Baughman 1

Lyndsey Baughman

Professor King, ​João ​Albuquerque

English 102

12 June 2019

The Power of Masquerade

One of the eighteenth century’s most dominating structures was the social hierarchy that

placed individuals in either a lower or higher class. This system made it so that society had a set

of rules to abide by based on their status in order to prevent class exploitation. However, these

rules also restricted individuals from acting how they personally wanted. This is especially true

for women of any class, as their “cultural and social role[s were] confined to the margins”

(Houston), thus breaking these boundaries meant facing societal rejection. These restrictions are

also evident in eighteenth century literature, as seen in the case of the unnamed central figure in

Eliza Haywood’s ​Fantomina: or, Love in a Maze​. Because she was bound by her status as a

Lady, she took up the act of masquerading in order to explore the social liberties she was unable

to access while also keeping her identity a secret. However, with this protection comes a lack of

individuality. Disguising herself outside of her upper class boundaries does allow Haywood’s

protagonist to act as she pleased, but by participating in masquerading while exploring her

identity, she implicitly prioritizes her social status over herself and eventually loses her personal

identity almost completely. Thus, ​Fantomina​ demonstrates just how powerful the dominating

system of social hierarchy and its margins can be.

Fantomina’s protagonist began masquerading after becoming intrigued by the behavior of

the women that could entertain men’s interests despite their social status or intellect. It is
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immediately apparent that she is aware of the social hierarchies that rule their society and that the

prostitutes are out of bounds of those boundaries. With all of the attention they gather just by

being present, it appears as if their existence outside of the social sphere is one of the few

exceptions to the hierarchy, something that intrigues the protagonist to the point of disguising

herself as a female prostitute. Posed under the identity of “Fatomina,” she reveled in the attention

that she was given, as she is “naturally vain” and thus empowered by being in the spotlight. In

fact, empowerment is often the case in Haywood’s fiction novels, as she is known to utilize “the

trope of masquerade … as a mode for empowering the women or specifically the heroines of her

novels,” as they develop a sense of “‘agency’ through the form of masquerade” (Ghosh). By

disguising herself as a prostitute, a position that is far from her status as a Lady, the main

character is establishing her own sense of agency, one of freewill to however she sees fit.

Without the restrictions of her class to keep her from acting on a whim, it is likely that she feels

empowered as Fantomina, compared to how restricted she usually feels as herself.

Furthermore, masquerading enabled the heroine to explore her own sexuality and allowed

her to engage in the sexual freedoms she was denied in order to maintain her public status as a

Lady. Upon seeing Beauplaisir, a man she often noticed in the Drawing Room, the disguised

woman recalls her interest in him being restricted by “her Quality and reputed Virtue [which]

kept him from using her with that Freedom she now expected he wou'd do” (Haywood). In this

instance, she recognizes that her costume gives her the opportunity to engage Bleauplaisir

without restrictions, allowing the two to flirt and seduce seemingly without consequences. Here,

masquerading is a “safety valves that reaffirm the status quo by exorcising social tensions”

(Castle), as there will be no consequences for the main character because she is not engaging in
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any sexual encounters as an unmarried Lady, but as a prostitute. These “ruses liberate [her]

sexual motives from the constraints of her publicly perceived identity” (Hinnant) as she is not

expected to be a virtuous Lady. Now, thanks to her disguise, she can enjoy all the

sexually-charged attention and take an interest in whoever she pleases. Taking advantage of the

liberties she felt deprived of because of her status not only empowered the protagonist, but also

kept her ensnared in the series of lies that came with her disguises.

As she continues to test how far past the boundaries of class her masquerade can go, the

main character begins to implicitly value her social identity over her personal identity because of

her disguises. After her first and unwanted sexual experience with Beauplaisir, she “lament[s] a

consequence which she could not but expect” (Haywood), referring to the reaction society would

have if the word got out that she engaged in sexual actions outside of marriage. Although she

once desired to share her true identity with the “gentleman,” likely so that she could start a

relationship with him as herself and not as Fantomina, she completely pushes aside her desires in

order to continue protecting her social status. Her “thoughts of the Liberty” (Haywood) from

masquerading overpower her desire to be herself, and thus she invents a new identity to share,

which only keeps her trapped in the lies she creates with her disguise. By doing this, she has now

placed her public identity as a Lady above her desires: by not revealing her true identity and

staying in costume, she denies herself personal liberty in order to appease her status. Although

she started masquerading in order to free herself from the rules of being a Lady, it turned into an

event that only placed importance on the rules instead. By continuing with the ruse, she allows

this unintended prioritization to remain.

