Forms Of Sexual Hypocrisy In George Eliot's Middlemarch

“Just Treatment of Licentious Men. Addressed to Christian Mothers, Wives, Sisters, and Daughters” was one of many articles included in the first printing of the newspaper Friend of Virtue in 1838. The group behind the newspaper was the Boston Female Moral Reform Society (later to be changed to New England Female Moral Reform Society), made up of white women who were set on promoting sexual abstinence, and ridding society of promiscuity, prostitution, and in the process eliminating the sexual double standard. The article, written by a woman known only as L.T.Y., questioned the logic behind the treatment given to men and women who’ve had relations outside of marriage. For men the behavior was ignored- perhaps even expected, but women were cast

Ever since the beginning of time, love has played an enormous role among humans. Everyone feels a need to love and to be loved. Some attempt to fill this yearning with activities and possessions that will not satisfy – with activities in which they should not participate and possessions they should not own. In Andrew Marvell’s poem, “To His Coy Mistress,” the speaker encounters an emotion some would call love but fits better under the designation of lust for a woman. In contrast, the speaker of Robert Herrick’s poem, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” urges virgins to marry, to make a lasting commitment in which love plays a

In this century, the 3 categories of classes couldn’t be more different and separated. The upper class enjoyed leisure, operas, balls and everything what had to do something with luxury and what none of the lower classes could afford. Aristocracy was well known by their morals and etiquette in the Victorian ages. The Victorian Aristocratic views on morals were extinguished which was even prudish. Prudery went as far as sexuality was a taboo, human body must have been covered and talking about body was inappropriate. In the Victorian Era society started to have different values in morality. Upper class people had low tolerance for sexuality and crimes, and isolated from any of the lower class members. Thus sexuality, especially prostitution was not acceptable and eminently discriminates in the Victorian high society.

The introduction of Alan Hunt’s Governing Morals: A Social History of Moral Regulation presents an overview of the many theoretical debates and resources spawned by the concept of ‘moral regulation’ – an ideology prevalent in the 1980’s which can be defined as a practice of governing in order to focus attention on social actions which attempts to influence the conduct of human agents. Through Hunt’s introduction case studies are utilized in paving the path for his discussion on moral regulation examining three British studies fluctuating from the Society for the Reformation of Manners which was active around the 1700’s, to Victorian aged sexual panics which allows for significant insight on early moral regulation projects. Although Hunt discusses multiple contentious issues on the concept of moral regulation, an isolation of some fundamental points in his

“These scholars note that Victorians often bowed to conformity, concealing their true natures and tastes and pretending to adhere to social norms. Some Victorians passed themselves off as more pious or moral than they really were. But in reality, pornographic literature and prostitution were common phenomena during the late nineteenth century, showing that some Victorians only pretended to lead chaste lives.”(Joyce Moss)

In Middlemarch, George Eliot utilizes several literary devices to portray her two characters and their complex relationship that reveals their marriage is dominated by the husband who objectifies his wife into silence. Throughout the passage, Eliot makes it clear that Rosamond and Tertius Lydgate are in an uneven relationship, considering Tertius refuses to listen to his wife who seems to only have his best interest at heart, yet still, he continues to yell at her for thinking she knows what is best for him. With the help of details, Tertius’s critical tone, and imagery, Eliot is able to showcase how complex their relationship is when it comes to Rosamond giving her opinions and ideas, just to be casted to the side.

