Wednesday 19 December 2012

The Representation of Children in 'Jude the Obscure' by Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), was always compassionate in his treatment of the ‘little man’. His exploration of the issues of class and gender inequalities are one of the things for which his writing is best known and in this novel it was the representation of the behaviour and treatment of children which caught my attention the most. From the novel’s opening chapters documenting Jude’s childhood, right through to the end with events concerning Jude’s own children, Hardy paints a picture of a society which regarded children as sinful and burdensome, while the children themselves are naïve and often delusional. Without giving too much away, events regarding Jude’s children are what give the novel a shocking edge and I must admit, this novel stayed with me for a long time afterwards and still makes me feel quite disconcerted when I think of it. Hardy’s final novel, Jude the Obscure has many themes to explore, as well as many musings on morality and society of the time, but it is the representation of children and how this relates to other works of the era that interests me here.

Jude Fawley as a child is intelligent and full of dreams. Hardy presents his occasional slacking with sympathy and describes the ill-treatment he suffers with humour and compassion. Take the following passage, a perfect example of Hardy’s sense of irony. After feeding the birds he is supposed to be scaring away, Jude is attacked by Farmer Troutham, for whom he has been working: “the blanks of the instrument [used to assault Jude]… echoing from the brand-new church tower… the farmer had subscribed to testify his love of God and man.” – p.11. Clearly, the farmer’s love of man does not extend to children, nor does his love of God extend to any particularly Christian behaviour. It is interesting that some of the first adult characters to whom we are introduced (Jude’s Aunt Drusilla, Farmer Throutham, Physician Vilbert) are all at best indifferent to children and at worst physically or emotionally violent towards them.
Jude himself is fairly one-dimensional, shown to be simply ‘good’.It is extremely poignant that Jude thinks, “if only he could prevent himself growing up! He did not want to be a man”. Growing up, discovering the evil of the word, losing sight of one’s aspirations (no matter how unrealistic they are) is profoundly sad and Hardy, ever cheery, leads us to question which is preferable: experiencing some degree of innocent optimism before adulthood snatches it away, or never having to undergo the crippling disappointment, as is the case with Jude’s younger children.

Jude’s son, Old Man Time, was never even given a proper name as a child, a fact which ties in with the concept that children are nothing but a burden; anonymous, numerous and perhaps even interchangeable with one another. A character created at a time when childhood mortality was still very high, Old Man Time is a fairly grotesque figure, full of contradictions. Young but cynical, impulsive and naïve but also haunted, Old Man Time does possess a child-like desire to be a part of Jude’s family with Sue, to please and be of use. A more depressing or depressed child, however, has never been conjured in literature before, one example being when he says, “I should like the flowers very much, if I didn’t keep on thinking they’d be all withered in a few days”. – p.262. Ultimately, this child of contradictions cannot function within the world he occupies; he feels too keenly as children do, but has the capacity of an adult to take cold action. Hardy has presented us, then, with a character that is practically unviable as a person, much like the relationship between Jude and Sue. He is a boy who should never have been born, unwanted as he was, and it is very little wonder that he believes himself and his siblings to be burdens. In fact, Victorian attitudes to children followed a similar line of thinking; think back to the old adage that children must be ‘seen but not heard’.

Another avenue explored in Jude the Obscure is delusions; more specifically, the delusions of children. Jude’s educational aspirations, fired up by a child’s tendency towards obsession, are a continued theme throughout the novel. We see how Jude’s continued childlikeness keeps the hope alive and that as he matures the futility of this hope becomes apparent. The terrible action of Old Man Time is triggered by another form of delusion, the ultimate worthlessness of a child’s life, although given the context of the times, it is possible that it is far from a delusion. This is shown starkly when he expresses “that whenever children be born that are not wanted they should be killed directly, before their souls come to ‘em and not allowed to grow big and walk about!” –p.296. This terrible statement may be disguised by the child’s use of language, but the world-weariness is there. However, it could be noted that while Jude’s aspirations are borne from a naivety that continues well into adulthood, Old Man Time’s despair comes from an awareness of human nature and society far beyond his years.

