Housekeeping
- Schedule change: Project 1 draft due next week (before midnight)
- Full drafts only! You must turn in your whole paper
- Final drafts due before midnight Friday, March 23
- Post your paper to Blackboard (under the “Upload Assignments” menu)
- Annotations: always due Wednesday before class discussion, at the latest
- Aim for critical notes, questions for discussion, explanation of terms and historical context
- Avoid personal option–we want to contextualize the reading, rather than lock in a single perspective
- This Thursday: graduate school information session (career edition)
- 4-6pm at the AARC (3B04)
- One-hour groups to discuss CVs, statements of purpose, letters of recommendation, etc
- Roundtable discussion with faculty on career options
Group presentation!
Eliza Haywood (1693-1756)
- Little known about her biography
- Published one of the period’s “best-sellers”: Love in Excess (1719)
- Worked as an actress and professional writer
- Married in 1714 and was somehow single after 1717 and needed to support her children
- She eventually wrote more than 80 titles, including plays and pamphlets
- Later in life she moved in with a fellow actor, William Hatchett
- Widely popular in her time: Henry Fielding (another popular writer) called her “Mrs. Novel.” Others called her the “Great Arbitress of Passion”
- Later novels turned to the moralistic and didactic
Fantomina
She was young, a Stranger to the World, and consequently to the Dangers of it; and having no Body in Town, at that Time, to whom she was oblig’d to be accountable for her Actions, did in every Thing as her Inclinations or Humours render’d most agreeable to her
She depended on the Strength of her Virtue
How does this story portray power? What about sexuality?
What is the effect of having the story told from Fantomina perspective?
How would you describe the physical encounters between Beauplasir and Fantomina? What does it say about rape culture in this period?
Is this a story that empowers women’s choices, or confirms men’s (and so-called polite society’s) worst fears about them?
Thus did this Lady’s Wit and Vivacity assist her in all, but where it was most needful.
Some dichotomies to consider:
country vs. city
honor vs. virtue
private vs. public
Fortune in this Exploit was extremely on her side; there were no others of the Male-Sex in the House, than an old Gentleman, who had lost the Use of his Limbs with the Rheumatism, and had come thither for the Benefit of the Waters, and her belov’d Beauplaisir; so that she was in no Apprehensions of any Amorous Violence, but where she wish’d to find it. […] Coming the next Morning to bring his Chocolate, as he had order’d, he catch’d her by the pretty Leg, which the Shortness of her Petticoat did not in the least oppose; then pulling her gently to him, ask’d her, how long she had been at Service? – How many Sweethearts she had? If she had ever been in Love? and many other such Questions, befitting one of the Degree she appear’d to be
What does this quote suggest about the life of women in the service industry in this period?
What does this story suggest to us about the social and cultural power (or lack thereof) of women who were a) sex workers; b) servants; or c) widows? How were they perceived in terms of their social value and where/how they were allowed to circulate publicly?
What kind of man is Beauplaisir? What does his name suggest about him? What does this character reveal about men’s attitudes and behaviors in this period? How do you think that his character would have been received?
I can only say, that besides the Alteration which the Change of Dress made in her, she was so admirably skill’d in the Art of feigning, that she had the Power of putting on almost what Face she pleas’d, and knew so exactly how to form her Behaviour to the Character she represented, that all the Comedians at both Playhouses are infinitely short of her Performances: She could vary her very Glances, tune her Voice to Accents the most different imaginable from those in which she spoke when she appear’d herself
What does this quote suggest about women’s behavior in general, or at least the cultural assumptions made about them?
Does Fantomina go through a coming of age in this story? What does she learn about her society?
What do we learn about the culture of letter-writing in this period?
Possession naturally abates the Vigour of Desire
Exercise: get together in groups of 3. Read through the questions laid out above and discuss a few of them in detail.
As a group, compose a thesis that aims to analyze Fantomina. Choose one of the questions above to write about–one one per team! Claim it in the GDoc below (copy/paste the question with your group name)
Follow that thesis which one sentence that would incorporate a quote to support your claim. Keep in mind that thesis statements are brief, straight-forward, and argumentative (–they map out the direction of the paper). Incorporation of quotes should include context, in-text citation, and a follow-up explanation of its significance.
Example:
The Country Wife explores the trappings of masculinity and heterormative desire [argument], ridiculing characters who associate genitalia with sexual identity and gender performance [evidence]. By closing with a dance of cuckolds [evidence], the play eschews monogamy and celebrates the society it aimed to critique [so-what factor/implications of the argument].
Sir Japer Fidget suggests that Horner’s inability to perform sexuality makes him only apt for women’s company [brief summary of plot point]: “pray, come and dine / with me, and play at Cards with my Wife after dinner, you / are fit for Women at that game” [line breaks indicated with brackets–for plays and poetry only] (1.1.). This line suggests that Horner’s condition emasculates him both figuratively and literally; his inability to get an erection, in the eyes of the male characters in the play, strips him of a key gender qualifier. [explanation of significance of the passage for my argument]
When you’re done with your work, type your sentence in the Google Doc: . We will discuss thesis statements either today or next week (depending on time).
Next Week:
- Read the Beggar’s Opera
- Watch/listen to at least 5 clips from this list and comment on your favorites (explain why) (see link on schedule page for where to comment)
- Participate in Twitter discussion!
- Work on your Project 1 draft
