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Representing Empire: Class, Culture, and the Popular Theatre in the Nineteenth Century
Author(s): Michael HaysSource: Theatre Journal, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Mar., 1995), pp. 65-82Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3208806 .
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Representing mpire:
Class,
Culture,
nd the
Popular
Theatre
n
the
Nineteenth
Century
Michael
Hays
The
power
o
narrate,
r to
block ther arrativesrom
orming
and
emerging
s
very
mportant
o
culture
nd
mperialism,
andconstitutesneof
hemain onnections
etweenhem.
-Edward W.
Said,
Culturend
mperialism
The workofdiscoveringolonial nd imperialistmoments
n
the iterary roducts
of
nineteenth-century
urope
and America
has
gone
on for ome time
now,
but
with
the
appearance
of
Edward Said's
powerful
ew
book,
Culturend
mperialism,
roader
dimensions
nd
further
bligations
ave been attached o the task
of
the
criticwho
would
engage
n this
nterprise.
he
question
hould
no
longer
be whether
here re
such
moments, ut,
rather,
ow these moments re fundamental o the
historical
development
f
imperialist
iscourseand
to the
production
f Western
ulture
n
general,
nd,
more
mportantly,
ow
retelling
histale of
"literary"
roduction
an
move
beyond providing
further
xamples
of western
mperialism
nd
cultural
hegemony
o
become a
means
of
understanding
ow,
for
xample,
British
mperial
culture
cquired
its
authority-its
ower
to
impose
itself
oth
at
home and
in
the
world at large.
As Said
demonstrates,
hebest
way
to
cometo
grips
with
hese
roblems
s to
return
to the cultural
rchive
Said's
primary
oncern s novel and narrative
iction
n the
nineteenth
entury)
o
see
what
tory
tcan tellus about
he
ways
n which
upposedly
autonomous
worksof
art
participate
n
the aborof
elaborating
nd
consolidating
he
practice
f
empire y fixing
nd
naturalizing
he
patial
s well
as
social
relations
hat
empower
he
mperial
enter,
onnecting
t to
and
defining
he
priorities
hat
egulate
other,
ubordinate
peoples
and
places.
This
ssay
s ntended
s
a
small
contributiono
the
ask
hat
aid
has so
impressively
et out
for is
readers.
f
begin
by
reassembling
some
ofthematerial rom is
book,
t
s both o
signalmy
debt o his text
nd to mark
off he
pace
inwhichthis
ssay
aims to nsert
slightly
ifferentonstructionf the
history
f
mperial
ulture
n
England
nd
France,
ne which
uggests
hat
ts
presence
is
not
quite
o
pervasive
nd its
development
ess uniform
han
Culturend
mperialism
seems
to
claim.
The
story
will sketch ere
highlights
he
differenceetween he
riumphant
ale
of
imperial
way
Said locates
n
British
middle
class)
fiction
n
the
nineteenth
entury
Michael
Hays
teaches t
Cornell
niversity.
e
has
published
idely
n
the
reas
of
theatre
istory,
theory,
nd
criticism.
is
most ecent
ooks re
Critical
Conditions and
the
orthcoming
elodra-
matic ormations.
Theatre
Journal
7
(1995)
65-82 @
1995
by
The
Johns
Hopkins
University
ress
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66
/
Michael
ays
and the omewhat
ifferent
nd
disruptive istory
hat
merges
rom
consideration
of
the
popular
theatre
f
the
age.
For
t was not
only
the
space
and the voice
of the
colonial
Other
thathad to be elided
or
usurped
n orderto
stage
the
discourseof
empire; hepolitical nd culturalmaginationfthe owerclasseshad tobe captured
and made
to work
for
he
empire
s well. As
I
will
show,
traces
f
this
process
can
already
be
found
n the
ultural
truggle
hat
itted
he
novel and
"literature"
gainst
the
popular
theatre
nd drama
early
n
the
century.
f,
s Said
suggests,
he
discourse
of
empire ervades
the
rtof the
end of the
century,
hisbecomes
fully ossible
only
when
the
energies
f
internal ultural ifference
ave
finally
een
submerged
n
a
unifying
antasy
bout
the
mperial
dventure
hat an be
staged
for
ll
classes to
enjoy.
As
I
suggested
arlier,
aid sets
side the
endency
o
hunt ut
occasional nstances
of
mperial
nastiness
n
the
otherwise
estheticallyulfilling
orks
of thenineteenth
century.e baldly sserts hat, ythe imeConradwritesHeart fDarkness,heres no
use
looking
for
other,
on-imperialist
lternatives
o the discursive nd
geographic
imagination
hat nderlies
iterary
arrative
n
England.
Neither onradnorMarlow
gives
us a
full
view of
what s
outside he
world-conquering
ttitudes mbodied
by
Kurtz,
Marlow,
he circle
f isteners
n thedeck
of the
Nellie,
nd
Conrad."
ndeed,
according
o
Said,
"the
Heart
f
Darkness orks
o
effectively
ecause its
politics
nd
aesthetics
re,
o to
speak, mperialist."
e
goes
on to
demonstrate
hat-by
the
ate
nineteenth
entury-aesthetics,
olitics,
nd
epistemology
re all
grounded
n
and
ordered
y
the
temporo-spatial
nd
cognitive
mperatives
f
mperialism,
here
s
"no
use
looking
for
other,
non-imperialist
lternatives,
ince
the
system
has
simply
eliminatedhem nd madethem nthinkable.hecircularity,heperfectlosure fthe
whole
thing
s
not
only
esthetically
ut also
mentally
nassailable."'
Of
course,
aid
has
chosen
Conrad s
his
example
here
precisely
ecause he knows
Conrad
was
aware
f
he
depredations,
hehuman
nd
geographic
ounds nflicted
y
European
mperialism.
his makes
his
demonstration
ll the more
telling:
mperial-
ism,
ike
the
narrative
orm
mployed
y
Conrad,
has
monopolized
he ntire
ystem
of
representation";
here
s no other
antage
point
fromwhich
o write ince
Conrad,
too,
is
necessarily
aught
in folds
of the
culture,
he
discourse
and
history
f
nineteenth-centuryurope.
Despite
his own
sense
of
marginality,
nd
despite
his
subversive
nd
ironic
ualification
f
the material
f his
narrative,
onrad
can
only
see theOther, hatwhich s "non-European,"hroughhe maginative ilter f the
imperial
enterprise:
Independence
was
for whites
and
Europeans,
the lesser
or
subjectpeoples
were
to be
ruled;
cience,
earning,
istory
manated
from he
West"
(24).
And so
did
thenovel.
Much ofthe
remainder
fSaid's
remarkable ook documents
the
ways
n which
he
geographic
nd human
relations
edeployed
nd
represented
n
narrative
works
produced
n
nineteenth-century
rance
nd
England converge
with
those
of cience
nd
political
conomy
o erase
the
possibility
f
magining
hat
here
could
be another
way
of
eeing,
n alternative
o
speaking
or s
well as about therest
1Edward
W.
Said,
Culture
nd
mperialism
New
York:
Knopf,
1993),
24.
All further
age
references
cited
n
the
text.
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REPRESENTING
MPIRE
/
67
of the world.
Already
n
Jane
Austen's
Mansfield
ark
1814)
the
colonial
plantations
owned
by
Sir
Thomas
are
portrayed
s a "natural"
xtension f the
Bertram state
t
Mansfield
ark-the
periphery
hat
upplies
he enter
with he
money
nd
commodi-
tiesnecessary or tsproperfunctioning.Austen heresynchronizesomesticwith
international
uthority,
aking
t
plain
that hevalue
associated
with
uch
things
s
ordination, aw,
and
propriety
must be
grounded firmly
n
actual
rule over and
possession
of
territory.
..
What
assures the domestic
ranquillity
nd
attractive
harmony
f one is the
productivity
nd
regulated iscipline
f the
other"
87).
