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Methodology: Paper Development--Part 7
Male homosocial desire, the exchange of women, and forced definitions of gender are all clearly at work in Far from the Madding Crowd, The Mayor of Casterbridge, and Jude the Obscure. The main rivalry in Far from the Madding Crowd is clear: Oak, Troy, and Boldwood all want Bathsheba. Even though he is independent, Oak tries to enter into homosocial bonds often in the novel. Troy is a soldier, an extremely homosocial profession, and he hopes to move in yet another circle of men by marrying Bathsheba. Boldwood is socially elevated, but he is isolated, and his frenzy over Bathsheba reflects his desperation to renter the male social world. Likewise, Jude is desperate to enter an extremely homosocial environment: the university. His inability to do so crushes his spirit. His rivalry is with Phillotson, who was also once his teacher, and as such seems to have access to the homosocial bonds Jude desires. The love triangles in The Mayor of Casterbridge are more complex. Henchard and Farfrae vie for the love of both Lucetta and Elizabeth-Jane (with Henchard viewing Elizabeth-Jane as a daughter), but Henchard also vies with Lucetta and Elizabeth-Jane for the love (not necessarily sexual) of Farfrae. As the men compete for women, they also exchange them: Boldwood offers Troy money; Jude gives Sue to Phillotson (and Phillotson gives her back to Jude); and Henchard sells his wife, drives Lucetta to Farfrae, and discourages Farfrae from pursuing Elizabeth-Jane.
Bathsheba and Sue both upset the novels tremendously because they attempt to enter into the exchange on their own behalf. Bathsheba takes up a male profession, and her marriage to Troy is her own doing. Sue, like Jude, craves knowledge, and she uses her relationship with the young undergraduate to get it. Also, like Bathsheba, Sue attempts to control her own sexual destiny. Neither woman has any genuine friendships with other women, so they are denied any homosocial bonds of their own (bonds which could be very dangerous to the status quo if they were to meet up with women like themselves), and so they remain in relative isolation. Lucetta, Sarah, and Elizabeth-Jane differ from Bathsheba and Sue in that they are not major characters, but they do attempt to enter into their own exchange, and the issue of female homosocial bonding does appear in both the mother-daughter relationship and the relationship between Lucetta and Elizabeth-Jane. It will be interesting to explore the effect these women have in a novel that is so clearly focused on men.
Ultimately, using Sedgwick’s and Rubin’s arguments as my theoretical framework, I hope to prove that male homosocial desire in these novels is a destructive force. It drives every major character to a physical or spiritual death no matter what the setting. I also intend to detail how each male character’s desire manifests itself differently, and I hope to clearly explain what that difference means. I also plan to argue that because Sue and Bathsheba are so strong, they are not passive in these relationships; they are, however, doomed to failure for two main reasons: they can never fulfill the role of a man in the male homosocial relationship no matter how hard they try, and they do not have homosocial relationships of their own. I will explain their role in these relationships, and how their attempts to control their own destinies can only lead to destruction.