| Popis: |
There is a peculiarly brutal and exploitative quality about gender relations in the period 1680 to 1720, which is amply reflected in the case illustrated in this chapter. Violence, perjury, rape, and obsessive promiscuous sexuality are the hallmark of this age, when gender relations were on the turn, when women were at last beginning to assert themselves, and when contractual theories were starting to spread even into domestic relations, modifying the patriarchal power of parents and friends and raising the aspirations for the happiness of children. For a while, however, this period of conflicting values led to extremes of behaviour patterns, all of which are exhibited in rich detail in the unedifying story of the Calverts, Beau Feilding, and the Duchess of Cleveland. |