In The Introduction to the History of Sexuality, Foucault explains how during the 19th century with the raise of new societies, the discourse or knowledge about sex was not confronted with repulsion but it “put into operation an entire machinery for producing true discourses concerning sex” (Foucault 69). In fact, this spreading of discourse on sexuality itself gives a clear account of how sexuality has been controlled and confined because it was determined in a certain kind of knowledge that carries power within it. Foucault reflects on the general working hypothesis or “repressive hypothesis,” and how this has exercised power to suppress people’s sexuality. It has power on deciding what is normal or abnormal and ethical or unethical

By looking through a critical lens at T Stearns Eliot’s poetry in light of his 20th century, modernist context, much is revealed about his personal and the rapidly evolving societal beliefs of that era. Through his repeating motif of time and fragmentation throughout his poems, Eliot reveals the prevalent feelings of isolation while in society along with the need to hide one’s feelings and emotions in this degrading society. His exploration of the use of ambiguity and stream of consciousness by Eliot, which is a characteristic of modernist artists, allows his work to resound over decades while being interpreted and differently understood by every audience that encounters them.

"A man who kissed or embraced an intimate male friend in bed did not worry about homosexual impulses because he did not assume that he had them. In the Victorian language of touch, a kiss or an embrace was a pure gesture of deep affection at least as much as it was an act of sexual expression,"

Known as the Two Sex theory, devised by historian Thomas Laqueur, female sexuality would be characterized purely by a woman’s reproductive potential, where the concept of an innate maternal instinct would become the new prioritized ideal. The female orgasm was renounced by a new essence of masculine superiority. This notion can be asserted with the Phallocentric inclination of the late 18th century, examined by historian Tim Hitchcock, as period characterized by penetration and precedence of the phallus. This “both encouraged and made possible the denigration of female sexuality and perceived passivity.” Consequently this caused the de-emphasis of female sexual pleasure and desire. However, female sexual identity would reemerge with potency, attributed to social flux, the emerging field of sexology and disposition of the interwar years.

Throughout history, definitions of sexuality within a culture are created and then changed time after time. During these changes, we have seen the impact and power one individual or group can have over others. In the Late Nineteenth Century into the Early Twentieth Century, we see multiple groups of people and or authorities taking control over the idea of sex and how they believe society is being impacted by sex. At this point in time, society had groups of people who believed they had the power to control how society as whole viewed and acted upon sex. Those particular groups and ideas changed many lives and the overall definition of sexuality within that culture.

George Elliot in his novel “Middlemarch”, makes effective use of literary devices such as biblical allusion and imagery when regarding Miss Brooke to show the narrators attitude of admiration towards her which then turns to pity, conveying Miss Brooke's fall from a heavenly stance. Dorothea’s detailed description is made vivid by the use of biblical allusions and imagery. Elliot writes about Dorothea’s beauty compared to the beauty “in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Italian painters;” (lines 4-5). The Virgin Mary is a saint; therefore, by comparing Dorothea to a saint, it shows that she is perfect in the eyes of the narrator. Elliot continues the Biblical allusions in lines 5-8 talking about the effect provincial fashion has on her and

The twentieth-century tendency to view human love and sexuality within a dichotomized universe of deviance and normality, genitality and platonic love, is alien to the emotions and attitudes of the nineteenth century and fundamentally distorts the nature of

Theodore Dalrymple, in the essay “All Sex, All the Time” reflects on the change of view of the people about sex and how it has lead people into more confusion and conflict than before. Dalrymple’s real name being Anthony Daniels, he picked up the pseudonym of Theodore Dalrymple for the purpose of his essays. There were times when virginity was a pride to men and women. However, it still prevails in some countries, this custom and the people have been changing. He states that the world is now free to enjoy sexual pleasures without any fear of the myths and taboos that existed in history. Although people feel that they are satisfied and are free to choose this path of life, sex has lead people into “confusion, contradiction, and conflict” states Dalrymple (Dalrymple 1).

Victorian period was a distinct period in history that is marked for being an Age of Faith where the old traditions and cultures had renewed emphasis on everyday life. However, it was also a period of economic prosperity that resulted in the growth of industrialization and science. The scientific theories such as Evolution and “Higher Criticism”, which was a scientific study of the Bible, resulted in the Victorian period also being classified as “Age of Doubt” which brought gradual collapse of longstanding religious beliefs. This complex relationship of Victorian period being both the Age of Faith and Doubt