Hardy presents an ironic and subversively critical glimpse of Victorian attitudes to children and childhood and at time this reminded me very much of the novels of Charles Dickens. Adults’ treatment of children, the idea that children were ‘little adults’ and the sad reality of poverty, overcrowding and mortality are all concepts explored within this novel in a touching and sometimes shocking way. In fact, the final chapters contrasted quite sharply, I felt, with the earlier part of the novel; we are awoken abruptly from the meandering and sometimes word-heavy narrative by a graphic and horrifying conclusion. That is all I will say for now, because I have tried very hard to avoid giving away any spoilers. I was very unfortunate in that I read far too much background research regarding this novel and totally spoilt it for myself! Definitely give this one a go – it’s thoroughly worth wading through. Thomas Hardy is one is my favourite novelists and I am looking forward to reading The Return of the Native soon for my book club.

My next post will be the long-awaited comment on War and Peace, focusing on the presentation of parent-child relationships. As always, feel free to leave a comment or drop me an e-mail. And thanks for reading!

-       K

Thursday 13 December 2012

Major Project - The Representation of Jews in English Literature, 1380-1945 (For publication circa June 2013)

Hello all,

Just a quick update to say that I am currently embarking upon a major project, based around the representation of Jews in English Literature from 1380 to 1945. The primary texts I have decided to focus on are:
- The Prioress' Tale (From The Canterbury Tales) by Geoffrey Chaucer
- The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe
- The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
- Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
- Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

In addition to these, I will obviously be using a wealth of secondary material. Anybody with any suggestions regarding this should feel free to contact me, either by e-mail (greeninliterature@gmail.com), via twitter (@00KVortex) or through the comments on this page. 

I expect to be able to present this project, probably broken into three parts, around June 2013. I'm aware that this is fairly far in advance, but I anticipate that it will be worth the wait!

In the meantime, don't forget to check back next week when I post 'The Representation of Children in Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy'.

Thanks,

- K

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Questioning Definitions of Masculinity and Femininity in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'

‘The repetition in a woman’s ear would murder as it fell’

 Macbeth is one of my favourite plays by William Shakespeare. One of the things I noticed upon first tackling this play was the presence of issues surrounding gender and sex; what expectations characters had in this regard and also how they met those expectations. Of all the characters in the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth provide the greatest opportunities for analysis through this lens, although the other characters also have roles and characteristics which either strengthen or draw attention to the gender ambiguity of the Macbeths, or make comment themselves on the nature of gender. The following passage, which comes from the Duncan’s Corpse by Susan Zimmerman, an essay found in A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare, helps greatly to illustrate this point:
‘If signification is structured by means of concepts that safely situate phenomena in categories – male/ female, sacramental/ diabolic, familiar/ alien – then Macbeth is about the tenuousness of these distinctions and the psychic and social horror that ensues when they collapse.’
The emasculation of Macbeth, due in part to his own failings and also a result, to some extent, of Lady Macbeth’s treatment of him is an important element of this theme. Masculinity in Macbeth is closely entwined with violence and ambition. Lady Macbeth accuses her husband of being, “too full o’th’ milk of human kindness” – in other words, that he is too woman-like to kill Duncan. Macbeth argues against the murder, not because it is fundamentally wrong, but instead because things are going well for him, as when he says, “We will proceed no further in this business;/ he [Duncan] hath honoured me of late and I have bought/ golden opinions from all sorts of people…”. Macbeth’s inflated sense of ambition could be said to stem from a sense of inadequacy, considering the level of success he already enjoys. He is not ‘his own man’, instead he is weak, selfish, easily manipulated and quick to fixate. Macbeth is easily manipulated by his wife; she preys upon his sense of masculinity, something which is made even more painful by her own lack of traditional femininity. Even when Macbeth is finally able to commit the act of murder, he finds himself breaking down and being unable to complete the cover-up. It falls, then to his wife to protect the couple from suspicion, meaning that again Macbeth has failed to assert himself in a ‘gender-appropriate’ way. Even the first notion of becoming king is planted in Macbeth’s mind by females, although the witches, too, have traditionally masculine appearances which confuse him, evident when she says, “You should be women/ and yet your beards forbid me to interpret/ that you are so.” The role of women in the play is perhaps even more fascinating.

