Full E-Text Version:
Online full-version of Eliza Haywood's Fantomina
Eliza Haywood's Fantomina is a narrative about a naive young noble woman from the country who comes to town and, through disguising herself as a prostitute, becomes sexually involved with a man called Beauplaisir. She learns that men are inconstant "he varied not so much from his sex to be able to prolong Desire, to any great length after Possession" (Demaria 718) and decides to trick him into continuing their relationship by again disguising herself as a servant, widow and noble woman. She manages to continue enjoying sexual relations with Beauplasir and but in the final few pages of the story Haywood shows Fantomina giving birth to Beauplaisir's child and being sent to a convent.