Said sees
this
geopolitical
nd economic
rdering
f
the
periphery
o a center
nd
the concomitantnstitutionalizationf the
authority
f the master ver the
subject
peoples
of the colonies
as
fundamentally
elatedto the structures nacted
in
the
domestic elations
f
the
family
nd servants t Mansfield ark.The
mperial
rdering
process
does
not
generate
he domestic
tructure,
ut t
does
provide
he
framework
that llows thenovel-throughSirThomas-to construe nd adjustthesedomestic
relations
n
terms f a "moral
geography" elonging
o the
ociety
nd culture
made
possible
by
the
trade
n
slaves
and
sugar
and
by
the colonial
planter
lass
(94).
This
same
moral
geography merges
n
the remainder
f
Culture
nd
Imperialism
s the
enabling
ground
or he
mperial
iscourse
hat
ervades
he
ulture ftheend of
the
century,
discourse
f
nevitable omination
f
"subject
aces"
that,
s Said
correctly
points
out,
was for the most
part accepted
by
the
working
lass
and
women's
movements
f the ate
nineteenth
entury
s
well.
But however accurate nd well told this tale of the
imaginative ntertwining
f
cultural
production
nd
imperial
ractice
s,
however
ffectively
t
gives
"voice"
to
anotherwayof peaking bout the ultural onditionnd functionf henovel, talso
serves to demonstrate
n tsown
right
he
principle
f
narrative xclusion nunciated
in
the
openingpages
of
Said's
text: he
power
to narrate-and
the
narrative
rising
therefrom-can,
nd
inevitably
oes,
block access
to other
narratives,
nd to
other
conditions nd
practices
hat
may
be coextensive
with
the
socio-political,
conomic
and cultural
mperatives
hat
are
discovered nd defined
by
Said's
investigation.
Earlier n
Said
has claimedthat
British ulture
ince
at least the eventeenth
entury
has fixed
socially
desirable,
mpowered
pace
in
metropolitan
ngland
or
Europe
and
connect[ed]
t
by
design,
motive,
nd
development
o distantor
peripheral
worlds...
,
conceivedof as
desirable
but
subordinate."
ccording
o
Said,
Britain's
culturaldentitysboundup with heformulationfthesegeographic elationsnd
the
attitudes hat
ccompany
hem
52).
It
seems to me
that,
orrect
s
this
ssessment
s for he
ate nineteenth
entury,
t s
too
monolithic
n
its
construction
f the
dea
of
a
"British
ulture" hat s
historically
consistent
oth
n its
operations
nd in the
nature
f the
objects
t
manipulates.
do
not--cannot-deny
that such
colonizing
patializations
ppear,
but
I
do
want
to
suggest
hat,
rior
o theend
of the
nineteenth
entury,
his
rder
f
"British
ulture"
was
not
quite
so
firmly
nd
uniformly
stablished
s
Said
implies.
Because
of
the
extraordinary
readth
f the ssues with
which he is
grappling,
nd
because of his
focus on
the novel and narrative
iction,
aid
has been
obliged
to
ignore
the full
dimensions fthestruggle or ultural riorityhat ookplace inEngland tselfthe
need to convince
ll
parties
nd
classes that he
mperial
ispensation
was indeed
to
their
enefit)
nd, further,
o
downplay
he
way
in
which
his
truggle
s
instantiated
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68
/
Michael
ays
in
the
history
nd
dramaturgy
f
the
popular
theatre
n
the mid-nineteenth
entury.
Among
ther
hings,
hen,
what want o show here s that
y
conflating
he
discourse
of
and
on)
the
novel with "literature"
nd with British ulture
s a
whole Said
re-
enacts he erasure f nternal ultural ifferencend socio-economic onflicthat he
novels
he discusses
seem
to effect. he result s
to
elide the
alternative
ossibilities
recorded
directly
nd
indirectly
n
the
history
f the
nineteenth-century
opular
theatre.
Interestingly
nough, suggestion
fthis
possibility
s
already
mplicitly resent
n
Said's
discussion
f
Austen's
Mansfield
ark.He
points
ut that
when Sir
Thomas ets
about
re-establishing
is rule
ver
he
pace
and the nhabitants
f he state
ne of
his
first
estures
s
to forbid
he
performance
f Kotzebue's Lover's
Vows hat
had been
planned
n
his
absence.
Sir Thomas also burns
all the unbound
copies
of the
play
found
n
thehouse.
Said,
correctly
would
say, nterprets
hese
vents
n
terms f
both
thepotentially estabilizingffectmplicitn theatricalizinghespace ofMansfield
Park,
nd
the confusion
f
"proper"
oles
that
ir
Thomas
averts
hrough
is
quick
action.
But this brief
reading
moves little
beyond
the
ground
already
covered
by
Lionel
Trilling
n
his
1954
ssay
on
Mansfield
ark,
hough
aid's
overall stimate
f
the
novel
points
in a
quite
differentirection.2
Had Said
thought
urther
bout the
distinctions
etween
bound
and
unbound
opies,
between
he
novel
and
the
drama,
and between
reading
nd
the activities f
viewing/performing
hat re so
tellingly
evoked
by
this ection
f
the
novel,
he
might
ave been
led to reflect urther
n the
active
cultural tatus
of other
genres
s
well,
and their
relation
o the novel and
"literary"
iscourse
n
general.
would
iketo
do that
here,
y
working hrough
ome
thoughts rovokedby the fact hatAustenhas Sir Thomas
burn
only
the
unbound
copies
of
Kotzebue's
play.
It would seem
thatwhat
secures
he
physical
s well as
the
discursive orm f the
novel
here s that
t s bound.
The
play,
n
theother
and,
s
performance,
s
figured
as
unbound,
pen
to
the
dangers
f revision
nd role
playing,
lternative
rders nd
practices.
Thus,
at the
very
moment
hat
this
novel enacts
the
suppression
of
a
particular lay,
t
opens
the
way
to
peculation
ot
imply
bout
the
historical
ole,
he
binding
cultural
function
pparently
ssigned
by
Austen
to her own and
other
nineteenth-century
ovels,
but about
the
lternative
istories
otentially
vailable
n
and
(perhaps)
nacted
by
other
enres,
nd
especially
n that
omplex
ocio-aesthetic
webproducedbya playwhenstagedbefore livingpublic n thetheatre.
A
bound
copy
of
Kotzebue's
play
could,
presumably,
ake
its
place
alongside
Austen's
novels
n the
ibrary
t Mansfield
ark.
There,
othwould
be
available
for
controlled
erusal,
ubject
o Sir
Thomas's
observation
nd
interpretation,
ust
as
the
characters
n
Austen's
novel
are
subject
to
the
narrator's
ontrol.
he
library,
he
physical
ocus
for
eaderly
nowledge
and
interpretation)
hus
patializes
new
set
of
relationships.
t
removes
rom he
hands of
others oth
the task nd the
materials
for ither
ndependent
r
nterdependent
onstruction
f
alternative
paces
or
mean-
ings,
and becomes
the
center
of an
abstract,
inding
order in much
the
way
2
See
Lionel
Trilling,
he
Opposing
elf
New
York:
Viking,
1955).
My
thanks
to
Daniel O'Hara
for
pointing
out this
imilarity.
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REPRESENTING
MPIRE
/
69
metropolitan
ngland
becomes
hecenter
f
the
Empire
n
Said's
description.3
n the
other
hand,
the unbound
play
and its
separate
"sides"
(the
individual sheets
the
performers
f
Kotzebue's
play
would
have
had
in
order
o earn
heir
eparate
parts,
whether tMansfield arkor n anactualtheatre) ould themselves otonly uggest
multiple
oices and
possibilities
or he
taging
f
different
paces
and
interpretations,
but
bring
o mindthe
many-sided
udience nd
frequently
insubordinate"
erform-
ances
staged
by
the ower class
public
that ttended he
theatre,4
nd,
thus
open
a
space
for he xamination f
thedrama
s
a
vehicle
for he
dissemination
f a culture
and
politics
n
England
that
was
not
yet
fixedwithin he
mperial aradigm.5
Seen
in this
ight,
Austen's
treatmentf Kotzebue's
play
functionsn a manner
analogous
to
hertreatment
f
Fanny
Price,
he owerclass outsiderwho is introduced
into
heorder fMansfield
ark.
n
each
case,
figure
etached rom
et
evealing
he
shadowy
contours f
a
context
f
cultural onflict
s
"placed"
and redefined
y
the
narrative.What s implicitnbothcases is theefforto bind and restrictlternative
cultural
nergies
within
hefictive
epresentation
f
a
new
aesthetic s well as social
order.
