In Fantomina, Haywood sends the message that women are equal in intelligence to men and like men, they can control sexual relationships for personal pleasure. The character of Fantomina demonstrates Haywood’s clear cut rebellion against the cultural norms of that day. That culture supported the idea of men’s domination and control over women. Men controlled every aspect of women’s lives, from limiting their educational opportunities, to controlling female sexual activities for their advantage. The radical nature of Eliza Haywood’s thoughts and writings within this novella cannot be fully understood or appreciated from the perspective of the Twenty-first Century. However, taken within the cultural context of the Eighteenth-Century, her words were shocking and controversial, a real force for change. Haywood was a visionary and her writings helped to redefine the portrayal of women in the literature of her time.
