Law, Susan Carolyn (2011) Public roles and private lives : aristocratic adultery in late Georgian England. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the complex links between morality and leadership, by
using adultery as a window through which to reassess the position of the
aristocracy in late Georgian England. It analyses the construction and
performance of aristocratic roles, and illustrates how various literary
representations played an active part in manipulating public attitudes and
creating change. It charts ways in which narratives of adultery were exploited for
commercial and political motives, undermining the traditional basis of hereditary
power by questioning moral fitness to rule, and ultimately contributing to the
fundamental re-imagining of social structure expressed in the 1832 Reform Act.
The old ‘aristocratic political history’ is reassessed through the lens of new
cultural history by re-integrating literary evidence, to contribute new perspectives
on the social and cultural position of the aristocracy. A key argument is that
aristocratic roles were constructed over time through the interaction of successive
layers of performance in everyday life and literature. This theory is intended as a
fresh contribution to wider current debates on how readers interpret and respond
to texts, by exploring notions of representation, self-representation and the role
of literature in shaping both.
The two concepts underpinning this work are the notion of theatre as a
metaphor for life in which people enact a variety of roles, and the belief that
literature has an active influence on attitudes and behaviours. By focussing on
adultery as a social act, it investigates the consequences of infidelity for public
life, and its profound implications for the meaning of aristocracy sited within
overlapping public and private spheres. It questions stereotypes of aristocratic
vice popularised by commercial print culture, and compares these representations
with personal narratives. This thesis argues that stories of adultery are significant
cultural material artefacts which must be integrated with traditional social and
political histories, to provide a full understanding of the performative nature of
identity.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Aristocracy (Social class) -- England -- History -- 18th century, Aristocracy (Social class) -- England -- History -- 19th century, Adultery -- England -- History -- 18th century, Adultery -- England -- History -- 19th century, England -- Social life and customs -- 18th century, England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Official Date:	November 2011
Dates:	Date Event November 2011 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of History
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Steedman, Carolyn
Extent:	314 leaves
Language:	eng

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