Thus,
at the
very
moment
t
binds the
history
f
popular performance
n
the
name
and
in
the
space
of
literature,
usten's
novel reveals the traces
of
a
quite
different
ultural
otential-and provides
he
mpetus
or
further
nquiry
bout
the
subversive
spects
not
only
of
Kotzebue's
play,
which
t
the
turn
f the
century
ad
already
been damned
in
England
for ts
sexual
and
political
frankness,6
ut,
more
importantly,
bout
the
popular
theatre
nd
drama
n
general,
n
inquiry
hatwould
tease
out the
story
f
the
cultural
olonization f the ower classes
in
England
and
expand
the
tory
f colonialdiscourse ound
n
thenovels discussed
n
Said's text.
3
For
further
iscussion
f
the
development
f
his
readerly,"
nd
iterary
ias
against
hedrama
and
performance,
ee
my
From
ublic
pace
o
Private
pace:
taging
he
iscourse f he
Academy"
in
boundary
12
(Winter/Spring
985):
173-88.As
I
will
suggest
ater
n
this
ssay,
not
only
he
development
f
this
iterary
ias,
but he
development
f
realism
n
the
drama, oo,
eems o mark
phase
n
the
growing
mprise
f
mperialist
iscourse
n
the
ealm f
ultural
roducts
ther han he
novel.
4
The
"Old Price"riots
f 1809
re
probably
hebest
known,
ongest asting,
nd
mostviolent
example
f
the
popular
udience's
bility
o
self-consciously
ssert ts
right
o
determine
ts
place
n
the ultural omain f he heatre.urtheriscussionbout he tatus f he ublicn the heatrend
theOld
Price
iots an be found
n
my Comedy
s
Being/Comedy
s
Idea,"
n
The ublime
special
issue
of
Studies
n
Romanticism
Summer
987):
21-30
nd n
Anastasia
ikolopoulou,
rtisan
ulture
and the
nglish
othic
elodrama
780-1830,
npublished
issertation,
ornell
niversity,
990.That
the ower lass udience
was
still
hought
obe
n
need f areful
iscipline
nd
educations
late
s the
1860s
s
amply
emonstrated
y
Dickens's
ssay
f
ebruary
5,
1860
later
iven
he itle
Two
Views
of
Cheap
Theatre")
ublished
n
All the
ear
Round,
16-21.
SJonathan
rac
has
suggested
n
conversationhat
his onnectionlso lends further
nteresting
savor o the itle
nd
contentsf
Shelley's
rometheusnbound.
6The
play
had
been
astigated
s
an
example
f
he
endency
n
German rama to
xcite iscontent
among
he ower
lasses
of
society,
y representing
bscurity
nd
virtue,
ank
nd
vice,
s close
and
inseparable
ssociates,"
nd
also for ts
portrayal
f a
womanwho
is too
ndependent,
ne who
"deviates rom
he ecorums
f
her
ex."These
omments,
aken rom he
Anti-Jacobin
eview
(1799)
and 9 (1801) re cited yDavidSimpsonnhisvery aluablediscussion f henationalistndanti-
theoretical
ttitudeshat
eveloped
n
England
fter he
French evolution ith
regard
o
literary
culture.ee his
Romanticism,
ationalism,
nd he
evolt
gainst
heory
Chicago:
niversity
f
Chicago
Press,
993),
specially
9-103.
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70
/
Michael
Hays
Of
course,
his
ssay
s not the
place
to
undertake
full
nalysis
f the
theatre nd
the cultural
olitics
f the ast
century.7 y
aim here
s, rather,
irst
o
indicate hat
other ultural
alesthan hose old
by
Austenwere vailable
early
n
the
century,
nd,
then, oadd to Said's discussion fculture nd imperialism yofferingsupplement
regarding
he
way
in
which uch cultural
ifferences
an also
be traced ater n
the
popular
theatre
n
England
and elsewhere)
articularly
hat f
the ate
1850s nd
60s.
This
supplement
s
not ntended
o
refute,
ut
to amend and
augment
he
tory
f
the
imposition
f
mperialist
iscourse
hat
Said tells. also want to make
clear at
this
point
that am not
trying
o
suggest
thatthe theatre n
general
or
melodrama
n
particular
as somehow
free f
nationalist,olonialist,
r racist
epresentations
rior
to the atenineteenth
entury.
ather,
want o
argue
for he
necessity
f
ooking
t the
emergence
f
popular
drama
primarily
elodrama)
s
a marker f nd
participant
n
the
politically
harged
historical ransformation
f
British
nd other
uropean
ocie-
ties
n
the nineteenth
entury,
ocieties
orwhich the
novel,
s
Said
suggests,
ould
later ecome
both
unifying
nd
exclusionary
esthetic
con-the verbal
rendition f
the
patial,
inguistic,
nd social dimensions
f "our" culture.
It
is
particularly
mportant
o make this
rgument
bout the melodrama
ince the
genre
has so
frequently
een denied a careful istorical
eading-precisely
ecause of
the
pre-eminent
ultural tatus
granted
he novel.
Even
so
fine
cultural ritic
s
Raymond
Williams
alls
rey
o the
endency
o
denigrate
hemelodrama n
thebasis
of a received
udgment
bout
its artistic
value." He
utterly
ails
to
examine the
historical
pecificity
f
ndividual
plays
or the
way
in
which the
genre
functions
n
tandem
withother
ehicles f
cultural
roduction,
nstead
finding
t
paradoxical
hat
a form hat eemed to have moments f "social and moral consciousness"was so
convention
ound. Rather
han
xamine heuses to which
hematerial
taged
nd the
conventions
f
he
taging
were
put,
he concludes
hat hemelodrama
was,
ultimately,
"no
more han ensational
resentation...
a
mode
to
be
patronized
nd
mocked."'
To the
degree,
then,
hat Said conflates
he
development
f the novel with
the
development
f
the
oncept
literature"s
a mode
of
organizing
he
discourse
f
uch
7
A
few ritics
ave
lready egun
hework
f
xploring
henineteenth
enturyopular
rama nd
its ultural
ontext
n
some
detail.
Generallypeaking,
hese
ffortsan be divided
nto wo
groups:
thosewhich,ike eter rooks's heMelodramaticmaginationNewYork: olumbia niversityress,
1985),
re
caught p
in an
essentially
odernist
erspective
nd
read hemelodrama
hrough
he ens
of
psychoanalysis
n
order o
provide
n
overarching
et f
bstractions
bout
he ubversive
otential
of esthetic
ffect,
nd
thosemore
oncerned
ith
he oncrete
inks etween
he
melodrama,
ts
ublic,
and
relationsf
discourse
nd
power.
he atter
ry
nvarious
ways
understand
he
omplex olitical
dialectic
f ubversion
nd
repression
hat s
played
ut
n
the
paces
nd the
anguage
nhabited
y
themelodrama
nd its
udiences.
nteresting
ontributions
o this
atter ort
f
nvestigation
an be
found
n Marc
Baer,
Theatre
nd Disorder
n late
Georgian
ondon
Oxford
nd New York:
Oxford
University
ress,
992)
nd
especially
n
Anastasia
Nikolopoulou's
rtisanulturend
the
nglish
Gothic elodrama.
ruceMcConachie
lso takes
p
some
of these
uestions
n relation o
American
theatre
n
Melodramatic
ormations,
merican
heater
nd
Society
820-1870
Iowa
City:
University
f
Iowa
Press,
992).
