Victorian Men

I realized I have discussed some of the gender issues for Victorian women in The Moonstone, but there are also issues for the men.

The two young cousins Franklin Blake and Godfrey Ablewhite are typical of upper middle class men. Franklin we are told has spent through the money he inherited from his mother and has debts but he also has expectations from his father. He has been educated abroad because of his father's eccentricity but it is also clear that his education is the more bohemian of the two cosuins. He describes living with an artist in Italy and learning the decorative painting and creating the medium for paint while being there. His opinions at dinner are also more Bohemian. Even his facial hair would be considered Bohemian. (I have to admit that when I came to watch rehearsal and the actor playing Franklin Blake had a beard I was delighted both because it is how he is described in the novel and it is so appropriate to the character.) Even the cigars that Franklin smokes are considered gentlemanly while the clay pipe smoked by Betteredge would denote a servant.

In fact, Collins and a friend grew beards in advance of a trip to the continent because they thought they it would help them blend in. Blake's study of art is not unlike a trip Collins took to the continent with his painter father and the rest of the family when he was a teenager.

His cousin Godfrey is in similar but a slightly less advantageous situation. His father is more self-made and runs the bank in Frizinghall. He speaks of affording his "little lodging" and "two coats a year." He is a Barrister and active in religious and social organizations his ladies groups. In early drafts it is clear that Collins considered making Ablewhite a clergyman perhaps involved in reformatories like the one to which Rosanna Spearman was sent. Some critics believe Dickens may have asked him to "defrock" the clergyman before the story went to print.

Blake and Ablewhite present two competing ideas of masculinity in the era and yet both are still could be somewhat standard Victorian men.

Marriage for both men had certain challenges. The Victorian upper classes had certain expectations about the standard of living necessary to support a wife. Both are eligible bachelors but if Blake were disinherited his situation would become more problematic. Ablewhite would need to marry a woman of sufficient income to aid his own

contributions.

Another model of the Victorian male is the traveler and adventurer Mr. Murthwaite. Valued for his cache as a guest with exotic stories at social gatherings Murthwaite is valued both for his adventures and by his desirablity as a guest. The most celebrated Victorian traveler was Sir Richard Burton (pictured at left) although Collins never met him. He did know Sir Austin "Layard if Ninevah" and asked his friend John Wyllie, who had recently from India for details.

The other male characters are professionals. Mr Bruff who is the family solicitor, Mr. Candy the family Doctor who would have been respected men and intimates of the family.

These shifting categories become less clear when we get to Sergeant Cuff (also discussed in another post) who would have risen to prominence likely out of the working classes. His presence in the home would denote a scandal so in spite of his successes he would not have been a welcome guest.

Mr. Ezra Jennings has a similar lot. He should be a respectable member of the professional classes but the rumors that have plagued him and his appearance with the implications of gypsy blood and foreignness have made him a questionable figure.

Mr. Septimus Luker is a money lender. (His name puns on lucre from the Latin word for money but generally with connotations of money that has been ill gained.) Luker, who like all money lenders, makes his money by lending money to those in dire situations with a pledge of a valuable that he may get to keep if they can not repay the amount with a high rate of interest in a set period of time. He would certainly not have been admitted into polite society but would have been made use of both by fences and thieves and the upper classes who may have wanted a discrete way to acquire funds.