Masculinity in Modern Europe

Question Set 1

Wednesday, Jan. 22: 18^th-Century Gentlemen [Forth, ch. 2 to p. 55]

*1. Why was it important for gentlemen to live by a code of manners?

2. What dangers did refinement of manners and clothing pose to masculine identity?

*3. Who was Captain Rigby, and why is he significant to this discussion?

Friday, Jan. 24: American and French Revolutions

*4. [Lev�e en Masse] Who is being called to national service in this document?

5. [Festival of the Supreme Being] What symbols do the men and women carry in the processions, and what is their significance?

*6. [Festival of the Supreme Being] Based on your reading of the songs, why is it important for the revolutionary leaders to establish strong gender identities?

Monday, Jan 27: Revolutionary Manliness [Braudy, ch. 29; Dudink, ch. 1 to p. 12]

7 [Braudy] What was the big difference between the French army after the revolution, and those who came before?

*8. How did this change affect society as a whole?

*9. [Dudink] What are the contrasts between the German, English and French definitions of citizenship?

10. Why was universal citizenship never realized in revolutionary times?

Wed. Jan 29: Napoleon and Romanticism [Dudink, ch. 3]

*11. What sort of hierarchy is depicted in the "Battle of the Pyramids?"

12. What powers are attributed to Napoleon in the "Plague Victims at Jaffa?"

*13. As a group, what qualities of French masculinity do the selected paintings emphasize?

14. How does the new configuration of masculinity represented in the paintings help establish Napoleon as emperor?

Fri. Jan 31: Prussian Nation-state [Dudink, ch. 4]

*15. What is the big difference between Germany on the one hand, and France and England on the other, with regard to their political development?

*16. Hagemann argues that Prussians came to see loyalty to the king differently than in the past by redefining, or "modernizing" the ideal patriarch. What are the qualities of this new-styled masculinity?

17. What were the three stages of change in the presentation of the Prussian king during the Napoleonic Wars?

18. If not all Prussian men gained political rights after the wars, what did they get from their service?

Mon. Feb. 3: Building Bodies [Forth, ch. 5]

19. Why was pain important to masculinity?

*20. What are two purposes of dueling in 19th-century European society?

What explains the popularity and growth of gymnastics in the early 19^th century?

*21. Historians refer to the "militarization of masculinity" in the 19^th century. To what extent is this true? (note p. 136)

Wed. Feb 5: British citizenship [Dudink, ch. 7]

22. What is the anomaly of British citizenship that Rose is writing about?

*23. What sort of men were granted the vote in the 1867 Reform Act, and who was excluded?

24. Contrast the view of the military in England with that in France and Germany

*25. How did imperialism help to change the status of soldiers and the definition of masculinity?

26. What is the irony in the argument that women can't vote because they can't fight?