"See
Raymond
Williams,
roblems
n
Materialism
nd
Culture.
elected
ssays
London
nd
New York:
Verso, 980), 37-38.Anyone amiliar ith he heatrend themelodramanthenineteenthentury
will
havenoted he
ther
estures
hat
eny
egitimacy
o
the
atter,
recisely
ydenying
t
the
high
status
ow
accorded
o the
novel
nd to "literature"-thus
ffectively
rasing
he ultural
ituation,
the
xpectations,
nd desires
f
he
udience
especially
he ower
lass
public)
hat
articipated
n
the
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REPRESENTING MPIRE
/
71
cultural
production,
e is
obliged
to
forgotelling
he
story
of the
tensions nd
resistances
hat
may
have
operated
within nd
against
his
process,
owever
unsuc-
cessfully,
n other
enres.
f,
s
Said
says,
henovel s
fundamentally
iedto
bourgeois
society,nd "accompanies nd ... is a partof theconquest fWesternociety y les
bourgeois
onquerants"
70,
the
reference ere s
to
a
book
by
Charles Moraze
which
carries
his
title),
t can
only
do
so at the
expense
of
or withthe
complicity
f
other
literary
orms
nd
other
cultural
frames f reference.
n other
words,
the
socio-
aesthetic
patialization
f
imperialist
iscourse
must
prevail
in a
multiplicity
f
cultural
ealms,
nd
in all social
groups
t
home
before t can
be
fully mplemented
s
a
universalizing
iscourse
broad.
So,
ust
as it has become
possible
nd
necessary
o
read
thetensions
nd
resistances
mbedded
n the
xchanges
etween
ubject
eoples
and
their
ostensible
masters,
t behooves us
to look for the
traces
of
oppositional
potential
within
hat
otherwise
might
eemto be a monolithicultural
nterprise-to
remain pen to thepossibility
f
discovering otentiallyounter-hegemonic
ultural
moments
hat
re made
visible
not
through
he
eruption
f overtclass and
socio-
economic
onflicts,
ut
nstead
hrough
heir
epresentation,
ediation
nd
transfor-
mation
n those
spaces
other
hanthe novel
n which
oppositional
ultural
nergies
have
not
yet
been
fully isplaced.
This s
especially
mportant
f
we
hope
to avoid the
deadly possibility
f
unconsciously eproducing,
lbeit
in inverted
fashion,
he
totalizing
mperialist
aradigm
of "us" and
"them"
by erasing
he
nternal onflicts
and
difference
hat
re also
part
of the
history
f the
mperialmetropolis.
t is also
pertinent
o
my argument
o remember
hat "colonial" and
"imperialist"
re
not
synonyms.
he
latter
arrieswith
t
a
history
f
nationalism,
tatism,
nd institution-
alized
racism
nd
repression
hat s
notcoextensive ith he
former,
nd that
equires
itsownspecificnalysis.
If,
hen,
we turn
o
the melodrama
f the
early
1860s,
we can do
so with
n initial
hypothesis
hat
hediscursive
nity
aid discovers
n the
ge
of Conrad
had not
only
not
yet)
prevailed
arlier
n the
entury,
ut that
thad
been held
n
abeyance
y
an
as
yet
nconclusive
truggle
or ultural
ominance,
oth
n the
public
realmof
politics
(forcefully
anifest
n the1830s
nd 40s
n
such
episodes
s
theChartistnd
Corn
Law
conflicts)
nd
in the cultural
ealm.
ndeed,
t
is
only
with
the
plays
of
Robertson,
Pinero and
Jones,
nd
the modernist
reoccupations
f
Shaw,
that
what
might
be
called
"aestheticized"
ramatic ulture
nd
imperialism
re
functionally
ntegrated
o
the
degree
hey
re n Conrad's novels.9
rior
o
this,
he
project
f
political
nclosure
and cultural ubmersion
uggested
n
Mansfield
arkhad
yet
obe
completed.10
o
get
representational
vent.
We,
of
course,
ave
nheritedhis
spect
f
the
nineteenth-century
ultural
discourse
n,
for
xample,
ur earned istaste or he bombast"
nd
"unrealistic"ituationshat
re
understoodo
be the
taple
f he
popular
melodrama. s a
fair
emonstration
f
he rasure f he
cultural
pecificity
f
the
melodrama
nd
of the lternative
oices
nd
expectations
hat
might
e
sought
ut
n
ts
history,
ee
James
.
Smith,
elodrama
London:
Methuen,
973).
9
As Ellen Gainorhas
shown, haw,
like
Conrad,
s aware of the
complex
nd destructive
relationship
hat xists etween
ngland
nd
ts olonies. ut
he
also enacts
mperial
ulture
n
ways
that
re
fully
n
ccordwith ts
rojects.
ee Ellen
Gainor,
Bernard
haw:
TheDrama f
mperialism,"
inThe erformancef ower. heatricaliscoursend olitics,d. Sue-Ellen ase andJanelleeineltIowa
City:University
f
owa
Press,
991),
6-74.
1'
Michael
ickering
ecently
ade related
rgument,
inding
t doubtful
hat
mperialism
as
in
any
sense
popular olitical
dea
before israeli's econd
premiership
f 1874-80." ee
his "Mock
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72
/
Michael
Hays
to that
point,
both
the
popular
drama and its
audience had to be
reconfigured,
included
fully
within he
cultural
olitics
arlier
egitimated
y
Austen's
narrative.
The drama
and
ts
udience)
had
to,
s
it
were,
earn o
speak differently,
o
accept
he
binding losureofthediscourse nd practice f mperialismnsteadofproducing
cultural
hetoric
f
ts own.
At the
ame
time,
he
"better"
lasses had
to
reconfigure
their
erceptions
f
certain
egments
f the ower
class
public-find ways
to
merge
them
positively
n
the
political
nd economic
paces
of their
worldly
ractice
nd in
the cultural
paces
open
to
representation
n
the theatre. ome of the
dimensions f
this
project
f transformation
ill be outlined
n
theremainder
f
this
ssay.
An
interesting
arker
f this
process,
nd
ofthe
resistance till
o
be overcome
an
be found n
Charles
Reade's It's Never ooLateto
Mend,
erformed
n
London
at
the
Princess's
heatre
n
1865.11his
play participates
n
a
socio-political
einscription
hat
was also
being
dvanced t the ime
n
a number
fother
ields
f ultural
roduction:
thefabulationfa new setof ocialmodelsof the nation" nd its nhabitants; new
image
of social
integration,
ontrol,
nd
stability
hat
historians
Michelet,
orex-
ample,
n
France)
nd
early ociologistse.g.,
pencer) ought
o theorize s a meansof
defining roper,
nclusive
ositions
or ll classes
even
the criminal s Foucaulthas
shown)-a
social recodification
hatmade
possiblepsychological
nd
anthropological
representations
f
the ndividual nd
thenation hatwerecrucial
o the
development
of the culture
of
high
imperialism
nd to
the
description
and
concomitant
marginalization)
f
colonial
peoples
outside henational
center."
There
re,
of
course,
umerous
paces
n
which
parts
f
this
ultural
ransformation
and
integration
re worked
out.
Some
of
the most
relevantwill be mentioned
n
passingin the discussionthatfollows.The focushere,however,s on thedrama.
Reade's
play
and
a number
f others
taged
n
the50s and the
60s
contribute
o the
imperial
roject y
enacting
dealized
transformations
f
exemplary igures
rom oth
inside nd outside
he
metropolitan
enter.
t the ame
time
heynecessarily
oint
o
some
of
the
contradictions
ithinBritish
ociety
hat
had
produced
the
compelling
internal
eed to
deploy
henew
cultural nd territorial
iscourse
perative
n Reade's
play.
f
choose
to focus
xclusively
n t's
Never oo ate o
Mend t
s
because believe
that close
reading
fone
play
will serve o better
nitiate
hisdiscussion hanwould
a
general
ummary rawing
on
a number f
plays.
