Hypocrisy and the Politics of Politeness: Manners and Morals from Locke to Austen

254 Pages·2004·2.31 MB·English

by  Jenny Davidson

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HYPOCRISY AND THE POLITICS
OF POLITENESS
In Hypocrisy and the Politics of Politeness, Jenny Davidson considers
theargumentsthatdefinehypocrisyasamoralandpoliticalvirtuein
its own right. She shows that these were arguments that thrived in
the medium of eighteenth-century Britain’s culture of politeness.
Inthedebateaboutthebalancebetweentruthfulnessandpoliteness,
Davidsonarguesthateighteenth-centurywritersfromLocketoAusten
comedownfirmlyonthesideofpoliteness.Thisisthecaseevenwhen
it is associated with dissimulation or hypocrisy. These writers argue
thattheopenprofessionofviceisfarmoredangerousforsocietythan
eventhemostglaringdiscrepanciesbetweenwhatpeoplesayinpublic
andwhattheydoinprivate.Thisbookexploreswhathappenswhen
controversialargumentsinfavorofhypocrisyenterthemainstream,
making it increasingly hard to tell the difference between hypocrisy
andmoreobviouslyattractivequalitieslikemodesty,self-controland
tact.
jenny davidson isAssistantProfessorofEnglishandCompara-
tiveLiteratureatColumbiaUniversity.Shehaspublishedarticlesin
StudiesinEighteenth-CenturyCultureandStudiesinRomanticism.She
istheauthorofanovel,Heredity(2003).

HYPOCRISY AND THE
POLITICS OF POLITENESS
Manners and Morals from Locke to Austen
JENNY DAVIDSON
  
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521835237
© Jenny Davidson 2004
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2004
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TomyScottishgrandparents,
ThomasDavidson(1912–1995)
and
BethDavidson(1911–1996)
infondmemoryoftheirloveofbooksandeducation

Contents
Acknowledgments pageix
Introduction:Therevolutioninmannersin
eighteenth-centuryprose 1
1 Hypocrisyandtheservantproblem 15
2 Gallantry,adulteryandtheprinciplesofpoliteness 46
3 Revolutionsinfemalemanners 76
4 Hypocrisyandthenoveli:Pamela,orVirtueRewarded 108
5 Hypocrisyandthenovelii:amodestquestionabout
MansfieldPark 146
Coda:Politenessanditscosts 170
Notes 180
Bibliography 213
Index 230
vii