The Vanities of Eliza Haywood's Miss Betsy Thoughtless

As I sat reading Miss Betsy Thoughtless, I read with an eye looking for an ongoing theme of gender enrichment and advancement carried over from Love in Excess. However, I noticed other subtle and not so subtle changes throughout the first two books of Haywood's novel that swayed me from my quest. The writing span between Love in Excess and Miss Betsy Thoughtless crosses thirty-one years or arguably the time span of three generations of woman. As I read, my mind kept swaying from the inherent possibilities that Eliza Haywood was trying to write a pro or anti female narrative but a parable to the misdirected affections of vanity.

Miss Betsy's history is wrought with vain characters and an idealist heroine that unwittingly allows her impetuous vanity to cast her in some extremely tenuous situations. Miss Thoughtless is an amalgam of virtuousness, vanity, calculation, recklessness, coquettishness, and benevolence rolled into one. Ironically, in a twist that leads the book towards the modern novel, Haywood delves deeper into the psyche of her main character and touches on the humanness of our dear Miss Thoughtless. The greater development of character lends one to believe the name Miss Thoughtless is a mistake. True, the character is shallow at times; however, she is not afraid to learn from past transgressions and as we leave her at the feet of a new lover at the end of the second volume, we have witnessed her slow growth into a near wise young lady.

Betsy's road to her early character wisdom in terms of love has not been an easy journey. Miss Thoughtless throughout the early stages of the book plots her warring lovers against each other to stroke her feminine ego. She learns a near fatal lesson here at the cost of her two early love interests, Stable and Trueworth. As she toys with her suitors' emotions and designs, her trusty guardian, Mr. Goodman, fears the games may lead to dire and murderous consequences. Mr. Goodman's premonitions almost come true when Stable challenges Trueworth to a duel that ends with both men wounded physically from the battle and emotionally from the sting of shunned love. Haywood's patented chaos ensues and Stable bequeaths his honor to Trueworth in a passion felt passing of Betsy's non-possessed hand. Sadly, her vain machinations lead to the initial loss of the man she felt inclined to give her virtue, Stable, in this scene.

As time passes and Stable from the pages, Trueworth becomes the man of her devious designs. She entertains him and gets the most out of his amorous affection. Through duty he sees fitting to love he professes, Trueworth, truly worthy of his name, does all he can to coach Betsy on the righteousness of virtue and believes through all her transgressions and miscalculations he can change her into the woman he deems worthy to take his name and be his bride. He foolishly believes a trip to the country will correct all of her wanton pleasures derived from the court of London's social scene although Betsy's coquettish nature could never meet success with such a social creature as Miss. Thoughtless. Betsy's innocence and subsequent mishandling of virtuous advice from Trueworth leads to their ultimate demise and highlights the affects vanity holds sway on her personality and countenance.

Betsy's childhood friend Miss Forward has sadly chosen a life of vice through an unfortunate event in her early childhood that leads to the birth of a child that ultimately dies. Unfortunately, Miss Forward's father learns of the situation and disowns his daughter. Her disownment leads her into a life of prostitution that our innocent and benevolent Betsy cannot see through her undying faith in humankind. She befalls a unwittingly demeaning situation with the arrival to town of Mr. Bazil, one of Trueworth's dear friends. She pays a visit to the unfortunate Miss Forward and unbeknownst to her Bazil and Trueworth pay a visit and this most inopportune of times. Bazil designing and well versed with the ways of Forward thinks Betsy complaint as a woman of the night and takes liberties that should not be afforded to the virtuous likes of Betsy. Trueworth sets him straight and begins warning Betsy of the threats and admonishments to her reputation if she is seen cavorting with the wayward Forward.

Sadly, at this point, the relationship between Betsy and Trueworth begins to crumble. Betsy through the enchantment of her vanity takes complete control of her life and desires extending even out to the choice of a husband and with whom she decides to cavort. Trueworth tries to steer her clear of an evening on the town with Forward but only succeeds in setting her will towards an evening at the theater with her less than virtuous friend. As only Haywood can masterfully craft, the evening out with Betsy and Forward places the virtuous Betsy in the most precarious of positions that can negatively affect her reputation and virtue if the designs of the two sparks that are drawn to the ways of Forward are consummated. The night ends with a ride about town with the two less than genuine suitors that take their dates, Forward and Betsy, to the local whorehouse. All of this occurs under the jealous, masquerading eyes of Trueworth. The precarious and wary mores that Betsy places herself in causes Trueworth to question his affections and ultimately lead to him shunning the lovely Betsy and swearing to return to the country until an equally appealing love raises her head and finds our Trueworth remaining in the city to affect designs on a more loving and deserving vixen of family and fortune.

Although the general theme of The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless orbits around the sphere of vanity, the novel makes dramatic leaps forward that I feel would be amiss if I failed to mention. First, the novel, although this may be a factor of the growing English language or acquired skill by the author, makes dramatic leaps in narrative accessibility. The writing is more succinct and more easily understood for the modern reader. The narrative and point of view also make a dramatic leap forward in the area of character development. Haywood shifts her point of view from a mere spectator to that of an omniscient narrator that can read the minds and moods of her characters. I also feel it is important to note the intro caveats at the beginning of each chapter. I think the lead-ins are a marketing device created by publishers to market the stories as serials. The writer, or publisher, could then get paid for the serial release, volume release, and the overall collection release. I may be completely out of line on this notion; however, I believe it must be noted. The reading also lends to a shift from a transgender audience to that of an entirely female one.

As a pro-woman treatise, I can only agree this novel was written. The female characters are allowed more freedoms and the power of choice. The power of choice in Miss Thoughtless not only concerns the dalliances of Betsy choosing a husband but also the woman's choice to attempt in the modern sense an abortion. I still believe, as in Love in Excess, Haywood is trying to forward the female condition in a patriarchal society.