relating to the text

Discussions of gender are central to this eighteenth-century novel, as it is based primarily on the behavior of a male and a female. Fantomina manipulates what is expected of a woman: instead of exhibiting mildness and virtue, she instead exhibits an entertaining wit and ability to outsmart others. Beauplaisir, on the other hand, can be described as a ‘rake’, a typical eighteenth century ‘stock’ character that represents the vulgar and predictable nature of male behavior. Beauplaisir is accentuated as a fool through the different scenarios that Fantomina places him in, as we see especially well towards the climatic ending as she writes to him as Fantomina, Widow Bloomer, and Incognita all at once. Yet, at the end of the novella, Beauplaisir escapes unscathed, with the same lack of responsibility he has held throughout the story. This presents a complex picture: that men are promiscuous and easy to predict, yet they are still accepted as the superior gender in eighteenth-century society.