Abstract
This chapter explores the continuum of polite and libertine expression of manhood in eighteenth-century Scotland through an examination of violence, independence, sexuality and friendship, drawing particularly on life writing by men such as James Boswell and the minister Thomas Sutherland. Shifting ideals of behaviour and sentiment served to assert manhood among different men and individuals could adopt different manly personas ranging from the polite gentleman to the libertine depending on locale and time of day. Among the issues discussed are changing responses to duelling, amended definitions of honour, the importance of economic credit and independence, varied attitudes to the sexuality of women, and the conflicting pulls of virtuous self-governed manhood and the opportunities for sexual licence, both heterosexual and homosexual, provided in the growing towns of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Nine Centuries of Man |
Subtitle of host publication | Manhood and Masculinities in Scottish History |
Editors | Lynn Abrams, Elizabeth L. Ewan |
Publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
Chapter | 3 |
Pages | 58-79 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781474403917, 9781474403900 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781474403894, 9781474437837 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 23 Jan 2017 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- Scotland
- masculinity
- sexuality
- violence
- friendship
- homosexuality
- Edinburgh
- James Boswell
- honour