Arabella's Romantic Obsession

Why and how is Bella absorbed in the fantasy of her perfect romance?

Quote 1: “The Tumult of her Thoughts being a little settled, she turned again towards Glanville; whose Countenance expressing nothing of that Confusion and Anxiety common to an Adorer in so critical a Circumstance, her Rage returned with greater Violence than ever” (Lennox, 50).

Quote 2: “The protagonists of this study do everything in their power to stabilize their universes and expel indeterminacy from their worlds. They have learned that it is the fluctuating nature of phenomena that invalidates their believe in inner permanence…. Haunted by the fear of a purposeless existence, they pledge their lives to a plan, a project, or a person who becomes their sole raison d’etre” (Zuylen, 2).

            In the novel The Female Quixote, the main character Arabella grew up reading romance novels and evidently became fixated on creating a romantic story with her life mimicking the lives of the heroines in the novels. It seems that she is completely absorbed in these stories as she compares her experiences to those of the heroines, and reasons that she must act as they would in each situation. In the first quote above, Arabella becomes “violently enraged” when Glanville doesn’t act the way she has always expected men to act around her. It can be seen that Arabella has a very obsessive and monomaniacal personality, as described by Zuylen. She has the idea that the only lover worth giving herself to is one who shows their love in the same manner as the men in the romance novels do. No matter what, she pledges her life to the “plan” of having a life with controlled and expected outcomes. Arabella is quick to dismiss any person who does not act exactly as she expected. For example, she becomes extremely upset when Mr. Hervey approaches her on the horse, which she did not expect. Also, she becomes extremely upset when Glenville comes to her room after she has told him to never see her again. In The Female Quixote, the author frequently describes her thoughts as being anything but content when things do not go as she planned or expected. As described by Zuylen, this type of extreme emotion is typical when one is in a state of obsession. 

What does Fantomina’s Desire Display About Her Curiosity?

What does Fantomina’s Desire Display About Her Curiosity?

Quote 1: “Possession naturally abates the Vigour of Desire, and I should have had, at best, but a cold, insipid, husband-like Lover in my Arms; but by these Arts of passing on him as a new Mistress whenever the Ardour, which alone makes Love a Blessing, begins to diminish, for the former one, I have him always raving, wild, impatient, longing, dying” (Fantomina).

Quote 2: “Early modern literature depicts the aggression of curiosity as ambition, the desire for power over others. This desire manifests itself as an ontological transgression that usurps public space, institutions, materials, bodies, and meanings for private use” (Benedict, 5)

The story of Fantomina represents a desire of the leading character to trick a man into being involved with what he thinks are three different woman, when they are actually different disguises of Fantomina.  She explains this desire as a way to escape the cycle of dying passion and interest that comes with things that are no longer new. As she states in the quote above, the very nature of desire is to want, and in order to want something, it cannot be in one’s possession. Thus, Fantomina interestingly finds a way to keep Beauplaisir’s desire for technically the same woman, although he doesn’t believe it to be. By manipulating the truth to Beauplaisir, Fantomina gains a distinct power over him, although he is unaware. As the second quote above explains, one could view her actions as the aggressive aspect of curiosity, with her ambition to manipulate Beauplaisir. The narrator continually indicates that Fantomina does not know exactly what she is doing and what the consequences of her actions may be, and I believe this adds to the nature of curiosity, wherein one wishes to gain knowledge of the unknown, and behaves in unconventional ways to attain that knowledge.

The origin of feeling and objectivity

How does objectivity affect an individual’s feelings about themselves and their surroundings, and where do these feelings come from?

Quote 1: “Thus, fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself, when apparent to the eyes; and we find the burden of anxiety greater, by much, than the evil which we are anxious about: and what was worse than all this, I had not that relief in this trouble that from the resignation I used to practise I hoped to have ” (Crusoe).

Quote 2: “The writers I discuss tend to tell-often within a single work – conflicting stories about the status of feeling. On the one hand, they assert that feelings are personal, that they have origins in an individual’s experience and are authenticated by their individuality. On the other hand they reveal that feelings may be impersonal; that one’s feelings may really be someone else’s; that feelings may be purely conventional, or have no discernable origin” (Pinch, 7).

For one reading Robinson Crusoe, it may seem his rationale and explanations go back and forth from being completely objective, to being completely persuaded by his passion. Crusoe spends a great deal of time contemplating things, and we as readers view his internal struggle between objective reasoning and wonderment of fanatical possibilities.  For example, when Crusoe sees the footprint at the other end of the island, he becomes extremely paranoid that the footprint he sees at the other end of the island is of the devil, yet later, through much internal reasoning, he discerns that if the devil was trying to scare him, he would have shown himself in a much more distinguishable manner, rather than leave a footprint in a place with a “one in a ten thousand” chance of Crusoe seeing it. Crusoe goes through a similar paranoia with the appearance of the savage remaining, and later seeing the actual savages themselves.

In the introduction of Strange Pits of Passion, Pinch discusses the commonality of eighteenth and early nineteenth century novels going into great depth of individual feeling, and where those feelings come from. This is portrayed in the quote above by Crusoe, in which he discusses how the feeling of fear of danger is much more terrifying than danger itself, and that our anxiety poses a greater burden than the evil itself. It is worthy to note how as Pinch discusses, Crusoe’s feelings of fear and anxiety may have their origins in his individual experience and may be authenticated by his personal paranoia, however they are also undoubtedly influenced by external causes such as the footprint and the sight of the savages’ remaining bones.