The Victorian Gentleman Dandified: Aspects of Dandyism in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House and A Tale of Two Cities
The Victorian Gentleman Dandified: Aspects of Dandyism in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House and A Tale of Two Cities

Summary/Abstract: The concept of masculinity as a cultural historical construction cannot be seen as monolithic but rather as a synthesis of various, often contradictory, aspects. Victorian masculinity is often identified with certain formations of the masculine, for example, muscular Christianity or bourgeois paternalism, which have contributed to the understanding of the concept of the Victorian gentleman. Such stereotypes dominated by Thomas Carlyle’s ascetic heroism as the epitome of Victorian manhood are associated with a rather limited set of images. Yet the discussion of Victorian manhood only in terms of rigorous self-discipline, self-restraint and simple dignity might lead us to sweeping generalizations about the notion itself. The complexity of the “Condition of Manliness question” in the nineteenth century suggests a multiform entity of Victorian masculinity, which is particularly noticeable when analysed in the context of its Regency legacy. At the beginning of the Victorian age the Regency dandy, the prevailing standard of manhood in the first decades of the century, was not just replaced by its antithesis, the earnest Victorian gentleman, but continued to shape the new ideal throughout the century. How Victorians perceived their masculinity reflects the influence of the Regency in many ways and what dandyism bestowed upon the concept of Victorian manhood should thus in no way be overlooked. The present article attempts to elucidate this issue in the light of the novels Bleak House and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, who, as a disciple of Carlyle, addressed the most compelling concerns of the time, including the condition of manliness question.

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