anyhow...
Anyhow...My point is that this idea of men always wanting something new and that they get tired of the same girl after a while is still very prominent in literature and movies today... Not that I agree with it or anything....
Again, I admire how strong she is in her ability not to get hurt by this philanderer, in chapter 26. "she could not forbear laughing heartily to think of the Tricks she had play'd him, and applauding her own Strength of Genius," She did this to him, it is not fair to really call him a cheat because no one really knows if she would have cheated on her, if he had met a woman not as beautiful. As her mother put it at the end, "The Blame is wholly her's"
Anyhow, this was a bit of rambling, but I really did like reading this story and hopefully I will get another post up about Betsy once I read more of the book.
Later
Abby
posted by Abby at 11/20/2005 02:18:00 PM
2 Comments:
The level of Fanotmina's control is a key element of the story; we will talk about in class I am sure.
I HATE THIS COMPUTER, driving me NUTS!!!! Ugh
Anyways I really enjoyed your blog, I had such a difficult time writing anything about this work. I really enjoyed as well though. I think you're right, it really does give use a really stereotypical male. It's certainly nice to have something more than a stereotypical female, that has been the character in most of our readings.
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