Male Honour, Social Control and Wife Beating in Late Stuart England

Abstract

In seventeenth-century England honour was a concept which had meaning for men in the private or domestic spheres as well as in the public spheres of their lives. Indeed, failure to prove an honourable man at home could exclude men from entering any honour community outside it. Above all else, men from whatever social status were only held worthy of honour if they could demonstrate control over their wives, children and servants. Hence honour was a concept which was vital to the upholding of male power. To achieve that power or control men were encouraged to adopt behaviour which laid emphasis on two key gender characteristics which were thought to distinguish them from women: physical strength and reason. As Sir Thomas Smith explained in 1583, God had intended to give the male ‘great wit, bigger strength, and more courage to compel the woman to obey by reason or force’. Men used their claim to reason to legitimise their authority over women; the first Marquis of Halifax explained to his daughter in a letter of 1688:That there is Inequality in the Sexes, and that for the better Economy of the World, the Men, who were to be the Law-givers, had the larger share of Reason bestow'd upon them…Your Sex wanteth our Reason for your Conduct, and our Strength for your Protection.

Male honour and the decline of public violence in eighteenth-century London

“…78 Signi cantly, honour potentially had a very different meaning in these disputes: while husbands felt it important to uphold their reputation as masters of their households, irrational and unjusti ed violence against women was viewed as dishonourable. 79 The growing importance of domestic violence (relative to all other homicides) can be seen as an aspect of what might be labelled the 'privatization' of violence during this period, as disputes occasioned by male concerns about public reputation became less likely to lead to serious violence, and a growing intolerance among prevailing opinion pushed violent behaviour indoors or out of sight. While such behaviour was therefore less likely to be reported, it is signi cant that by the end of our period 57 per cent of the reported homicides committed by men took place indoors, in private houses, taverns, coffee-houses, and shops.…”

Heterotopias and the Enabling of Masculine Power in Richardson’s Pamela and Defoe’s Moll Flanders and Roxana

“…To B, losing honour simultaneously mars his honour, discrediting his reputation and causing a loss of power among colleagues and subordinates. Foyster (1996) reiterated on the importance of honour and reputation among eighteenth-century men. Between the two, Mr. B's status empowers him to presuppose that his words hold an ultimatum in the discourse; a directive, a "constraint", telling what Mr. Andrews should to do or act.…”

“…Intellect is pre-owned by men in order to provide control over the situation. Elizabeth Foyster's (1996) discussion on female (mis)treatment (like wife battering) is linked to men and their hopes to retain honour and social control and this helps to explain men's need to control women like Roxana. The use of Fairclough's control and constraint champions the Dutch Merchant in his power struggle with the Jew as he abandons the latter with his conniving plans at confiscating Roxana's rightfully-owned jewellery.…”

The Early Quakers, the Peace Testimony and Masculinity in England, 1660-1720

“…Further, excessively violent husbands threatened order in the household, and by inference, the state. 34 The dishonour and shame they brought upon themselves was due to a failure to exercise reason in using strength; this could rarely be applied to…”