Abstract: In Margaret Higonnet's view, the increasing popularity of “the spatial turn” provides richer material for contemporary Feminist criticism. What this entails is not only interlocking the physical, social, and political spaces, but also pushing the body to the front. Eva Stadler's analysis of the heroines' dress in the 18^th-century English novel cites what they wear as a distinction in separating and opening the spaces bewteen male and female, public and private. Defoe's Moll Flanders has been viewed as a novel that awoke women's consciousness with a dressing style, a reversal of gender roles, and a dismantlement of social hierarchies. In Pamela, Pamela's dress is a symbol of her social status, but it is closely tied to her body and writing as well. Judging from the contemporary Feminist criticism, all this not only shows the shifting characteristics of the class and gender spaces in the 18^th century, but also anticipates the prelude of modernity.

Key words: female body, spatial theory, Margaret Higonnet, Eva Maria Stadler