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This situation endures when the disguised woman and Beaplaisir decide to maintain a

relationship after their encounter, forcing her to constantly push away from her true self in order

to maintain her role as Fantomina. Instead of acting based on what she truly would have wanted

or sharing information about herself instead of fabrications, the protagonist must put away any

parts of herself that might reveal her identity for the sake of masquerade. By doing so, she

engages in actions that may not be true to her actual self, such as paying the Housekeeper to lie

on her behalf or being untruthful to her aunt. After all, “costume ideally represented an inversion

of one’s nature” in eighteenth century literature (Castle). Masquerade took her from being simply

curious and eager to explore into a liar. Because she opted to continue the act, she has to lie and

plan accordingly in order to maintain what she fabricates. Plus, since she must constantly keep

up with her duties as a Lady as to not arouse suspicion, she uses up her free time to keep up with

her promises as Fantomina in, thus eliminating any free time for herself as herself. In turn, this

stops her from doing anything that she personally enjoys and prevents her from the possibility of

discovering other methods that allow her to explore the hierarchy. She is also unable to find a

way to act however she pleases while also being a Lady, meaning that these restrictions she is

avoiding by masquerading will still be very present in the future. She is continually and

unknowingly placing her social status above her own identity by maintaining her real and fake

class duties, which leads to a separation of identity.

An identity conflict arises as the heroine continues to masquerade throughout the novel.

Although Fantomina was created in order to protect her social identity, she still physically “very

much resembled that lady whom she really was” (Haywood). However, “the vast Disparity there

appear’d between their characters prevented [anyone] from entertaining even the most distant
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thought that they could be the same” (Haywood). There is a vast distinction here between the

protagonist and Fantomina that does not come from their physical appearances. Rather, it comes

from their “character,” even though the heroine was only supposed to be acting as a prostitute

instead of as a Lady, not act as a completely different person. Furthermore, the similarities of

their appearance indicates a potential foreshadowing of future events: if she is unable to escape

her Lady self even in disguise, then perhaps she is unlikely to escape class boundaries at all. But

for now, there is not only a separation of character, but also of identities. By having to act as a

different individual entirely in order to act on her own curiosities and desires, the main character

therefore transfers her desires away from herself and onto Fantomina. Now, she no longer desires

to explore the social boundaries and sexual adventures, but her character does. Moreover, she

wants to keep her identity a secret, but wants to act freely in character. When she is acting as

Fantomina, these desires and wants collide. As a result, the heroine decides to recenter her

interests onto maintaining her disguises, even renting rooms in order to keep the ruse up. By

doing so, she is keeping up with her desire for secrecy, but giving Fantomina the opportunity for

self exploration instead of herself. This prevents her from exploring herself and identifying with

any experiences Fantomina has. Instead, now all she gets to experience is identity maintenance,

which transforms into her only interest.

As she continues masquerading, the protagonist becomes so absorbed in creating and

maintaining her characters that she begins to prioritize her role as an “identity maintainer” and

focuses her attention on the interests of Beauplaisir, discarding her initial worry of social class

exposure. When she is disguised as the mysterious Incognita, she rents a “very large, and

magnificently furnished” house and dresses “as if she were to be that Night at a Ball at Court”
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(Haywood). Clearly, she is no longer trying to hide her social status as an upper class woman,

indicating that she is now either completely disregarding or forgetting her initial worry about

protecting her class without realizing it. It seems as though she has become so absorbed in

cultivating the genuity of her disguises that she has now forgotten her personal priorities and

interests that started the whole ordeal. She started by forfeiting her desire to be herself for the

sake of her disguises and has now gone as far as to completely disregard her initial concern over

protecting her social status. To top it all off, her interests have seem to be replaced by her thirst

for Beauplaisir’s attention. At this point, she is now managing Fantomina, Widow Bloomer, and

then Incognita for this special occasion she planned in order to keep the man’s interest,

something that does not last too long. The involvement of the same gentleman instead of

different ones indicates that not only is she obsessed with maintaining her characters, but that she

has also placed his interests on a higher pedestal than she has placed her own. Perhaps seeing

how long she can deceive him is another one of her curiosities, which is why she persists despite

his ever-expiring interest in each of her characters. Nevertheless, she has essentially eliminated

any trace of protecting herself and having any of her own priorities, which was once the reason

behind masquerading, in order to maintain her newfound obsessions.

