The Public Sexual Female Self

Paper Summary:

This paper compares the concept of the public female sexual self, as portrayed by two 18th century writers: Eliza Hayward and Alexander Pope. The paper analyzes Hayward's text, "Fantomina," and Pope's text, "Eloisa to Abelard", citing examples from the texts and discussing their context in the work in order to compare the two texts and their authors.

From the Paper:

"Once this innocence is transgressed, Eloisa continues to burn with heat within, heat that suggests fire and damnation, although Pope does not openly condemn Eloisa as Haywood does Fantomina. Although Haywood has been described essentially as a conservative in her presentation of conventional morality, by suggesting such a hyper-sexualized public sphere, she herself paradoxically causes the reader to see sexuality where it might not otherwise seem to be lurking. The outer sexuality infiltrates the home, and even creates it within an innocent girl. In the message of almost all of the author's works, the house by day can be a scene of debauchery at night if strangers are allowed to enter it, just as it was in the case of Eloise (Pettit 2002, p.1)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Haywood, Eliza. Fantomina: or, Love in a Maze. From Secret Histories, Novels, and Poems, by Eliza Haywood (ca.1693-1756). London: Dan Browne and S. Chapman, 1725. III, 2. (2d. Ed.)
• Hicks, Stephen. "Eliza Haywood's letter technique in three early novels (1721-27)." Papers on Language and Literature. Fall 1998.
• Hotz, Mary Elizabeth. "Precious to grace: Necessary desolation in Pope's Eloisa to Abelard." Renascence. Spring 2001.
• Pettit, Alexander. "Adventures in pornographic places: Eliza Haywood's Tea-Table and the decentering of moral argument." Papers on Language and Literature. Summer 2002.
• Pope, Alexander. "Eloisa to Abelard." Poems. 24 Apr 2007. http://www.monadnock.net/poems/eloisa.html

More papers on The Public Sexual Female Self:

• Argumentative Essay # 5424 : "Women and Self-Defense"
• Film Review # 103329 : "The Public Enemy" and "On the Waterfront"
• Analytical Essay # 85009 : "The Development of the Good and Bad Self in Literature"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: