Rake [ Politics & Society / Character / Social interaction ]
… as the mould from which many canonical rakish traits were shaped: a privileged social standing, seemingly insatiable sexual appetite with a propensity to view women as preys and other men as rivals or pawns, and a distaste for marriage … power. Under their pen, the rake becomes a nostalgic figure, the remnant of past glory revisited through stories of sexual antics and social slights. 4 3 . In The Man of Mode, Dorimant and his supposed rival Sir Fopling embody two very … the time and place in which he emerged. These elements, as well as the core characteristics of the rake’s social status, sexual proclivity and overall impudence, remain stable throughout all eighteenth-century depictions. 5 What changed …
Literature | Masculinity | Rank | Violence
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