Rakes, Highwaymen, and Pirates: The Making of the Modern Gentleman in the Eighteenth Century (review)

In Rakes, Highwaymen, and Pirates, Erin Mackie delivers an engaging study of elite modes of early modern criminality, putting them, as her subtitle suggests, into conversation with the developing conception of gentlemanly masculinity that was more civic-minded and domestic than earlier modes of aristocratic English manhood. Mackie argues that the rake, the highwayman, and the pirate—in different ways—provide models of manhood based on nostalgia for a kind of self-authorization associated with the aristocracy prior to the settlement of 1689. As Mackie puts it, "In all three figures, the very feature of their character that is most outdated and most illicit—their commitment to the exercise of personal will self-licensed as absolute authority—enjoys, as an aspect of this anachronism, the glamour of nostalgia" (12). But none of the figures exists purely as an anachronism. According to Mackie, despite (or partly because of) their nostalgic allure, these illicit types provide a counter-narrative of modern masculinity that reveals the persistent dependence of masculine power and prestige on the very values that the modern gentleman was supposed to resist. "That masculine prestige clings so tenaciously to illicit modes of conduct through three centuries," Mackie argues, "speaks to the ways in which masculine power continues to rely on modes of privilege, aggression, and self-authorization that violate the moral, social, and legal dictates that constitute its own legitimacy" (2). In this book, Mackie describes the allure of such transgressive figures, illuminates ways in which social discourse excuses their criminal behavior, and demonstrates how their allure and popular apology have both reflected and shaped modern constructions of gender.

While the popular appeal of rebel figures should draw a broad audience to this text, this discussion of rebellious types of masculinity is nevertheless serious scholarship: original, insightful, and well situated in current historical, sociological, and critical conversations. In her first chapter, "Historicizing Masculinity: The Criminal and the Gentleman," Mackie surveys the field upon which her study will range and provides the theoretical and cultural foundations of her argument. The opening sections of the text are densely referential, but academics will appreciate the care with which Mackie situates her project in relation to relevant work in history, sociology, gender studies, and literary criticism, while students will find this thorough introduction a rich resource for further exploration. Subsequent chapters take on the three transgressive types—rake, highwayman, and pirate—in literary and cultural context, and Mackie closes with an extended discussion of "elite male crime" (149) in two novels: Frances Burney's Evelina and William Godwin's Caleb Williams.

The central three chapters of Rakes, Highwaymen, and Pirates show the extent to which these figures have permeated culture. In all cases, Mackie refers to popular criminal biographies of the times, but each type has social significance because its reach extends far beyond that popular genre. As an example, in chapter 2, Mackie traces the rake (with references to several other texts) through the poetry of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester; through articles and letters in The Tatler and The Spectator (Mackie's expertise holds her in good stead here); through John Gay's unperformed play The Mohocks (based on historical riots); and finally to Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa. Throughout this discussion, she emphasizes her point that the rake's "glamour" is "fabulous and residual" (37), since his class and his performance separate him from lower orders of criminals, while his actions do not. That glamour is persistent, however. Mackie makes obvious the rationale behind the old claim that "reformed rakes make the best husbands": only in a reformed rake do we find the self-legitimizing, sexually potent, and therefore nostalgically manly subject who through choice adopts the manners and restraint of the modern gentleman. His masculinity is authorized by both the licit and illicit codes, and is therefore complete and unassailable. Additionally, Mackie plumbs the presentations of the rake as defined either by his...