Set
in
context,
t
can serve
to
document
a liminal
moment
t which
the
impoverishment
nd abuse
actually
experienced ytheunemployed,hedisplaced, nd thedisfranchised,ythepoten-
tially
rebellious
rtisans,
aborers,
nd
smallholders
n
England
are
placed
on
stage
and
transformed
nto
he ccasion
or he
production
f
willing articipants
n middle-
class
political
conomy
t home
and the
mperialist
dventure
broad.
Blacks and
Racial
Mockery.
The
'nigger'
minstrel
nd British
mperialism"
n
Acts
ofSupremacy:
he
British
mpire
nd the
tage
1790-1930,
d.
J.
.
Bratton,
t al.
(Manchester
nd
New York:
University
f
Manchester
Press,
1991),
185.
"
The
play
is Reade's
dramatized
version of
his novel of the
same
name,
but also
carrying
he
subtitle,
A Matter
of Fact
Romance"
(1856)
which was
in turn
developed
fromhis
early play,
Gold
(1852,firsttagedJan. 853).Aswillbe seen later nthis ssay,thetransformationshat akeplace from
one version
to the next
provide
interestinguggestions
bout
the inksbetween
iterary ractice
nd
shifting
ultural
paradigms
n
the
1850s nd
early
60s. With ach new version
ofthetale there re shifts
in
character nd
emphasis
that
mark the
evolving
context
n
which
t
appeared.
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REPRESENTING
MPIRE
/
73
Initially,
t
seems
that the
play
is
organized
around
what
we
have come
to
understand
s a
classic "melodramatic"
ituation.
young
man,
George
Fielding,
s
deeply
n love with
his
neighbor,
usan
Merton,
ut finds imself
rejected
s
a
suitor
because Susan's father illnotallow hertomarry manmarked s George sbyhis
failure o
pay
the renton his farm.This seems
especially
ruel because
George's
mother
ad,
years
before,
elped
Susan's
father
ut
of
seriousdifficulties.f
course,
behind
all of this urks
the
villain,
Meadows,
a
money
ender
nd land
speculator
whose name
s
ironically
vocative
f one
ofhis
primary
nterests.
e has
bought
up
the
debt
on a number
f houses
in
the
village
and is anxious
to
foreclose
whenever
possible.
At the
very
beginning
f the
play
Meadows states
his
position
uite
clearly.
"I
have
always
put my
foot
n
whatever
as
stood
n
mypath."12
eedless
to
say,
he,
too,
s
desperately
n
ove with he
beautiful
usan, nd, therefore,
lso anxious
to
get
George
out of
the
way.
Meadows conspires oforceGeorge o leave hisvillageand voyagetoAustralian
search
of
the
money
he
needs
to wed
Susan.
He
then ricks
usan
into
believing
hat
George
has
married
omeone
else. Because of
this
Susan,
after
putting
up great
resistance,
grees
to
marry
Meadows;
but on
the
very
ve of
their
wedding
Fielding
returns,
nd
after ome
further
oments
f ension he
play
ends
happily
with
George
and
Susan
together
nd Meadows
on his
way
to
prison.
n
other
words,
he
play
fits
our modern
understanding
f
a
rigorously
ormulaicmelodrama.But what
is
of
interest
ere is not
the
possibility
f
proving
hat
there
might
have
been
such
a
formula.What
matters
s the
way
n which he
formula
s
used
o both
figure
nd
occult
social and
economic ssues
that,
f onfronted
irectly,
ould no doubt
have
produced
a farmorethreateningicture f thepolitical ituationnEnglandat thetime.The
formulaic
spect
of the
play,
recisely
ecause
of ts
familiarity,
llowed
the
audience
to
easily
dentify
ith
the
young
overs
nd,
at
the
same
time,
nderstand
oncrete
formulations
f
social,
political,
nd economic
nequity
s
parts
of
a
momentary
dilemma.
What
then
s
the
historical
round
that
s
engaged
by
the
generic ractice
f
the
play?
f
we turn o
the
opening
cene we note that
t
actually egins
with
Meadows
trying
o
foreclose
n
the home
of saac
Levi,
an
aging
Jew
who,
ike
Meadows,
was
also
a
money
ender,
ut
who
now
simply
wants o
ive out
his
final
ays
n
the
peace
ofhis own
home.
This,
nd
his
treatment
f
Fielding,
rovide
xamples
f
peculation
and exploitation hatare not merely melodramatic"ropes.They correspond o
economic
practices
which,
t the
time
the
play
was
written,
ere
in
fact
driving
numbersof
people
off heir
and.
Laws
that
llowed
absentee andlords
to
amass
extensive
holdings
nd
extract
mpoverishing
ents
rom
enants
ad
already
been
denounced
a
decade and
more
earlier,
ut
with
the
growth
f
suburbs
round
the
major
manufacturing
owns,
he
problem
ad
worsened.
ndeed,
t
thetime
he
play
was
written,
and reform
gitation
een further
purred
y
the
attempts
f
London
landlords
to
appropriate
ommon ands for
building
development.13
ut here the
12
CharlesReade,
t's
Never
oo ate
o
Mend.
An
edition
f
Charles eades
unpublished
rama
with
an introductionnd notes yLeoneRives Toulouse:mpr. oulousaine,940), 0.Allfurtherage
references
illbe
cited
n
the
ext.
'3In
The tructured
rowd.
ssays
n
English
ocial
History
Brighton,
ussex:
Harvester
ress,
981),
106-10,
arold
Perkinndicates hat
Hampstead
eath,
lapham,
nd
Wandsworthommons
ere
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74
/
Michael
Hays
topical
issue
of
land
speculation
nd economic
exploitation
n the
part
of
large
landholders
s a
group
s
displacedby
a
portrayal
f the
solated vil
caused
by
one
individual
n
particular.
Meadows's
"melodramatic"
ruelty
laces
him
outside
the
"normal" ocioeconomicrder,n a position efined s muchby iterarynddramatic
tradition
s
by
his
specific
ctions: heecho
of
Shylock aintly
reserved
n
the
figure
of the
Jewish
moneylender
educes
Meadows's
status o
that
of
social
pariah,
ince
Levi
is,
n
comparison,
worthy
member
f
theworld
figured y
the
play.
This shift
f
focus
lso
helps
blunt
he force f the
complaints
oiced
by
another
character
n
the
opening
ct:
Tom
Robinson,
n old
friend
f
George's
who
has been
visiting
rom he
ity,
ives
voiceto
some
very
erious
hough
ot
very
well
elaborated
political
nd economic
harges. ngland
s
not ivable
he
says,
This
erymorning
heard neof
your lodhoppersay,
The
quire
e a
goodgentleman;
he
often
ives
me
day's
work " should hinkt
was the
lodhopperave
he
entlemana
day's
work,nd the
gentleman
ave
him
shilling
nd madefive
y
t.
...)
Come
George,
ngland
s the
pot
f
youhappen
obe married
o duke's
aughter:
nd
got
ifty
thousand
year-and
wo ouses nd coach.... But hissland s
the ead Sea
to
poor
man.
[27]
Such
sentiments,
hen
expressed
n
thecontext fthe
Chartist nd labor
agitation
f
the recent
past,
had been sufficientause for the
speaker
to be
transported
s
a
fomenterf
riminal
ctivity,
uthere
hey
ave
a
different
ffect.14
hile he
mere act
thatRobinson
s allowed to
give
voice to
these deas
implies
heir
perative
xistence
in
the
realworld
ofthe
udience,
heultimate ole
hey
lay
n this
drama s
in
fact
o
transformhehistoricalround n which hey tand.Rather hanmarking confron-
tational
situation,
ne
which would
delineate
the
class, economic,
nd
political
inequities
n
England
hathad
been
furtherxacerbated
y
the conomic ownturn f
the ate
1850s,
hey
pen
the
way
to
a
transformationf thereal ocial and economic
tensions
n
England
nto discursive
nity
made
possibleby
the
Empire.15
ven
before
this
happens,
however,
he
truth
alue
of
Robinson's omments
s
diminished
y
our
discovery
hat
he s
really
thief ho has fled he
ity
n
order o avoid arrest. he
fact
targets
f
uch
fforts.
he
year
fter eade's
lay ppeared,
he
Metropolitan
ommons
ct
1866)
was passed to prevent hiskind of encroachment. thermajorcitiesexperienced imilarexpansion
into
new areas
as fashionable
uburbs
developed;
Clifton or
Bristol,
AlderlyEdge
and
Wilmslow for
Manchester,
nd
Edgbaston
for
Birmingham.
ee
J.
M.
Golby
and
A. W.
Purdue,
TheCivilization
f
he
Crowd
New
York: Schocken
Books,
1985),
145.
14
For some
examples
of the
transportation
f these
criminals,"
ee
E. P.
Thompson,
The
Making f
he
English
Working
lass
(New
York:
Vintage,
1977),
222, 226-27, 249,
513.
1s
he
degree
to which this
discursive
hift ucceeded
in
changing
he
tory
f ower class
emigration
is evident
if
one
compares
the events
limned
by
the
play
with the
explanation
offered
y
a later
historian
f the
empire.
G.
M.
Trevelyan's
confidence
n
the
imperial
discourse
with which he was
raised allows
him
to
assert
that,
until the
end of the
Victorian
ra there
were
still
arge
numbers
of
persons
born
and bread
as
agriculturalists,
nd
desiring
no better
han to obtain
land of their
own
beyond
the ocean.
It
is
only
of recent
years
that fear
has
arisen est the
English
race,
at home
and in
the
Dominions,
may by
choice
eschew the
rural ife nd
crowd too
exclusively
n
the cities.
Trevelyan,
History f England,3 (1926,Third ed., reissued with minorcorrections,Garden City,New York:
Doubleday
&
Co.,
1952),
207. As
Eric
Hobsbawn later
demonstrates,
twas enforced
overty,
he result
of
economic
undermining
f the
agrarian
ife,
ather han
free
hoice that
was the
primary
ause
of
such
emigration.
.
J.
Hobsbawn,
The
Age
ofCapital
New
York:
Scribner,
975),
181ff,
00.
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REPRESENTING
MPIRE
/
75
that he
play
shows
such malcontents
re
"criminal"
nd
also under
urveillance o
doubt served
to reduce
the
anxiety
f
the
"better"
arts
of an audience that
would
surely object
to the
politics
implicit
n his
lines.
Nonetheless,
hey
have
been
introducednto theplay, ust as Meadows's land speculationhas: class divisions,
political
nd
economic
onflict
isturb he mall
worldon
stage,
nd
by
the
end
of
he
first ct
the
original
ocial
nexus
of the
village
s
thoroughly pset.
If the
play
implicitly
sks
whether
ngland
could
be the
politically
nd economi-
cally
fragmented
nd
oppressive
lace
suggested
y
these
characters,
he
answer
to
this
uestion
s
also
already
vailable
n
the ituation
t
the
lose
ofthe ct.
"England"
is not
ust
the
pace
occupied
by
these ndividuals
r this
illage.
Australia
s
proposed
to
George
and to
the
audience
as an extension
f the
English
domain,
territory
f
promise
or
nergetic
orkers
n search
f
better uture-not s
penal colony
where
lower-class
roublemakers
uch
as Robinson
had
habitually
een
sent.16
ikewise,
Robinson'sdiscourseofresistanceo socialand economic xploitation ill be trans-
formed
n the
rest f
the
play,
merging
inally
s a
positive
vocation
f
participation
in
an
imperial
project
that allows free
movement
etween
the
colonies
and
the
England
for
ll native
Englishmen.
The
difference
etween his
reatment
f
theAustralian olonies
nd thatfound
n
Dickens s
worth
oting
ere,
ince
t
provides
ome sense
ofthe
rapid
transformation
of their tatus
s the
need to
recast
he
relationship
etween
he
ower
classes
and the
colonies
grew.
As
Robert
Hughes
points
ut,
Dickens's
reatment
f
Magwich
n
Great
Expectations
1861)
shows
that
he retains
farmorerestrained
iew of
the
Australian
convict.17
ince
the
novel s set
n an earlier
eriod,
Dickens
s
historicallyustified
n
barringMagwich'sreturnoEngland, ut at the ametime, henovelclearly etains
the
idea
that
although ransported
onvicts
may
redeem
themselves
hrough
ard
work,
oth
they
nd
thecolonies
remain
egregated
rom he
metropolitan
enter.
f
course,
n David
Copperfield,
icawber
willingly migrates
o
Australia,
ut his choice
and his
situation
re
exemplary
f a
literary
unction
ssigned
to the colonies
n
the
industrial
ovel
of
he
1840s nd
early
850s
where,
s
Raymond
Williams as
pointed
out,
they
served
as
a
means
of
resolving
onflict
hrough
permanent hysical
removal
f the
characters
o a
space
outside
England.'s
Said
presentsMagwich
n
particular
s
yet
another
emonstration
f
the
way
in
whichthe
novelists
e invokes
make use of
thecolonies
without
ver
really llowing
'6
Transportation
o
Australia
fficially
nded
n
1868,
uthad
been
under
riticismor
ome
years,
particularly
fterhe
iscovery
f
gold
hat
igures
o
importantly
nthis
lay.
ee Robert
ughes,
he
Fatal hore:
he
pic f
Australia's
ounding
New
York:
nopf,
987),
specially
hs.
5-16.
As
Hughes
suggests,
he
original
urpose
f
transportation
o
Australia as
to
"sublimate,
eter,
eformnd
colonize"
582).
Of
hese our
ims,
nly
he ast emained
elevant
tthis
oint
n
time.
clear
icture
of
he ffort
ndertakeno
ncourage
orking
lass
migration
o
Australia
s
provided
y
Ellen
Clacy
in
A
Lady's
Visit o
the
Gold
Diggings
f
Australia
n 1852-53.Written
n
the
pot
y
MrsCharles
lacy
(1853),
d. Patricia
hompson
London:
Angus
&
Richardson,
963).
he also
signals
he nternal
pressure
hat
fueled his
effort:Much
s
done
now-a-days
o
assist
emigration,
ut
far
greater
exertions
re
neededbefore ither
hedemand or abour
n
the
olonies
r
the
oversupply
f
t
n
England anbe exhausted158).Atthe timeReadewrotehisplay onlythe atter ondition till
obtained.
17
he
atal
hore,
86.
"
See
Raymond
Williams,
ulture
nd
ociety
New
York:
Harper
&
Row,
1966).
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76
/
Michael
ays
these
places
formal
pace
or
presence.
n
contrast,
eade,
n
both
the
novel
and
the
play,
boasts
of the
authenticity
f his
representations
f
the
places
and
the
practices
that re available
for ower
class
self-transformation,
transformation
hat
does not
evict hem romhemetropolis,utprovides hemwith hewherewithalo returnnd
re-establishhemselves
n
England
s
model
burghers.
he
Empire
holds out ts
hand
here
to the
poor
Englishman
n
need-George Fielding
will
attempt
o
found
new
and better
ife
by farming
nd
prospecting
or
gold
in
the Australian
olonies,
nd
Robinsonwill
oin
him
ater,
fter
e
spends
some
time n
one
of the
new
prisons
where
he
will
be
disciplined
y
the
ilent nd
solitary ystem
f
which
Foucaulthas
written
o much-and whichDickens o
distrusted.19
The
next two
acts
of
the
play
offer urther
nsights
nto both
ocals,
but
only
to
legitimate
he roles
these
places
play
n
makinggood
fellow itizens f
what would
have
earlier een
regarded
y
the
upper
classes
as
potentially
angerous
ndividuals.
From hecontemporaryudience'spointofview, hemost tartlingfthese ctswas
surely
he
econd,
which
akes
us
into he
new
"borough aol"
in
which
Robinson
as
been
confined
long
with
Josephs,
young
ad
who,
n thefirst
ct,
had
been
caught
stealing otatoes
fromMeadows.
