This is a comparative essay for the prose section of English Literature a level (edexcel). I recieved 38/40 for this essay. It is an indepth exploration of masculinity in DG and TLS. I went on to get an A* in english a level 2024, using this essay as a template for all my essays to come.
Compare the ways in which the writers of your two chosen texts present masculinity.
In both ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) and ‘The Little Stranger’ (2009), Wilde and
Waters criticise and subvert stereotypical masculinity. They don’t simply study ‘manhood’,
but also the inherited conceptions of acceptable ‘manly’ behaviour, and the social ideas
surrounding masculinity propagated by a patriarchal society. Through their studies of
masculinity, both authors enter into a discussion of power, strength and stoicism – required
masculine traits that men were expected to portray in both the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. However, in Waters’ novel, the aftermath of the Second World War greatly
affected this expectation as a result of PTSD. The concept of masculinity is key to both
novels: Waters’ novel itself is a story of masculine domination; the lack of female
representation in Wilde’s novel leads to a heavy focus on how male characters conform to
and defy traditional notions of masculinity. Wilde and Waters utilise and subvert masculine
stereotypes in their novels.
Wilde and Waters both subvert conventionally masculine stereotypes of the period. Whilst
Waters presents a young man, Roderick, consumed by PTSD and a sense of failure in the face
of societal expectations, Wilde presents Dorian as an effete male who makes no attempt to
conform to typical Victorian masculinity. Victorian gender roles had formed the ‘separate
spheres’ ideology, which rested on a definition of ‘natural’ characteristics of men and
women. Masculinity was defined by superior strength and intellect as well as respectability.
Wilde’s presentation of Dorian displays a complete lack of these features. When Dorian first
views his competed portrait, he has an unnecessarily melodramatic response: ‘The hot tears
welled into his eyes; he tore his hand away, and, flinging himself on the divan, he buried his
face in the cushions, as though he was praying.’ The use of verbs such as ‘tore’ and ‘flinging’
suggest an incredibly overdramatic reaction: there is no attempt at stoicism. This image
mirrors the well-known scene in Victorian literature of a woman lying prone, sobbing.
However, it is rare for a man to be described similarly – this associates Dorian with typically
effeminate actions. Wilde places an emphasis on Dorian’s youth and beauty, much like how
Roderick’s youth and ‘boyish’ features are highlighted by Faraday. Dorian is described by
Lord Henry to be ‘wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue
eyes, his crisp gold hair’. Lord Henry finds Dorian desirable partly because of his unspoilt
brain and extraordinary beauty, as a work of art would be attractive to Aesthetes. He has
features the ideal nineteenth-century woman would be described with – his ‘finely curved
scarlet lips’ seem seductive, and yet he is simultaneously pure. Wilde rejects the typical
portrayal of the dominant male protagonist prevalent in Victorian literature, such as John in
‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892) and therefore defies the
‘separate spheres’ ideology. Perhaps Wilde wrote Dorian’s effect character as a mirror of his
own rejection of typical masculine behaviour, seen in his dandyism and homosexuality,
which went against the notion of masculinity. These kinds of behaviour were perceived to
threaten the rigid Victorian structure and even to go against being fundamentally British.
Through Wilde’s own rejection of masculinity, he is able to realistically undermine traditional
masculinity through Dorian’s character.
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