Lady Macbeth is a woman of extreme character and force. Possessed by ambition, she controls, bullies and manipulates her husband, only at the end of the play discovering that even she is human and unable to escape human guilt. In fact, she actually displays a shocking degree of flippancy following the murder, believing that, “A little water clears us of this deed”. When the curtain of guilt finally falls across Lady Macbeth, it manifests itself in a form of madness, which is only evident through sleepwalking and constant hand washing, as though she is unable to properly feel and acknowledge what she has does while conscious. Not only does Lady Macbeth lack the traditional feminine ways but she also rebels against them. Rejecting her femininity, she says, “Come, you spirits/ that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood;/ stop up the access and passage to remorse,/ that no compunctious visitings of nature/ shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between/ the effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,/ and take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,/ wherever in your sightless substances/ you wait on nature’s mischief!” This passage is very fascinating; not least because of the assertion that Lady Macbeth makes that violence is incompatible with femininity. She calls upon the ‘spirits’ to ‘unsex’ her – to remove her female characteristics and replace them with cruelty. She asks that her breasts’ milk be replaced with gall, or poison, and that she no longer experiences the ‘visitings of nature’ (menstruation). This idea that it is impossible to be both cruel and female is interesting, especially when examined alongside the character of Macbeth. It is unbelievably ironic, considering the role played by Lady Macbeth in the murder of Duncan, that when the crime is discovered MacDuff is reluctant to speak of it in front of Lady Macbeth, stating that, “the repetition in a woman’s ear/ would murder as it fell”. This again comes back to the traditional idea that a woman is submissive, fragile and must be protected from the cruelty and evil of men. None of this is true of Lady Macbeth.

 I personally felt a degree of sympathy with Lady Macbeth. It is true, of course, that she is cold and perhaps even slightly psychopathic. She tells Macbeth that if he has committed to the murder of Duncan then he must carry it out and that she has”…given suck and know/ how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me -/ I would, while it was smiling in my face,/ have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums/ and dash’d the brains out had I so sworn as you/ have done to this”. How horrific! To say that she has herself experienced motherhood and loved her child, she would still easily murder it is shocking and I believe that our culture would view it as the worst possible crime. Lady Macbeth is far from good, and she is certainly not someone with whom it is easily possible to sympathise. However, it is important to note that in the context of the era a woman was profoundly trapped in a patriarchal society, which allowed them no life or ambition of their own. That Lady Macbeth must be so cold and lacking in humanity in order to achieve her own agenda is sad but perhaps understandable.

The contrast between the characters of Macbeth and MacDuff is very interesting. MacDuff, upon discovering the murder of his family, is told my Malcolm that he must he manly and not dwell upon it. To this he replies, “I shall do so,/ but I must also feel it as a man”. Thus, to experience emotion is to be embody the true meaning of masculinity. I believe that it is this that we must take from the play, as ultimately Macbeth is defeated and MacDuff prevails. Macbeth’s weakness and ability to be manipulated by women is juxtaposed with MacDuff’s triumph, bravery, goodness and power to feel.

 I found this to be the most difficult post to write so far. Perhaps this is because it is on a Shakespeare play, and the pressure is high, or perhaps it comes from basing the post on notes made months ago. Either way, I would be interested to hear what you all think, because my stats tell me that I actually have a fair few followers!

Next week’s post will be ‘The Representation of Children in Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy’. Following that will hopefully be on Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

Thanks for reading,

 - K

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Corruption and Influence in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde


I have actually read The Picture of Dorian Gray before, but it was about eight or nine years ago, so it was interesting to see it from a more adult perspective. Many readings of The Picture of Dorian Gray tend to focus on a homosexual angle, analysing the relationship between characters with a deliberate nod to the life and experiences of Oscar Wilde himself. I would argue, however, that in doing so, one could easily miss several other very valuable points and observations that this novel has to offer. In addition, Wilde himself argued strongly for a separation between art and the artist, as well as between art and morals. With this in mind, I would like to look at The Picture of Dorian Gray from a slightly different standpoint, namely, to what extent are art and people able to be corrupting influences and also, whose responsibility is it to avoid such corruption.

The preface Wilde wrote for the book edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray (it was first published in a magazine and faced criticism for its contents) is actually very famous in and of itself. In it, Wilde argues against any attempt to find himself within the novel, stating that ‘to reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim’. In fact, it is interesting that it is only when it comes to forms of sexual ‘un-normalness’ that authors and their works are attacked as one and the same. One could, for example, think of Lolita and the view of Nabokov held by poorly informed readers, that in some way he himself must be a pervert; how else could he write so convincingly? I believe that this is a trap fallen into by many readers of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Of course, the novel does have a homosexual element, but it is in my opinion a very minor one. Originally, it may have been a more important theme but after substantial editing of this element (in his trial, Wilde admitted cutting passages that may have had more overt homosexual overtones), this is a lesser theme.

