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.
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