The following is the abstract of my thesis "The Concept of the Gentleman in Relation to his Lady in English Literatre." I need to listen to your opinions on it and to hear your comments:
ABSTRACT
The concept of the gentleman, which has come to be recognized and established in England, is the product of many contributing cultural factors, such as the influence of the Greeks, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Normans, the advent of Christianity, the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. The word ″gentleman″ developed gradually and acquired its currency as each age contributed features to the term or modified others. Moreover, the examination of the gentleman’s relation to his lady helps define his character and reveals the crucial role of the lady in fashioning the gentleman’s character and conduct.
The following study of a number of English literary texts is intended to show that the applications and connotations of the word ″gentleman″ varied from one epoch to another. Furthermore, the study also aims at revealing the extent to which the gentleman’s character is defined and modified by the character of the lady. Though at the beginning the term ″gentleman″ merely meant a man of noble birth, it acquired other pre-requisites like ethical values, refined manners and discourse, observation of etiquette, good education and respect for the lady. By tracing the development of the concept of the gentleman in relation to his lady, this research also reveals the underlying factors that led to the development of the concept. The research is divided into six chapters.
Chapter One is an introduction. It examines the etymology of the words ″gentleman″ and ″lady″ and discusses the main characteristics of both. It also surveys the theories that identify the relation between the gentleman and his lady.
Chapter Two examines the roots of the concept of the gentleman as manifested in the Anglo-Saxon epic of Beowulf and follows up the development of the concept in the Middle Ages as reflected in the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Chaucer’s treatment of it in ″Gentilesse″ and ″The Wife of Bath’s Tale.″
Chapter Three discusses the various factors that contributed to the development of the concept during the Renaissance. The literary text selected for the analysis of the concept is Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew.
Chapter Four investigates the historical factors that shaped the Restoration and Augustine concepts of the gentleman in relation to his lady. It examines the presentation of the concept in Etherege’s comedy of manners Man of Mode and Rubinstein’s play Johnson was no Gentleman.
Chapter Five shows the influence of nineteenth-century thought and the impact of important factors such as the Industrial Revolution on the concept. The texts selected for analysis are Austen’s Emma and Dickens’s Great Expectations.
The conclusion sums up the findings of the research.
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