When analyzing this passage from Fantomina, the word "Creatures" stood out to me. Eliza Haywood is describing the woman in the pit and substituting creature as a word to describe her and others like her. In the Oxford English Dictionary, creature is defined as, "A living or animate being; an animal, often as distinct from a person". The use of creature seems to be insinuating that the woman in the pit is considered to be an animal in comparison to the protagonist and other high class individuals. This negative usage of describing this woman is most likely due to the views that Eliza Haywood and other people in the 18th century had against her occupation. Since she was doing something that most people at the time saw as improper and scandalous, they perceive her as animal-like when it comes to behavior.

"creature, n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2019, www.oed.com/view/Entry/44082 . Accessed 12 February 2020.

While most of us refer to this novel by Fantomina, Eliza Haywood provided a secondary title. The word maze in the secondary title seems to be referring to the trickery and disguises that the protagonist of Fantomina uses to fool and deceive Beauplaisir into showing her affection. On the other hand, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a maze is the puzzle of lines, not trickery and deceit. However, the definition of a maze in the Oxford English Dictionary yields the following definition, "A state of bewilderment; a feeling of amazement or perplexity; (in plural) confused or puzzled thoughts", or "A delusive fancy; a trick or deception. Obsolete". These two definition of the word, especially the second definition, give insight into what Eliza Haywood truly meant when assigning Fantomina with the title "LOVE in a Maze".

"maze, n.1." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2019, www.oed.com/view/Entry/115347 . Accessed 12 February 2020.

When our unnamed protagonist is describing the situation that is occurring in the pit of the theater, we see her noticeable interest of the situation in the pit. She states in the novel that, “This excited a Curiosity in her". Since she had been living a pretty stable and secure life up to this point, I believe that one of the things that excited a curiosity in her was the thrill of the unknown. She was previously unfamiliar with the situation and wanted to "know in what Manner these Creatures were address'd". Until this point, our protagonist didn't seem to have any desires to pursue such an act. It was only when she physically witnessed the event at the theater that made her come up with the idea of disguising herself in the first place. After witnessing the woman in the pit, our protagonist decided that she wanted to experience something new and see a different view of that new experience from the inside.

Enlightenmens Source: Quote from "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding"

One passage from Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understand comes to mind when thinking of this particular passage. Locke talking about the mind describes it, "to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas". In this passage, our protagonist in Fantomina displays this kind of white paper mind philosophy. Before witnessing the event for herself, our protagonist was unfamiliar with the concept. Locke continues to explain the way that we come up with knowledge as, "Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from Experience". Locke's philosophy also explains why the protagonist in Fantomina had the desire to experience this new situation that she was introduced to. In the pursuit of knowledge, the protagonist wanted to learn more from experience, just as Locke describes.

This phrase describing the woman in the pit has a negative tone and gives a negative depiction of the woman. I believe the reason behind this is due to the views of Eliza Haywood, as well as the majority of people in the 18th century. The wording used in this phrase such as, "one of those who come there for no other Purpose", suggests that the woman in the pit has nothing better to do than "create Acquaintance with as many as seem desirous of it". This negative view of the woman in the pit is probably due to her choice of occupation. During the time, high class individuals were seen as being very prim and proper and therefore expected their fellow peers to be just as prim and proper as well. These masses seem to be trying to hold members of the lower class, such as the woman in the pit, to the same standards, therefore criticizing her actions as being improper by their standards

Enlightenmens Source:Metaphor from the Theory of Moral Centiments

The idea that the members of the high class held members of the lower class to similar standards to their own could be explained by Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Centiments. Adam Smith explains that, "we value ourselves too much and other people too little". This quote would explain why people of high class would think of themselves as superior and better while looking at the lower class and thinking the opposite. This ideology would continue to an extent where these same people would start to expect the same standards from others around them.

An important outlying theme of this novel is the difference in perceptions of the classes and the difference in how each class treated each other. The theater, while bringing together a lot of different classes and placing them in the same place, still had ways to separate people based on class. The theater, described in Fantomina, was no exception and utilized location as a method to separate the different social classes. This separation is outlined when our unnamed protagonist is describing the woman at the playhouse, “a Woman who sat in a Corner of the Pit”, indicating that she was of a lower class. Alternatively, our protagonist is first described as, “happened to be in a Box one Night at the Playhouse”, indicating that she was of a good class. This difference in location of each class is a great indicator of how each class was perceived. For the members of the higher classes, they were seen as more important and more respectable than the lower classes. This characterization of the higher classes is evident by the better seating and better view of the stage given to the box seats since they were physically higher than the pit area. This difference in height in the seating locations resembles a superiority complex given to people sitting in the boxes, while giving the constant reminder to the people in the pit that they were less important than the high classes located in the boxes. Source: The Haymarket Theatre

This is a picture of what a theater at the time would look like. In the picture, the pit is the area in the bottom and the boxes are the balconies off to the side on each floor. This picture gives a visual representation of how theaters at the time would separate the high class from the low class using location differences between the boxes and the pit.

