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This page intentionally left blank HYPOCRISY AND THE POLITICS OF POLITENESS In Hypocrisy and the Politics of Politeness, Jenny Davidson considers the arguments that define hypocrisy as a moral and political virtue in its own right She shows that these were arguments that thrived in the medium of eighteenth-century Britain’s culture of politeness In the debate about the balance between truthfulness and politeness, Davidson argues that eighteenth-century writers from Locke to Austen come down firmly on the side of politeness This is the case even when it is associated with dissimulation or hypocrisy These writers argue that the open profession of vice is far more dangerous for society than even the most glaring discrepancies between what people say in public and what they in private This book explores what happens when controversial arguments in favor of hypocrisy enter the mainstream, making it increasingly hard to tell the difference between hypocrisy and more obviously attractive qualities like modesty, self-control and tact j e n n y d av i d s o n is Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University She has published articles in Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture and Studies in Romanticism She is the author of a novel, 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 The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge , UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org 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 - - ---- eBook (EBL) --- eBook (EBL) - - ---- hardback --- hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate To my Scottish grandparents, Thomas Davidson (1912–1995) and Beth Davidson (1911–1996) in fond memory of their love of books and education Contents Acknowledgments page ix Introduction: The revolution in manners in eighteenth-century prose 1 Hypocrisy and the servant problem 15 Gallantry, adultery and the principles of politeness 46 Revolutions in female manners 76 Hypocrisy and the novel i: Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded 108 Hypocrisy and the novel ii: a modest question about Mansfield Park 146 Coda: Politeness and its costs 170 Notes Bibliography Index 180 213 230 vii ... is to special forms of language, especially to the pressure-point of the oath; the other is to conventional forms of language and to the daily erosion of meaning consequent upon the use of expressions... dissimulation in the end sublimates Hypocrisy and the Politics of Politeness itself, and organs and instincts are the surprising fruit of the garden of hypocrisy. ”17 The first steps toward making hypocrisy. .. terms of self-control, there is a presumption of guilt in the case that distinguishes hypocrisy from co-defendants such as manners and politeness The history of manners is to a great extent the
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