Oscar Wilde’s 1895 trial involved a fairly long cross-examination of Wilde, on the topic of The Picture of Dorian Gray, which had first been published five years earlier. The notes that I have made on the trial come from Irish Peacock and Scarlet Marquess by Wilde’s grandson, Merlin Holland. Upon discussing the novel, Edward Carson (the prosecutor), asked Wilde, “A well-written book putting forth sodimitical views might be a good book?” to which Wilde replied, “No work of art ever puts forward views of any kind.” This observation is important when looking at what becomes of the character of Dorian Gray in the novel. Two ‘works of art’ are central to events in Gray’s life; one is, obviously, the painting, the other is the unknown book detailing the life and misadventures of the young Parisian. Firstly, let us look at the portrait itself. I would be inclined to argue that it has no corruptive power. Its ability to allow Dorian his sins and vices with greater ease comes from Dorian’s own wish; in other words, Dorian had the desires before, the portrait only assists him. The portrait itself is not a corrupting influence – Dorian was already well on his way. When it comes to the unnamed book, one could first of all comment that the book is given to Dorian by Lord Henry, so it is he, perhaps, who is to blame for its apparent influence over Dorian. In addition, ‘for years, Dorian Gray could not free himself from the influence of this book. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he never sought to free himself from it.’ – p.102 When we are told that ‘Dorian Gray had been poisoned by a book’ – p.116, it is important to note that this was done willingly. Dorian was utterly fascinated by its contents. The idea of a work of art corrupting a human being is ridiculous and this was the position held by Oscar Wilde.

When it comes to some characters’ influence of, and responsibility towards, others, there is plenty to say. Even Mrs Vane has a responsibility towards her daughter Sybil, and her failure as a mother reminded me of Dickens, in particular the character of Mrs Nickleby in Nicholas Nickleby – too self-absorbed and self-concerned to notice the troubles of their offspring. Basil has responsibility towards Dorian only in the sense that he is older and they are friends. It is clear that we are looking at Dorian’s feelings on the matter when it is stated that ‘Basil could have saved him. But it was too late now’ –p.96 Indeed, what could poor love-struck Basil ever have done? Dorian was, I believe, doomed from his first meeting with Lord Henry and perhaps even from birth; not everyone is so easily corrupted, nor so easily becomes a corrupter. Lord Henry’s influence over (but I believe by no means corruption of) Dorian is an interesting topic. On page 18, Lord Henry says that “There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr Gray. All influence is immoral – immoral from a scientific point of view. Because to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul… His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed”. From this, one is led to question whether Lord Henry even believes he has the ability to truly corrupt Dorian. His influence, I believe, is limited as Dorian easily outstrips Lord Henry’s depths of deprivation. His experiences are also more limited, something evident when he tells Dorian, “Someone has killed themselves for love of you. I wish that I had ever had such an experience.” –p.82. Lord Henry is simply words, while Dorian takes the sentiments in the words all the way to actions. Lord Henry could perhaps be seen as a trigger,  as for example ‘that curiosity which Lord Henry had first stirred in [Dorian]…” –p.103. Ultimately, however, this trigger could have been anything – Dorian’s beauty and eventual obsession with maintaining it, would always have caught him in the end.

One thing which struck me in the reading of this novel is the possibility that it may have been intended to be satirical. On the one hand, Wilde stated in his trial that a novel cannot exactly have an angle, but he also sought to remove himself from his work, making any opinions he held almost irrelevant. Thus, he is of little use to us! Throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray, the protagonist finds numerous ways to distance himself from his wrong-doings, most obviously in his relationship with his portrait, but also in other ways. He blames others for his behaviour and corruption, even going so far as to implicitly blame Basil. Even after events with Sybil, he somehow finds ways to distance himself from any blame. I read that Wilde believed Lord Henry to be what the public believed Wilde himself to be. From here I think it is possible to infer that the entire concept of one person corrupting anybody else, let along someone so emotionally damaged as Dorian (with regards to his relationship with his Grandfather), is entirely absurd.

Perhaps my reading of The Picture of Dorian Gray is a little unusual – it is certainly flawed. I found it a somewhat difficult novel, as though I couldn’t quite get to the ‘truth’ of it. I enjoyed it, I think, and there is definitely a lot to say about it but it was also challenging.

I have noticed in my stats that I have a very wide variety of readers (I have a surprisingly high number of readers in Israel!). I would just like to thank you all for reading, and encourage you to e-mail me, or leave a comment, especially if you have any constructive criticism.

The next post will be written based on notes I have made in the past, starting with a gender-based exploration of themes in Macbeth by William Shakespeare. It’ll be my first foray into writing about Shakespeare since school, so feel free to take a look!
Anyway, as always thank you for reading!

-      K