Jacqueline Floyd / FANTOMINA

The story of Fantomina read like a romance novel but one that is full of conflict and desperation. Fantomina was in love with Beauplaisir and would disguised herself to get close to him. I think in those days woman were treated as second class citizen and man had the upper hand. One passage that caught my attention was Fantomina was depicted as a noble woman. But she would disguised herself to sleep with Beauplaisir because she was in love with him. On the other hand Beauplaisir wasn’t in love with her but would indulge in ladies of the night. My question is Fantomina seems like a woman who knows what she wants and seems to get what she wants. Why wouldn’t Fantomina find another way to get Beauplaisir attention. After all she disguise herself to sleep with him. In the end she brought shame on herself and her mother.