Here
again
it s
Meadows who is the
sourceof an
injustice
ver
which
the
audience
will be
free
o
weep-without
ever
calling
the
political
nd
legal
systems
nto
uestion.
ndeed,
his
s
probably
he
most
mportant
function
fthe
ct
as a
whole:to
allow
for
compassionate
econciliation
etween
he
audience
and its
counterparts
n
stage.
We enter he
prison
milieu
long
with
dear,
good
Susan,
who
has
brought ifts
o
Robinson,
nd
so,
withher
nd
through
er
yes,
experience
he
egitimation
f
the
udicial
order nd the
reintegration
f
Robinson nto
society. his legitimatingunction elongsto herprimarily ecause she does not
participate
n
the
worldly
ffairs
f
men,thus,
perhaps,
ndicating
need
to
keep
women out of
public
life and
politics
n
orderto create
n
"untainted"
ource
of
cultural
alidation
n
this
moment
f
vast
cultural ransformation.
In
the econd
scene
of this ct
Robinson escribes is
condition s
follows:
When
first
ame ere hadn't
bad
heart,
hough
y
onduct
asbad.
was
felon,
ut
I was a
man.And had
secret
espect
or he
aw;
who
hasn't? nless e s a
fool
s
well
as
a
rogue.
uthere find he aw as
great
felon s
any
f
my
als.
Here he awbreaks
the
aw;
steals
prisoner's
ood
ontrary
o
the
aw
and
claps
prisoner
n
a blackhole
contrary
o
he
aw,
nd
forces
im o elf-murder
ontrary
o he aw.
o
now
.. I
despise
theaw becauset sa liar nd thief.loathehe awbecauset sa murderer.
[45]
This is
strong
tuff. ut
we must
keep
in
mind thatRobinson'sremarks re also
representative
f he iberal
enal
doctrine
f
he ime nsofar s he
presents
imself
s
someone
who
has
been
bad but
s notbad of heart. n other
words,
he is
potentially
open
to
self-discipline
nd
reform-if
iven
he
opportunity-which
s
precisely
hat
the new
prison
ystem
as
opposed
to
the
old
jail regime)
was
supposed
to offer.n
effect,
he
play
tests hisnotion
y pitting
wo
figures
eemingly epresentative
fthe
state
gainst
ach
other:
den,
the
prison haplain,
nd
Hawes,
the
prison
governor.
Edenconfronts
awes,
saying you
have no
right
o
reduce
prisoner's
ood,
norto
torment im na punishmentacket."WhenHawes insists hathe,notEden, smaster
19See
Michel
oucault,
iscipline
nd
Punish
New
York:
Vintage,
977),
/1.
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REPRESENTING MPIRE
/
77
of the
prison,
den
responds,
the aw is
your
master
nd mine."Hawes
persists,
nd
Eden
vows he
will
appeal
to the
Home
Secretary,
nd if thatdoesn't
work,
to
the
Crown,
nd
beyond
hat o the
people
in
other
words,
o the udienceofthis
play)
n
order osee whetherthe awcanpenetrate prison" 44).Nevertheless,awes sends
Robinson o
the "black hole"
and causes
Josephs
o suffero
horribly
hat
he
finally
commits
uicide.
But these re
solely
he cts
of a
governor
who has failed o
follow
the
rules set
down
by
the
state. As with
Meadows,
it is
the individual who is
delinquent,
ot the order
hathad made their ctivities
ossible.
This
exculpation
f the
regime
eems
to me to be
exactly
parallel
to the
public
response
precipitated
y
an
event
n
the olonieswhich
ctually
ook
place
somewhat
later
n
the
year
hatReade's
play
was
staged:
when
E.
J.
yre,
heGovernor f
Jamaica
ordered
retaliatory
assacre fter ome black
islandershad killed several
whites
during
n
uprising,
he
response
n
England
focused
primarily
n
Eyre,
not on the
institutionshatmade hisregime ossible.Theimportantifference,fcourse, ies n
the
fact hat
for
Robinson,
white
Englishman,
he
finalresult s
integrative;
e is
ultimately
o be reunited
with
the
ocial
body
n
England,
while theblacks
iving
n
Jamaica
re
either ncluded
n
the
mperium
s its
ervants,
r as
"subjects"
hat ad
a
theoretical
ight
o
protection
rom
rbitrary
urder,
ut notto
socio-politicalquity.
As
Edward Said
points
out when he
briefly
iscussesthis
ncident, uskin,
Carlyle,
and
Arnold
upportedyre's
ction
as
did Charles
Kinsley,
ennyson,
nd
Dickens,
who for some reason
Said
fails to
mention)
while
Mill,
Huxley,
Darwin,
Herbert
Spencer,
nd Goldwin
Smith enounced
Eyre
s a
tyrant
nd murderer
ho
violated
the "natural
rights"
f
English
ubjects.
These
rights,
owever,
id not
nclude the
"native"right oresistmperial uthority.20
It
is
precisely
his difference
hat
helps explain
the
functional
mportance
f
the
prison
cenes
n
Reade's
play.
Robinson,
who would have
earlier een
regarded
s
a
potentially
angerous
ubject
nd,
like
his Irish
ounterparts,
ould have been cast
away
in
one of he
white olonies
n
Australia
s,
here,
irstreformed"
nd then ecast
as
a
legitimate articipant
n
a
new
national rder hat
promises
new
harmony
f
interests
n
England,
a
harmony
ased on a new
understanding
f
interpersonal
relations t home
and a common
mastery
f
subject
peoples
abroad. The
very
real
socio-economic
lls adumbrated
y
Robinson's ituation
nd
remarks,
nd the
political
resistances
hey
might
ngender,
ill be
displaced
by
a
discourse
hat
rges
he ower
classes to direct heir ttentionlsewhere, eyond heeveryday eality fEngland n
order o
achieve
ocial and economic
egitimation.
enry
awcett,
contemporary
f
Reade's,
best sums
up
thiswished-for ew order
n
his Economic osition
f
he
British
Labourer
1865);
he
looks forward o
a
society
f
well-fed,
ell educated
citizens,
with
skilled rtisans nd
peasant proprietors
t
the
base-scavanged
for nd
waited
upon
by Negroes
nd Chinese.21
20
For
furthernformation f the
Eyer
controversy
ee Bernard
emmel,
Jamaican
lood
nd Victorian
Conscience: he Governor
yre
Controversy
Boston:
Houghton
Mifflin,
963)
and Gillian
Workman,
"Thomas Carlyle and the GovernorEyre Controversy:An Account with Some New Material,"
Victorian
tudies18
(September
1974):
77-102.
21
ited
in
G. M.
Young,
Victorian
ngland.
ortrait
f
n
Age,
nd.
ed.
(London
and
New York:
Oxford
University
ress,
1953),
111.
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78
/
Michael
ays
This
dea seems
to be
the
mperial,
conomic
ognate
f the
"coherent
eterogene-
ity"
hat
pencer
had
proposed
n
his
First
rinciples
1862)
as the
necessary
pshot
f
biological
volution
nd
the
founding rinciple
n the
progress
f
human ocieties
s
theymovetoward thegreatesterfectionnd themost omplete appiness."22ven
if
the "nature"
of this
process
emerges
omewhat
differently
n
the
play,
the
goal
appears
to be
the same.
And,
to the
degree
hat
Robinson
s
successfully
rged
nto
participation,
he
opposing
groups
n the udiencetoo
may
be convinced o set
aside
certain
istorical nimosities.
ndeed,
he
play
offershe ame sort f
reconsideration
of
the tatus
nd
situation
f the
working
lass
formerly
he
"inescapable"
ource
of
the
petty
riminal)
s did
popular
contemporary
ooks such as Samuel Smiles's
Self-
help
1859)
and William
Anderson's
Self-made
en
(2nd
ed.
1865).
