The Instability of the Female Quixote In “The Female Quixote,” the whimsical nature of the narrative is not just a barrier to social acceptance, but an absurdity. Following popular notions of the time, fiction is presented as a diversion and indulgence that cannot be reconciled with reality and threatens the reader's perception of real experience. The theme is common, as is evident from the basis of this novel, Cervantes' “Don Quixote” and other works such as Jane Austen's “Northanger Abbey”. The story is a series of examples of what not to do, serving as both a cautionary tale and a guide to conduct. But there is a fundamental instability in the work that results from the opposition between the morality and the means by which it is presented. The intention of the work is to represent the mistake of confusing fiction with reality, but it does so through fiction. The reader is expected to believe in the validity of the moral of the story, which does not mean believing in the stories. A work that denies its own foundation cannot work, and this remains true of “The Female Quixote.” But this contradiction can only exist if there is clearly an instructive message within it. In this novel we are not talking about the negative influence of novels, but only about how ridiculous it makes the main character, Arabella, seem. And how irrational is that? For the vast majority of the plot, she believes she is living in a classic romance novel rather than 18th-century Britain. She confuses the true intentions of nearly every character she encounters, transposing their equivalents in courtship stories such as Cassandra, Cleopatra, Artamenes, and Clelia into their real selves. Because it has no aesthetic distance from romance novels and sees the motivation... the center of the paper... the other level of "The Female Quixote", contradictory. When purpose rejects the foundation on which it is built, the entire structure is destined to collapse. Therefore, as entertaining as the work may be, it essentially fails by denying its own existence. Works Cited Lennox, Charlotte. Ed. Margherita Dalziel. "The Female Quixote or The Adventures of Arabella." Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1989. Merleau-Ponty, M. Trans. Colin Smith. “Phenomenology of perception”. Routledge & Kegan Paul: London, 1962. Sawicki, Marianne. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. “Edmund Husserl (1859-1938).”1996. Stewart, David and Algis Mickunas. “Exploring Phenomenology: A Guide to the Field and Its Literature.” American Library Association: Chicago, 1974.