Ballaster’s Critical Analysis of the Writing of Eliza Haywood

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Ballaster’s Critical Analysis of the Writing of Eliza Haywood

In "Preparatives to Love: Seduction as Fiction in the Works of Eliza Haywood", Ros Ballaster critically examines the active role that seduction plays in the passionate lives of the heroines presented in the writing of "the undisputed Queen of Romance," Eliza Haywood. Ros Ballaster's primary argument refers to Eliza Haywood's "creation of a specifically feminine authorial persona with a direct address to female readers, which is seen both as a form of scandalous prostitution and a seduction of other women." (53) Ballaster asserts that, though her work undergoes a well-defined stylistic change, related to the moral perspective of her career after 1740, "throughout her work there is a remarkable consistency in her presentation of sexual desire and in her view of fiction's role in the stimulation or repression of sexual passion in female readers." (55)

Regardless of the fact that, during the 18th Century, it is deemed incredibly inappropriate, and even unthinkable for women to experience and express feelings of sexual desire, Eliza Haywood is in support of the necessity and inevitability of women's feelings of sexual passion and gratification, including in her fiction accounts of women who not only verbally and actively express, but triumph in those feelings of passion. Though Eliza Haywood presents sexually active and supportive female heroines, she also fully understands that romance in the 18th Century is not all about hearts and flowers. Eliza Haywood recognizes that there is a distinct imbalance between the positions of power of men and women involved in romantic relationships. She understands that in the 18th Century, romance paints a bleak picture of women's e...

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.... However, Eliza Haywood is careful to include a moralistic ending to the tail, with Fantomina ending up in a position of compromise, eventually being discovered, and losing the affections of her paramour. In this manner of ending the tale, Eliza Haywood forces her audience to understand that, while this type of romance may at first appear wonderful in fiction, realistically it would not only be unsuccessful, but also severely damaging to both one's feelings, and more importantly/ her esteemed reputation. Through careful reading, the audience is convinced to come to "a realization that women must learn to read fiction and play within it, rather that fall victim to its idealism and its traps... Haywood presents her romances as a means of protecting women, providing them with the worldly knowledge they need, while warning them against the dangers of the practice." (61)

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