A Scot In the Dark - sharing one of my university assignments

“Loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable - that one false step involves her endless ruin – that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful” (Austen 270).  These immortal words were written by Jane Austen and given to her prim and proper third Bennet sister Mary in Pride and Prejudice. For Austen the fact the words were both true and spoken in an entirely inappropriate moment in relation to Lydia Bennet’s ruinous elopement that had not yet come to a conclusion, created a witty critique of society and the place of women in it during the Regency period.

 

Mary Bennet’s words are now both a reflection of bygone age, but also an uncomfortable truth for the twenty-first century where scandal and gossip can still evoke victim-blaming that falls on the shoulders of women. The scandal surrounding female reputation also creates a fertile area for romance novelists to create dramatic situations for the characters to fall in love amidst.

 

Sarah MacLean’s A Scot in the Dark is novel that explores scandal and reputation in two disparate historical spaces at the same time. It is set in the nineteenth century in a Regency-esque world of high society while at the same time it contains characters and concepts that fit as easily into the twenty-first century in which MacLean is writing, as the setting in which events take place. It draws parallels across time using nineteenth century rules and society to examine questions of female and societal behaviour relevant to that are still relevant to the modern day.

 

High society in the Regency period lived by and, more importantly, judged each other by a complicated set of rules of propriety. People did break those rules, and therefore created scandal, but women in particular were bound to behave by the rules are risk being ruined, which could have enormous economic as well as social consequences. Whatever dowry they had was controlled by fathers or male guardians, nor was it respectable for a gentlewoman to earn an income. Any hint of scandal could ruin reputations and marriage prospects permanently.

 

Almack’s was the most exclusive London ballroom, admission to which required excellent reputation, breeding, wealth, proper behaviour and the approval of the Lady Patroness’ who controlled access to the weekly balls and suppers (Kloester 87). These women who controlled the tone and behaviour of society, however, also were examples of the way married women could have some protection from the behaviour that could ruin an unmarried woman. It does not take long for an internet search to find information regarding the love affairs that even these leaders of society became involved in as married women.

 

Divorce was rare and scandalous in itself, thus somewhat protecting already married women unless that did something considered so heinous as to lead their usually aristocratic husbands to it. For the most part, as long as an heir had already been provided, married women were quietly permitted to take lovers and have affairs as long as they were discreet (Kloester 80).

 

Sarah MacLean uses a semi-regency setting (1834 is actually past the end of the technical Regency period) and the associated rules of propriety to set up the situation her characters find themselves in, however the characters themselves do not conform with said rules.

 

MacLean’s characters are very aware that they are flouting the rules of society. The heroine, Lillian Hargrove, rails against her situation whilst at the same time recognising that her own behaviour put her in that situation. But she also recognises that the rules she has transgressed have heavier consequences for women than men. She envies the power that the Alec Stuart has – “He had no idea the power he had. The privilege. What she would do to have the same” (MacLean 35). This more modern awareness comes from the context in which MacLean wrote the novel rather than the historical context.

 

Lillian’s original behaviour is very twentieth century in comparison to what was expected of young women in Regency society. Her behaviour at the Royal Academy announcement of the painting would have been considered as scandalous as the fact she had been alone and naked with a young man she was not married to. Young women were expected to avoid any sort of expression of strong emotions in public. They could faint or swoon, but not express anger, upset, or even amusement beyond decorum (Kloester 101). The fact that Lilian freely shows her horror, anger and upset in public is a scandal in itself. MacLean is using the kind of publicly outraged behaviour that might be expected from a modern woman who had their consent and trust broken by someone publicly and without warning to help her readers emotionally connect with the heroine straight away.

 

The contemporary context also has a purposefully mapped relationship to specifics of the historical setting and events of the book. Lillian aims to flee London society in order to hide from the scandal of the nude painting, but Alec points out the painting will likely tour Europe and America so it will always follow her. This directly maps to the concept that once something is on the internet and social media it will always be there. In this way the text is acknowledging a relationship between periods of history, both that in which the story is set and that in which the author is writing.  

 

Alec in turn is determinedly focussed on fixing Lillian’s reputation by marrying her off to someone as quickly as possible. In having such a narrow focus on doing his duty as her technical guardian (despite the fact she is of age) he is both distracting himself from his feelings for her and taking away her agency as an individual person. He does not necessarily see this as an issue, because in the regency context he is expected to make the decisions for his unmarried ward. He has control of her financially, legally, and socially.

 

However, this contrasts with the twenty-first century way that Lillian’s character is constructed. In Western society at least in the time and place in which MacLean is writing, a woman in her twenties is in no way legally in the control of a guardian unless she is considered mentally impaired or incompetent for some reason. Socially, even asking for a father’s blessing to propose is becoming more inappropriate in the view of society and the realm of only very conservative and traditional people.

 

While A Scot in the Dark was published the year before the current #MeToo movement took off on social media, discussion of female agency and speaking out against victimhood were very much stirring in the public consciousness while the book was being written. MacLean’s Author’s Note specifically refers to various phone hacking and celebrity nude photo scandals from the twenty-first century as being in her mind when writing (MacLean 391). As part of the scandal of the nude painting, MacLean sets up the concept of consent very clearly in the beginning. “You swore no one would see it” (MacLean 16) are the words Lillian speaks to her lover in the middle of the public announcement that her nude painting would be the finale to the exhibition. The crowd is titillated by the drama unfolding before them, but at the heart of the scene is the idea of a woman’s consent, which calls for a sympathetic recation from the reader.

 

In a historical period where unmarried women had few rights and, as previously mentioned, were controlled by fathers and guardians, consent was not something that had the heavy meaning and nuance that it does now. Alec doesn’t particular seek Lillian’s consent to arrange her marriage and they have multiple arguments about it. In this moment, however, Lillian’s heartbreak and emotional journey is set up specifically around the idea that her trust was betrayed and her ruination is occurring without her consent.

 

It is fitting that at the end of the book the nude portrait is only displayed with her consent. Alec and Lillian had already stolen the painting. Lillian makes an informed and distinct decision to replace the painting and hold her head up high under the eyes of society. Derek broke her trust, but she decides in the end that it does not matter anymore in the face of the life she wants with Alec. Consent has played such a large part in public discourse in recent years that the bookends of a lack of consent and the final taking of agency and giving of consent firmly place the thematic content and the characterisation of Lillian in the time period of writing to juxtapose the social rules of the time period of the setting. This gives the modern reader a book in a popular and romantic historical setting, yet also a heroine to connect with and understand.

 

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Vintage, 2007.

Kloester, Jennifer. Georgette Heyer’s Regency World. Arrow Books, 2005.

MacLean, Sarah. A Scot in the Dark. Avon Books, 2016.