Post 4: Paper 1 Thesis and Example Paragraph

Thesis: "Throughout this story, much of the language about states of mind and emotions, specifically curiosity, seem to generally suggest that the lady is being acted upon by this state of mind and is not in control of what she does because of the use of the noun form of this state. On the other hand, some of the language also demonstrates that the author wants this lady to be held accountable for her actions by the gradual change of the lady’s actions from “frolicks” to “follies” and references to the emotional and mental control that she has over herself. In this way, Hayworth sets up a paradoxical mentality in regards to states of mind like curiosity that seems to maintain the agency that they apparently have while offering the lady up as a character that deserves the punishment she receives in the end."

The agency of curiosity, or the way in which this state along with others acts upon the person rather than being an attribute of a person at a certain moment, begins from the very start of Fantomina. Looking at prostitutes and the kind of attention they received from men at the theater “excited a Curiosity in her to know in what Manner these Creatures were address’d…” (2). Looking at the way this moment is phrased, it appears that the act of seeing the women and the curiosity that is initiated are outside of the lady’s realm of control. The curiosity is an entity in itself, and it perhaps could be seen as dormant within her, without actually being part of the lady herself, until she looks upon these other women. The image does not do anything to the lady that then causes her to have an emotion, but rather directly causes this curiosity to ignite. Hayworth could have said that the lady “became curious” because of this, giving the character the agency, but she instead chooses to have her be the passive recipient of this state of mind.