Overview of Entry: These two quotes emphasize feelings that I am picking up from the context of the era surrounding imperialism and reverse colonization anxieties, as well as this interesting connection with gender and perhaps a critique on the ‘New Woman’ emerging at the end of the century. Influence both from within Britain and this displacement into a foreign entity, but in this case, complexities arise as Egyptians were not truly foreigners if under British rule but still make distinctions throughout where the characters distinguish a person such as if so and so is an ‘Englishman.’ This idea led to a piece of secondary criticism I found where Margree discusses the impact of Marsh’s choice to make a critique on both the type of idealist masculinity of Victorian England and the effect of control, influence, and potential domination from a governmental standpoint as the very person, Paul Lessingham, who is in danger is within Parliament and representative of the greater British empire. Again, this connects with the quote from the novel that I found interesting, where Lessingham wishes to be protected from a type of terrorism and something that threatens his all. I also found it compelling to look at the relationship between France at this time and found the image from Punch an interesting way to look at the context of other imperial powers and the power dynamics and how it feeds into this theme throughout of keeping in control of oneself…and subsequently one’s country.
- From the novel:
“Those eyes of hers! They were a devil’s. I can positively affirm that they had on me a diabolical effect. They robbed me of my consciousness, of my power of volition, of my capacity to think, – they made me wax in her hands”(240).
“In short, I want you to effectually protect me from the terrorism which threatens once more to overwhelm my mental and physical power, – which bids fair to destroy my intellect, my career, my life, my all” (251).
- Critical Commentary: Margree, Victoria. “‘Both in Men’s Clothing’: Gender, Sovereignty and Insecurity in Richard Marsh’s ‘The Beetle.’” Critical Survey, vol. 19, no. 2, 2007, pp. 63–81. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41556581. Accessed 8 Nov. 2023.
“It is legitimate and necessary, however, to distinguish the older, statesmanlike Lessingham from the youth who was barely yet a man, since what the text is trying
to defend is specifically a version of mature, masculine subjectivity. The reason it is so important that none of the adult, establishment males succumb to mesmeric control is because, as Wolfreys has noted the text establishes that mesmeric control is also equivalent to colonial domination. The significance of the novel’s setting in the milieu of the British parliamentary system thus becomes clear: it is because what is at stake is no less than British sovereign”(68).
- Historical Context/Visual: “Palmerston, the Imperialism of Free Trade, and the Inadvertant Destruction of Turkish and Egyptian Rulers.” Victorianweb.org, victorianweb.org/history/empire/egypt/13.html.
“Mr. Punch makes quite clear his views of the relative Egyptian roles of England and France by the relative size of fox and lion — and the lion holding the sack of money”(Punch, 21 July 1883)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Luc Olivier Merson (French, 1846-1920), 1879 from Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA
Hey! this was a super interesting read! it makes me curious what Marsh’s political ideals are during this time, and who he would more likely side with. but mostly how he is portraying Lessingham vs. Mr. Lindon, and which of the two he agrees with.
P.S. I couldn’t figure out my comments still, I thought I allowed them everywhere. Apologies!
No worries! I did look at your page, and the quotes you had were similar to what I was noticing, especially with this powerlessness and influence on Lessingham from this woman and what that means when we think about who can be influenced (think of differences between Lessingham and Atherton) and what role gender plays in this.
This is an awesome post! I liked your connection of historical events to events that happened in the plot. I think the quotes that you used really emphasize the points you were making. I found this very interesting, as I did not think about this before. I also really liked the drawing at the end of your post. I think the illustrator did a fantastic job at depicting both the relative Egyptian roles of England and France. This is a great spin off of what we saw on Professor Frank’s posts.
Tester comment after settings update!