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.
Savannah,
ReplyDeleteI think you're onto something really interesting here re: agency...and my suggestion (after looking at it) would be to focus on one novel—and on Haywood—to spell this out, particularly for a 5 page paper. The use of the noun form & the move from frollcks to follies, when you take it all together, find your examples, and spell out how they're working, will be a lot to work with... Happy to chat more as well.