THE UNIVERSITY of HULL „Tender and True
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL „Tender and True‟: Morality and Masculinity in Nineteenth-Century Women‟s Fiction being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Hull by Karen Jane Turner, BA Hons (University of Surrey), MA, PGCE September 2015 „Tender and True‟: Morality and Masculinity in Nineteenth-Century Women‟s Fiction Abstract In 1883 Eliza Lynn Linton described the men in women‟s fiction as „prigs, ruffians, or curled darlings‟, claiming that women writers cannot portray morally good men in fiction without making them seem unrealistic, unattractive, or both. This thesis argues that nineteenth-century women writers not only understood male goodness, but also that they sought to modify and subvert contemporary models of masculinity by positioning good men at the heart of domestic and public narrative. Masculine goodness is traced in texts from Jane Austen to Mary Ward with a view to understanding the ways in which good men are imagined and portrayed in nineteenth-century fiction. Critical reassessment of some canonical texts reveals that good men function as new ideological representations of nineteenth-century masculinity. By examining non-fictional texts, philosophical, and theoretical works alongside selected works of fiction, I contextualise the socio-historical importance of masculine moral goodness and its development between 1813 and 1889. The work of Adam Smith, Samuel Smiles and selected modern philosophers helps to illuminate some of the issues raised, and the work of contemporary masculinity theorist Victor Seidler also shows that women writers often anticipated modern analyses of masculinities. My interpretation of selected fictional texts leads to the identification and evaluation of the phenomenon that I have called „moral masculinity‟, which qualitatively differs from existing notions of nineteenth-century cultural maleness. I demonstrate that the manifestation of male goodness changes according to current cultural and social norms: the good man is not necessarily „manly‟, nor is he always a hero. Rather, moral masculinity is an act of will and character, involving duty, conscience and self-scrutiny; and yet it is subject to deep anxieties and uncertainties as the good man negotiates moral terrains. ii Acknowledgements I am grateful to the many people who made the continuation and completion of this study possible. It has been my very good fortune and privilege to have received the guidance of two estimable supervisors throughout my period of study. I sincerely thank Professor Valerie Sanders for her untiring support, enthusiasm and insightful commentary that encouraged many new ideas. My grateful thanks are due to Dr Jane Thomas for drawing my attention to unfamiliar texts, and for giving sound advice on the presentation of arguments and methodologies. I am grateful to both for caring about my work, and for their participation in some engaging discussions, all of which resulted in my ability to see more clearly the way ahead. I sincerely thank the Department of English at the University of Hull for very kindly granting part-fees scholarships. I am also indebted to Funds for Women Graduates and to the Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust for their kind and generous help towards fees and living costs. Without this financial support I would have been unable to complete this study. For personal and moral support, and for further financial help, my profound love and thanks are due to my husband, Mark Gough, and to my mother, Victoria Beamish. Administrative and academic staff in the English Department at the University of Hull have been a valuable source of support and motivation throughout my study, and I am grateful to the postgraduate research community for the interest shown in my emerging work. iii Contents Introduction 1 Women Writers and Women‟s Men ............................................................ 2 Feminism, Masculinity and Gender Performativity .................................... 6 Philosophical Approaches ........................................................................... 11 Character ..................................................................................................... 17 Contexts ...................................................................................................... 21 Scope and Content ...................................................................................... 26 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 32 1. “Be a Good Boy and Read This”: Learning to Become a Good Man 35 Good Companions ..................................................................................... 42 Work and Idleness ..................................................................................... 47 Moral Educators ......................................................................................... 51 Goodness .................................................................................................... 60 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 65 2. „Kind Authority‟: Jane Austen‟s Good Men 69 Adam Smith on Goodness .......................................................................... 76 Self Scrutiny ............................................................................................... 87 Self and Others ........................................................................................... 91 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 99 3. Acting Rightly: St John Rivers and Thurstan Benson 105 Women‟s Men, Clergymen, and Acting Rightly ........................................ 109 Goodness and Moral Conflict ..................................................................... 113 Morality and the Divided Self ..................................................................... 118 Speech, Silence, and Masculinity ................................................................ 123 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 131 4. „Awful Perfection‟: John Halifax, Gentleman and The Heir of Redclyffe 141 Men, Gentlemen, and Morality ................................................................... 146 Character and Self-Control .......................................................................... 153 Heroism, Altruism, and Morality ................................................................ 159 Familial Sympathy ...................................................................................... 165 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 173 5. „A Man Waiting to Happen‟: George Eliot‟s Daniel Deronda 177 Hidden History and the Unself .................................................................... 183 Altruism and Intervention ............................................................................ 188 Detachment and „Attention‟ ........................................................................ 194 Self and Others ............................................................................................ 198 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 205 iv 6. „The New Morality‟: Robert Elsmere and In Darkest London 209 Religion and Morality ................................................................................. 213 Alternative Masculinities ............................................................................ 219 Knowledge and Conscience ........................................................................ 224 Transition and Resolution ........................................................................... 231 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 235 Conclusion: A Good Man: Towards a Definition of Moral Masculinity 237 A Widening Sphere .................................................................................... 238 Frailty and Sacrifice ................................................................................... 241 Problems and Paradoxes ............................................................................. 245 Beyond Moral Masculinity ......................................................................... 246 Bibliography Primary Sources ......................................................................................... 251 Secondary Sources ..................................................................................... 259 Other Sources ............................................................................................. 273 v Introduction „I would take Chaucer, and show you why he wrote a Legend of Good Women; but no Legend of Good Men.‟1 When Jane Eyre grows „pliant as a reed‟ under St John Rivers‟s kindness, she muses that gentleness is „far more potent... than force‟ (Brontë, 1999: 357). Rivers has previously attempted, without success, to manipulate and coerce Jane into matrimony. When he suddenly ceases to exert force, he reveals his capacity for an alternative masculinity that temporarily rejects the need for oppression and instead expresses itself in a more passive goodness and gentleness. This sudden absence of endeavour illustrates one of the paradoxes of goodness: though ultimately „more potent‟ than