Since her four disguises bounce between different classes, which is an act that ignores

societal boundaries, the heroine experiences the consequences of breaking the rules that the

dominating eighteenth century structure of social hierarchy created. “At its most piquant,

[masquerade] expressed a violation of cultural categories” (Castle) which is exactly what

happens with the creation of each individual disguise. The protagonist chose to have her

characters be from different class backgrounds, meaning that she was also able to undergo and
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manipulate the experiences of being apart of a class that she was never apart of. Instead of

simply creating a disguise as a Lady who does not care for her reputation or even just going to

Beauplaisir as her authentic self, she decides to mess with different classes in order to mess

around with him. Thus, she has violated the boundaries of social hierarchy by jumping between

boundaries in addition to breaching her duty as a Lady by engaging in premarital sex. The

punishment for her “violations” comes after she realizes she is pregnant, as she does her best to

hide her growing stomach by wearing large clothes and eating less. This is because having sex

and thus a child outside of wedlock is rejected by society, especially if the woman involved is of

high status. Revealing her pregnancy and thus her violation of her class boundaries would cause

a mass uproar and result in consequences, which comes in the form of restriction. Her mother’s

arrival not only causes her ventures to be restricted, but eventually leads her to say goodbye to

society, as her mother intends to send her away. She even attends “A Ball being at Court” as “a

Farewel to the Town” and society (Haywood), personally acknowledging a restriction of her

freedom. This all occurs without the public and even Beauplaisir knowing about her pregnancy,

which only reinforces how strong the boundaries of society are. The heroine has not yet been

shamed by society for her actions and yet she has already accepted her separation from the public

by attending the Ball as parting event. Even after Beauplaisir is informed of the whole incident,

he only offers to care for the child and does not shame the woman, indicating that perhaps she

could have had a chance with him and maybe even had a chance at living as an “exception” to

the system. However, her mother is the one that acts the way someone apart of eighteenth

century society is expected to act and even enforces societal rules by being the one to instigate
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her punishment. Despite all of these indications that the woman’s situation could be an

exception, the restrictions of class still rules over in the end.

Masquerading deprived the main character of any future chance to entertain any simple

“curiosity” as an aftermath of her actions. The ruse slowly made her lose sight of her personal

priorities consisting of identity protection and personal exploration. As a result, she broke

societal boundaries without a care and is now facing the consequences. At the end of her tale, the

heroine is sent far off to a French monastery after giving birth. There, the protagonist is unlikely

to have any freedoms like she did before, if at all. Someone will constantly be watching over her

every move and, if she ever steps out of line, will be immediately correct in order to act

according to the rules. Here, there is no freedom to even consider acting on a simple curiosity,

which is what sparked her act of unintended defiance in the first place. Her ultimate punishment

for breaking societal boundaries demonstrates just how powerful the rules of social structure can

be. Although breaking them brought her freedom, it also resulted in her being far more restricted

than she had ever been before.

Despite all of the social liberties masquerading brought the protagonist of Eliza

Haywood’s ​Fantomina,​ the unnamed woman ultimately ended up losing her sense of personal

identity and own social freedom. Instead of finding ways to explore social boundaries as herself

or discovering how to act as she pleased without letting societal judgement affect her, she

decided to continue to masquerade in order to achieve the liberties she so desperately desired.

Doing so, however, enabled the importance of the social hierarchy’s influence on her life,

chipped away at her personal concerns, and ultimately restricted all of her freedom. In the end, it

was the limitations set up by social structure in the eighteenth century that forced her back into
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her place as a Lady. Masquerading was once a path towards freedom; now, it is evident that it

was only a prison.

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Works Cited

Castle, Terry. ​Masquerade and Civilization: the Carnivalesque in Eighteenth-Century English

​ tanford University Press, 1986. ​Google Books,​ web.

Culture and Fiction. S

Ghosh, Amrita. “Masquerade as a Strategy: Eliza Haywood’s ​The Masqueraders or The Fatal

Curiosity: Being the Secret History of a Late Amour.​ ” ​The Criterion,​ vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 1.

The Criterion,​ web.

Haywood, Eliza. ​Fantomina: or, Love in a Maze.​ ​The Broadview Anthology of British

Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century,​ Broadview Press, vol. 3, no. 2,

2012, pp. 630-647. Print.

Hinnant, Charles H. “Ironic Inversion in Eliza Haywood’s Fiction: ​Fantomina a​ nd ‘The History

of the Invisible Mistress.” ​Women’s Writing,​ 17:3, 09 Nov 2010, pp. 403-412. ​Taylor and

Francis Online​, web.

Houston, Robert Allan. “British Society in the Eighteenth Century.” ​Journal of British Studies,​

vol. 25, no. 4, 1986, pp. 436–466. ​JSTOR​, web.