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Part of
Manners, Norms and Transgressions in the History of English: Literary and linguistic approaches
Edited by Andreas H. Jucker and Irma Taavitsainen
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 312] 2020
► pp. 121–140

“This Demon Anger”

Politeness, conversation and control in eighteenth-century conduct books for young women

| University of Geneva

This chapter examines the representation and correction of anger in conduct books written for young women in eighteenth-century Britain. An introductory section places the admonition against anger in the context of John Locke’s and Lord Shaftesbury’s discussions of, respectively, rational conduct and polite sociability. Then, I succinctly identify ideal womanly conduct as emanating from three main sources: self-control in body and mind, obedience coupled with rationality, and a consciousness of the world that produces self-consciousness and an attendant desire to conform to social rules. Anger is then shown to break with all three of these: an angry woman no longer controls her body and her mind; she is both disobedient and irrational; and she disregards the constant and critical gaze of society, thus risking loss of reputation. Ultimately, anger hinders young women in what was their main objective, attracting the best possible husband.

Keywords: conduct of life, anger, politeness, conduct books, young women, eighteenth century
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Self-control and individualism: The link with conduct
  • 3.The discourse of conduct: Readers, writers, and ideals
  • 4.Conduct books and the display of anger
  • 5.Avoiding anger
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • References
Published online: 11 August 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.312.06kuk
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2023. Chapter 1. Multimodal im/politeness. In Multimodal Im/politeness [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 333], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Shvanyukova, Polina
2022. What Makes Literature Valuable: A Nineteenth-Century Perspective. In Translation and Interpretation, ► pp. 187 ff. DOI logo

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