As the protagonist is describing how she is going to pull off this acting stunt, she describes how she has been left to her own devices and is not being watch over by anyone at the time. She states, “having no Body in Town, at that Time, to whom she was oblig'd to be accountable for her Action”. Due to this independence, I believe that our protagonist anticipated a situation that she did not fully thinking through and seems to jump on the impulse of the idea. This impulse and lack of true pre-planning is described in Fantomina when she stated that, “Therefore thought it not in the least a Fault to put in practice a little Whim which came immediately into her Head”. This impulse shows a type of mental immaturity that causes more trouble than the idea was worth in the end. As stated in the end of the quote, our protagonists had, “no other Aim, than the Gratification of an innocent Curiosity”. This quote shows how her expectations of the situation were very different than the reality of the situation. At first, this acting stunt was an attempt to experience something new and exciting, but soon spiraled out of control and lead to the unintended reality that our protagonist did not expect.

Enlightenments Source: Excerpt from "The Elements of Moral Philosophy"

In this excerpt from The Elements of Moral Philosophy by David Fordyce he states that, "no kind of Objects make so powerful an Impression on us as those which are immediately impressed on our Senses". This is a great explanation to the events that begin to occur in this passage of Fantomina. Our protagonist is immediately hooked to the idea of acting as the woman in the pit and seems to quickly jump on the opportunity. David Fordyce is describing the same sort of impulse that the protagonist of Fantomina jumps on and suggests that it is one of the strongest impressions that a sense can have on someone. This explanation would explain why the protagonist of Fantomina might not have completely thought through her impulse decision before acting on it.

In order for our protagonist to pull of this acting charade, she had to make sure that no one would be able to spoil her experience. One condition made this experience possible, "having no Body in Town, at the Time, to whom she was oblig'd to be accountable for her Actions". While this quote seems to only insinuate that our protagonist is free to do whatever she wants, I believe there is a bit of information that we can dig from between the lines. From this exert, two things about the protagonist and her family can be explained. The first is that the protagonist's family trusts her enough to leave her to her own devices and give her a certain level of freedom by leaving her alone. The second, on the other hand, is that while her family might be giving her these freedoms, it seems that she is still afraid to do anything nontraditional when they are present.

The woman in the pit is given a characterization in this phrase that is not traditional of women during the 18th century. During the 18th century, many women are not given a lot of freedom in many facets of their lives, especially when it comes to marriage. However, in the phrase, "create Acquaintance with as many as seem desirous of it", the woman in the pit is characterized to have a lot of relationship freedoms that typical women in the 18th century didn't have. I believe that this characteristic is what persuaded our protagonist to disguise as a woman in a similar situation. While our protagonist is described to have more freedoms than a typical woman of the 18th century, she is also characterized in a way that makes her sound like she doesn't have complete control of her life, especially when it comes to relationships. Due to witnessing the increased relationship freedom that the woman in the pit had, our protagonist chose to pretend to be a woman in a similar situation to utilize this increased freedom to get into a relationship with Beauplaisir.

The choice to start the setting of Fantomina in a playhouse reflects the idea that our unnamed protagonist takes on the workings of an actor to fool Beauplaisir with several different personalities and costume disguises. During the course of the story, our protagonist is described as “had no sooner design'd this Frolick, than she put it in Execution; and muffling her Hoods over her Face, went the next Night into the Gallery-Box, and practising as much as she had observ'd, at that Distance, the Behaviour of that Woman” in order to deceive Beauplaisir into being with her multiple different times. In this quote, our protagonist acquires the façade of the women in the theater by putting on clothes that resembles her outward appearance and by observing her habits and attitudes. The phrase "practising as much as she had observ'd" sounds a lot like what an actor or actress in a theater would do when trying to become their role and get into character. It could be that the setting of the playhouse at the beginning of Fantomina instilled a sense of acting in the mind of our protagonist that enticed her to continue pretending to be someone she is not by changing her outer appearance and personality throughout the novel.

One difference in how Eliza Haywood describes the protagonist and the woman in the pit is through the reason for why they are at the theater. In the case of the protagonist, Eliza Haywood describes her being at the theater by using the words, "happened to be". This phrase seems to insinuate that the protagonist usually has more pressing matters to attend to instead of attending plays at the theater. Alternatively, Eliza Haywood describes the woman in the pit being in the theater by using the words, "one of those who come there for no other Purpose". The wording in this description of why the woman in the pit is here seems to be insinuating that she has little importance and nothing else to do other than "create Acquaintance with as many as seem desirous of it". These depictions give us insight into how people in the 18th century might have perceived members of the high class in a more favorable fashion compared to members of the low class.

As described in the novel, different classes had different perceptions of the way each class was supposed to dress and act like, making how someone dressed or acted an easy indicator of what social status they were a part of. Fantomina depicts this recognition of social differences when the author is describing the woman in the pit, “by her Air and Manner of receiving them, might easily be known to be one of those who come there for no other Purpose, than to create Acquaintance with as many as seem desirous of it”. The outward appearance and attitude of this woman in the pit would seem to indicate that this woman is of lower class. This indication is due to her personality that would be considered improper and extremely scandalous at the time. In comparison, the author describes the protagonist as, “A YOUNG Lady of distinguished Birth, Beauty, Wit, and Spirit”. This gleaming description of our protagonist completely overshadows the lackluster description of the lady in the pit. The extreme separation in outward appearance between the protagonist and the woman in the pit shows the fact that during the 18th century, outward appearance and personality were an easy indicator of what social class a person belongs to.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines obliging as "to bind (a person) by oath, promise, contract, etc.; to put under an obligation, to engage, commit. Frequently with to or infinitive. Obsolete."

"oblige, v." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2019, www.oed.com/view/Entry/129696. Accessed 7 February 2020.