The “Secret Lady” of the South Sea Bubble: Honor, Uncertainty, and the Incognita Plot

This article compares The Conscious Lovers and Fantomina, arguing that Steele and Haywood each use the incognita—the woman of unknown origins and worth—to examine new ideas about what constituted an honorable approach to risk after the South Sea Bubble. Unlike Steele, who affirms the emerging ethical model by rewarding his protagonist for taking a risk on the incognita, Haywood uses this figure to illustrate the human costs this new model does not acknowledge—and so, for contemporary critics, comparing these plots can illuminate both the ethical conditions and unseen costs we have inherited along with this economic order.