In the world of Bridgerton, everyone reads the scandalous gossip columns of Lady Whistledown . That Lady Whistedown’s acid pen belongs to none other than the ever-polite Penelope Bridgerton proved a shocking twist, but not one without historical precedent. The history of 18th-century print is littered with striking instances in which women, like Bridgerton, used cheap print – such as magazines and periodicals – to deliver stunning satirical blows to the male-dominated status quo.
They also used them to signal solidarity to the women living quietly and politely within society. Eliza Haywood Eliza Haywood (1693-1756) was such a woman. Haywood’s best-known novella, Fantomina (1725), tells the story of a young lady who falls for a dashing gallant who, unfortunately, doesn’t like sleeping with the same woman twice.
Our heroine therefore adopts a series of disguises so she can sleep with him again and again. By presenting a scenario in which a young woman gratifies her sexual appetites without sacrificing her reputation, Fantomina asks why it is that we expect “constancy” in women but not in men. Ultimately, our heroine falls pregnant and is sent to live out her days in a convent abroad.
The apparent lesson is that vice is vice, even if nobody knows about it. For this reason, the tale could be circulated as a work of conduct literature : a genre designed to teach readers, usually women, how to behave. Along the way, however, Haywood has stealthily foregrounded a serio.
