Since feudal times, class has played a decidedly formative role within the social structure in England. Whether a person resided in the upper, middle, or lower class could equally determine political influence, economic success, and social freedoms. In early novels, characters were expected to follow these well-defined social rules in a way that mimicked a pseudo-reality governed by a perfect class. This meant carefully adhering to class expectations and acting in a way that did not overstep established boundaries. In a sense, this adherence to social norms created specific archetypes that downplayed realism, as European society in the 1700s contained many individuals leading largely contradictory double lives. If left unacknowledged, this could result in the author's inability to produce fictional characters that feel true to life in the modern sense. Truly realistic characters are produced by a balance of refusal and submission to class expectations and by attention to how these refusals and submissions affect the character's perception of the world in which he exists. Critically considering how this balance influences the character's actions and interactions can reveal a complexity not clearly visible at first glance. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Eliza Haywood's novel Fantomina begins to discuss this dynamic of rejecting social status that plays a role in characterization. Introduced as a lady, Fantomina begins the novel by dressing as a prostitute and venturing into a show unaccompanied to attract the attention of a man she had been seeing. Readers aren't sure what motivates her to do so, but they can infer that humans often want what they can't get: other life paths seem quite attractive on the other side. Fantomina is young, curious about how the other half lives, and naturally fascinated by the male gaze and the attention a prostitute receives for his favors. With this in mind, Fantomina does not fully understand the expectations of a prostitute and the freedoms she gives up to receive this type of attention. At one point, Haywood states that Fantomina "was happy to think that he had taken that precaution of procuring lodgings, to which he thought he could invite him, without running any risk, either of his virtue or his reputation" (Haywood 45). Here, Fantomina still believes she can save her honor, or her virginity as upper-class women understand honor, from a man who believes it is his profession to offer him pleasure for a price. Her adherence to the role of a woman, even when she is dressed as a prostitute, shows realism and develops a character paradox, which in turn creates an underlying complexity. His true character, motivated by both social position and an intrinsic moral system, is deeply divided between the desire for affection, courtship and love, but he does not want to lose his honor and regress to the treatment of a common prostitute. Beauplaisir "believed her to be a lover" and based his interactions and expectations of her on this fact, worrying only about the thought that she "would be much more expensive than he first expected" due to her intelligence and apparently intelligent. behavior (Haywood 45). Overall, by playing the prostitute, Fantomina loses some of what makes her a woman socially, creating another layer of her charming personality. She is both a fallen woman and a perfectly preserved woman because Fantomina's personality offers hera hidden identity that in turn rewards her freedom from responsibility for her sexual promiscuities. While Fantomina's social fluidity helps create an interesting internal conflict, Gulliver's distance from the society structure due to his travels within Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels allows him to see the barbaric and sordid nature of human beings, thus adding complexity and interiority of his character. The satirical elements implemented within Gulliver's Travels establish the biggest difference between the two works, so the realism of the characters is not really comparable in the traditional sense. However, both of these characters gain complexity of character due to their rejection of social constraints. Analyzing Gulliver at the beginning of the play, he represents middle class consumerism and social privilege. Swift defines Gulliver from the beginning as a well-educated middle-class man of good family lineage. Despite the relative casualness of this information, it establishes a clear voice and creates a kind of false credibility due to his higher social rank. Like Fantomina to some extent, and certainly Moll Flanders within Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, Gulliver is very much concerned with material possessions. He often attempts to exchange money for things like protection (such as when he is in Brobdignag) and becomes completely confused when the giant places no special value on him. Gulliver "took a bag of gold" from his pocket and "humbly presented it to him," then continued to do so even after the Brobdignagian seemed not to understand the objects presented by Gulliver (Swift 74). This shows that Gulliver believes that money holds some kind of intrinsic value beyond the purchase of material goods and services, as if money could bring peace or happiness, a decidedly consumerist idea. Even in Lilliput, Gulliver perfectly records every possession that the Lilliputians take from him upon his landing on the island, and boasts of his ability to keep certain objects by claiming to have "a private pocket that has escaped their search" (Swift 31) . This consumerist nature is shown again when Gulliver is offered an official title within Lilliput, increasing his rank and social standing. During Gulliver's time in Lilliput, he grows very little as a character. He remains in the mold of a bumbling middle-class man who earns the prestige he thought he had earned from birth by asking very few questions and strictly adhering to the code. It is only at the end of his time with the Brobdignagians and the Houyhnhhnm people that he begins to understand the meanness of human nature, thus gaining self-awareness and gaining complexity and interiority. It is in Houyhnhnm that he realizes the incompetence of human nature. Gulliver states that he "had neither the strength nor the agility of an ordinary Yahoo" and "could neither run with speed, nor climb trees" and that "Yahoos were known to hate each other more than any other species of animals" (Swift 219). This memory causes Gulliver to fall from the high pedestal on which he sits in Lilliput to the lowest scum on Earth. It doesn't even have the practical features of a Yahoo that offers means of protection and functionality. Instead, he realizes humanity's capacity for destruction, attributing to humanity the ability to cause civil war. Gulliver's master further states that "There was nothing that made the Yahoos more odious, than their indiscriminate appetite to devour everything that came in their way", which shows the enormous need for humans to consume goods just for the sake of consumption (Swift 220) . Here Gulliver realizes his mediocrity, ignorance and materialism. Here he gains insights and can no longer.