A Failed Attempt at Love

Was the woman's method truly better for fostering love?

"I have him always raving, wild, impatient, longing, dying -- O that all neglecting Wives,  and fond abandon'd Nymphs would take this Method! -- Men would be caught in their own Snare, and have no Cause to scorn our easy, weeping, wailing Sex!" (Haywood 14)

"at the end of the century curiosity was represented as a rebellious impulse that could endanger the state and the individual and that consequently required defusing through ridicule and reproof, spectacle and sententiousness. [...] curiosity appears as a tyrannical desire to control others that creates monsters." (Benedict 22)

The woman of Fanomina believes that her wit has devised a superior way to court men. The second sentence, isolated by dashes, emphasizes her belief that she has discovered the ultimate solution for women. She switches from objectifying the state she has Beauplaisir in to mourning that women don't have the same designs, they are poor "abandon'd Nymphs." This lamenting tone is further exemplified through her use of "our easy, weeping, wailing Sex!," which is also an ironic satire because she believes herself to not be of that disposition, but, her obsession for Beauplaisir proves otherwise.

 She successfully takes advantage of man's wondering fancy for women. She has Beauplaisir "caught in [his] own snare." She has him "raving," "impatient," and "longing," but doesn't recognize that he longs for different women, not her specifically. Ironically, she is the one who is truly "raving." She does everything in her power to manipulate Beauplaisir into more passionate ventures.

The woman's schemes do not truly represent love. She is not caring for Beauplaisir's well-being and he doesn't know that she is the same woman. The passion that they share is completely superficial unable to penetrate past the physical. The woman's curiosity is fueled by a "rebellious impulse" to reject the social norm for courting and developing relationships. She refuses to be the second class sex and submit to men. However, through her ingenious plots she becomes the "monster," in a sense, that Benedict portrays.

We see a clear example of Enlightenment discourse in Fantomina. Curiosity is fueling the drive to break social boundaries and experiment in new ways of thought. Gender roles are broken down and the woman is portrayed as intelligent, having the upper hand over the man. However, we are reminded that these ways of thought are still breaking into the culture. Even though the woman is crafty, she is still bound to the culture she lives in. She is not able to get away with her craft and ends up pregnant and sent to a monastery.

Robinson Crusoe Survives Through His Desires

What drives Robinson Crusoe to do things that seem either to the reader, or himself, unwise?

"but I must venture out in my boat on board this wreck; and committing the rest to God's Providence, I thought the Impression was strong upon my Mind, that it could not be resisted, that it must come from some invisible Direction, and that I should be wanting to my self if I did not go." (Defoe 137)

"only the ceaseless motions of mind and body, our appetites and aversions, keep us striving and, indeed, alive. Happiness lies in yearning, not in satisfaction." (Daston 307)

It is true that Crusoe did desire the company of another soul but he seems to have only felt this when he first discovered the Spanish ship. After discovering that no one is alive, he gathers everything of use to him without any further regard to the want for company.

For the past couple of years on the island, Crusoe has claimed that he must follow any drive that contradicts what his first instincts tell him. He believes this to be some form of providence watching out for him that has helped him to survive this whole time. His desire to explore the new ship wreck "could not be resisted." However, he was utterly afraid of being pulled out into the ocean again by the currents. I don't believe that it was an "invisible direction" guiding him to the boat. He didn't discover the company he desired and he didn't recover any new provisions that he needed for survival. His risking his life by facing his fear was not rewarded in a way that Providence has rewarded him in the past. Therefore, his drive to explore the ship must be of his own will.

This "Impression [on his] Mind" reminds me more of his curiosity that drove him on his voyages and ultimately left him stranded on the island. As Daston put it, Crusoe's "happiness lies in yearning, not in satisfaction." Crusoe had to go to the ship because of his burning curiosity. He is content with what he discovers there, despite not finding anyone alive. It is Crusoe's constant planning, scheming, and crafting that allow him to survive the island, not the actual results and physical objects that he obtains.

The Irony of Appreciation for Life Through Hardship

Why do humans receive clarity about life through hardship?

"let this stand as a direction from the experience of the most miserable of all conditions in this world: that we may always find in it something to comfort ourselves from, and to set, in the description of good and evil, on the credit side of the account." (Defoe 50)

 "'(Boerhaave) [...] declared that he had lately had a kind of experimental Certainty of the distinction between Corporeal and Thinking Substances, which mere Reason and Philosophy cannot afford, and Opportunities of contemplating the wonderful and inexplicable Union of Soul and Body, which nothing but long Sickness can give. [...]'" (Smith 19)

I am not surprised that Crusoe would abandon his plantation in Brazil to seek out more fortunes after all he had survived. There is a direct parallel with him leaving this time to his initial departure from England. He clearly is still discontent with a sedentary lifestyle and is ever at the whim of his desire for adventure. Crusoe seems to be most alive when faced with peril but doesn't truly begin to understand life until he is marooned on the island. Crusoe can't stay in one place long enough to reflect on his life until he no longer has a choice. In the midst of his wreck he is able to realize his fortune in surviving. He declares there is always some good to take comfort in no matter the situation. It is a tragic irony that in order to appreciate life, he had to nearly lose it.

Smith quotes Samuel Johnson's reflection on the revelations Herman Boerhaave received through his own dire circumstances. Through his ailment, Boerhaave is able to contemplate the differences between the body and soul in a way that he could not when they were whole. In health he was trapped in the contemporary notion that the soul was inherit to the flesh. However, as his flesh failed him he understood that his soul thrived. Like Crusoe, Boerhaave discovers a beauty of life that required the ugly of life, the sickness.

Is suffering necessary for gaining wisdom and insight? It certainly can have a more lasting impact on development of character and understanding. I don't have a complete answer now but I enjoyed the irony of the two passages that captured this aspect of our lives.