Skip to content Skip to navigation
University of Warwick
  • Study
  • |
  • Research
  • |
  • Business
  • |
  • Alumni
  • |
  • News
  • |
  • About

University of Warwick
Publications service & WRAP

Highlight your research

  • WRAP
    • Home
    • Search WRAP
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse WRAP by Year
    • Browse WRAP by Subject
    • Browse WRAP by Department
    • Browse WRAP by Funder
    • Browse Theses by Department
  • Publications Service
    • Home
    • Search Publications Service
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse Publications service by Year
    • Browse Publications service by Subject
    • Browse Publications service by Department
    • Browse Publications service by Funder
  • Help & Advice
University of Warwick

The Library

  • Login
  • Admin

Speaking relatively: a history of incest and the family in eighteenth-century England

Tools
- Tools
+ Tools

Denbo, Seth J. (2001) Speaking relatively: a history of incest and the family in eighteenth-century England. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

[img] PDF
WRAP_THESIS_Denbo_2001.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer.

Download (18Mb)
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1377700~S9

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

Incest was not prohibited in eighteenth-century English society, or so the examination of statute law would lead one to think. This was not due to a lack of interest. In literary texts as varied as Moll Flanders, Horace Walpole's The Mysterious Mother and Henry Neville's The Isle of Pines, incest played crucial roles. Nevertheless, historians have either overlooked its significance its significance, or have assumed the universality of its prohibition. In fact, the eighteenth century had no concept of universal taboo, and the law did not specifically prohibit sexual relations within the nuclear family.

All of these factors: the lack of an idea of universal taboo, the complexity of the law, and its importance in literature are focuses of this thesis. This investigation of a hidden phenomenon has utilised a wide range of texts: imaginative productions; church and temporal court records; newspaper accounts; biblical commentary; and legal tracts. Unlike socially oriented studies of the family, all of these sources are read as produced texts in which incest provides a unique lens for viewing attitudes towards relationships between individual and collective identities. The mother who slept with her son, the father who raped his daughter, the brother and sister overcome by desire all contributed to the contemporary understanding of family life. The ability of incest to reveal underlying fault lines in ideas about authority, sexual relations and kinship ties makes it a promising topic.

The exploration of legal conceptions of incest examines contemporary prohibitions and their origin in biblical law. Intertwined with the legal discourse on the family were conceptions of natural law. The operation of the church law in the consistory courts and the temporal law in London's Old Bailey provides insight into the relationship between legal understandings and social practice.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Alternative Title: A history of incest and the family in eighteenth-century England
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Incest -- England -- History, Families -- England -- History, Domestic relations -- England -- History, Inheritance and succession -- England -- History, England -- Social conditions -- 18th century
Official Date: September 2001
Dates:
DateEvent
September 2001Submitted
Institution: University of Warwick
Theses Department: Department of History
Thesis Type: PhD
Publication Status: Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: Steedman, Carolyn
Format of File: pdf
Extent: 278 leaves
Language: eng

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

twitter

Email us: wrap@warwick.ac.uk
Contact Details
About Us