While
urging
workers
o abor
diligently
o
mprove
heir
ot,
hesebooks also
projected
new and
positive
mage
of
aboring
olk or
he
upper
classes-as
aspirants
o the
ame values
as their
etters
nd as
co-producers
f the
wealth
nd
power
of a
greater
ngland.13
An
example
of the
degree
to
whichthis dea
of
greater
nity
nd mutualunder-
standing
ad
spread
n
England
t the ime an be found
n theAnnual
Report
f the
YorkshireUnion
of Mechanic's
nstitutes
or 1861. The Mechanic's nstitutes
re
offered
s
"an
admirable
ommon
round
whereon herich nd
the
poor,
he
ducated
and
the
gnorant
might
meet,
might
earn o understand
ach other
etter,
nd
perhaps
respect
ach
other
more."24
can
think fno
better
escription
f
the
deal
ideological
function
f Reade's
play
in
the
context f
the
popular
theatre f the
day
and,
more
particularly,
n
terms
f
hemixed
udience
t thePrincess's.
While
watching
his
lay,
the
working
lass
and lower
middle lass
spectators
ouldhave
their elf-esteem
ifted
and feel ncouraged ounitewith heir betters"n oint ppreciationf he ransform-
ing
effort
f the
colonial
adventure
hat
unfolds
n the next act.
The
upper
class
members
f the
audience,
on the
other
hand,
could discover
virtues"
n
the
ower
classes
that
ould
make them
ocially
nd
politically
moreattractive.
nd
together
they
ould
momentarily
nact
version
fthe
"coherent
eterogeneity"
heorized
y
Spencer.
ndeed,
his
eems
tobe the
value ofthe
play
as
whole,
value attested
o
by
its
runof
148
performances
byway
of
comparison,
ean's
production
f
Winter's
ale
at
the
Princess's
few
years
arlier an
for 07
performances
nd
was considered
uite
a
success).
Its
unifying
iscourse
nd
its
representation
f an
internally
oherent
England
allow the
members
f theaudience
to
surmount
heir wn
class differences
just
s
they
nd
their
eers
were
xpected
o unite
n "common nterest"
hen imited
franchise as extended o certain rtisans ndmembers f the owermiddleclass in
1867.25
This new
cultural
aradigm
egins
o take
hape
when
Robinson
s freed
n
parole
as
part
of the
"ticket
f eave"
program
hathad
in
fact
ecently
een introduced
n
England
nd
that
om
Taylor,
eade's
friend
nd
sometimes
ollaborator,
ad
already
22
ee
Herbert
pencer,
First
Principles
fourth
d.,
1900),
340-71,
407,
530.
23
For
some
further omments
n
this
ubject
ee
E.
J.
Hobsbawn,
The
Age of
Capital,
38.
24
Cited
in
J.
F.
C.
Harrison,
Learning
nd
Living,
790-1860.
A
study f
the
English
dult education
movementToronto:Universityf TorontoPress,1961),75-76.
25
On
the
Reform
Act and
political
value
of
this
vercoming
f difference
hrough
limited
ranchise
as well
as the
resultant
plit
between
artisans
nd
the
"masses,"
see
Hobsbawn,
The
Age of
Capital,
24,
but
cf.
Trevelyan,
History f
England,
,
203-06.
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REPRESENTING
MPIRE
/
79
celebrated
n
The
Ticket-of-Leave
an
(1863).
Robinson s
enjoined
o
"repent,
nd
...
labourwith
his]
hands,
nd
stealno more"
50).
After
eceiving
letter
rom
usan
to
George,
he
sets
off orAustralia
o
build a
new
ife.
hus,
he
ension
roducedby
the
violenceof theprison cenesandbyJosephs's eathfinds eleaseboth na confirma-
tionofthe
ustness
ftheorder ehind he
penal
system
nd,
once
again,
n
the dea of
thecolonies
s a
place
to
workout one's authentic
elation
o the
metropolitan
enter.
Thanksto the
Empire,
George
nd
Robinsonwill be
united
n
their
uest
to
become
true,
fulfilled
nglishmen.
his thenbecomes the core
of
the
third ct and central
moment
fthe
play,
heultimate ransformationfAustralia rom
enal colony
nto
land
of
opportunity,
nd the
legitimation
f
colonial
exploitation
s
a
necessary
adjunct
of such
opportunity-exploitation
efined
s
a
"profitable"
nteraction
e-
tween
colonials
of
every
lass and
the
colonized
nativeswhom
they
upervise.
Reade claims
o have done extensive esearch or he cenes
n
Australia nd
forhis
presentationfJacky,he okenAboriginef heplay.Nonetheless,t sobvious hat e
(like
Isaac
Levi,
whom
I
mentioned
arlier)
s
actually
literary
rtifact,
revised
example
of
the
stage
"African,"26
ut
into
play
here
o confirm
larger
iction f the
general
elation
etween
he olonist nd
the olonized
ubject.
t
s
Reade's claim hat
what
he offers ere
is
historically
ccurate
hat
makes
Jacky
ifferent
rom
ther,
earlier
tage
figures
f
this
type.
Reade himself
ad,
for
xample,
ncluded
several
other
Australian lacks"
along
with
Jacky
n
the
play
Gold,
ut none of
themwere
focused
upon
as instances
f
the racial distinctionshatfound and
justify
olonial
exploitation.
hey
were
merely
seful
comic)
background,"
s
was
the
tereotypical
stage
rishwoman,
Mary
McDoggherty,
ho
appeared
with hem.
n
the
novel
and
in
the ater lay, owever, newelements ntroduced. acky's resence, speciallynthe
more
tightly
ocused context
f the second
play,
serves to
delineate
what Reade
claimed
was
the
"reality"
fAustralian ife.
He
proudly
nnounced
hat
he had
read
"some
thirty
ooks"
on Australiawhile
preparing
he
novel,
ust
as
he had
done
preparatory
esearch
or
the
prison
scenes. This
new
"realism,"
which is
actually
concernedmore
with
details
things)
hanwith
persons
and
thusmoves
towardwhat
Luka'cs aterdefined
s
naturalism),
elps
create
visual/spatial
ontext hat rans-
forms haracters
uch
as
Jacky
rommere tock
igures
n
the
genre
nto
uthoritative
("anthropological")
epresentations
f
cultural
roups
nd
their
elations.27
26
n
addition
oother
ources,
eade's
ortrait
f
Jacky
ertainly
wes
omething
o
towe's
ncle
Tom's
Cabin,
book
thathad been
given
a
number f
dramatic reatments
n
England
in
1852 and
later,
and whose
proclaimed
factual asis
had,
in
part, nspired
his own "realism."See
Wayne
Bums,
Charles
Reade.
A
Study
n Victorian
uthorship
New
York: Bookman
Associates,
1961),
131-33.
27The
historical
ole and the
significance
f
this
mergence
f "realism" n the
drama
n
the
1850s has
not
yet
been
explored
n
any
detail and
certainly
merits urther
nquiry.
Though
Lukacs
has
proposed
that
the
development
of realism nvolves a move from he
historical rama
to
thehistorical
ovel and
a shift rom he
depiction
of
a
"totality
f action: to a
"totality
f
things"
Lukacs,
The
Historical ovel
(Boston:
Beacon
Press,
1963),
92],
the
questions
that
impose
themselves
here are
whether this turn
toward the
"epic"
(a
term hatBrecht ater
aid
claim
to
as
part
of
his
dramaturgic
esponse
to
realism)
should indeed be
defined
generically,
s
a shift rom
he dramatic o the
epic
(the
novel);
whether
and
why)
realism
develops
earlier than is
usually
assumed
in
the
drama;
and
to
what
degree
this shift
marks theabsorption fthetheatre-particularlyhe melodrama and the audience forwhomitmight
have embodied
vestiges
of
resistance nd
difference--into
he
imperialist
ultural
project
s
a whole.
For a
discussion
of the
early stages
of the
"literary"
erspective
that inks the
development
of the
realisticnovel to the
changing
perspective
n
character
n
nineteenth-century
ramatic
riticism,
ee
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80
/
Michael
ays
Thus t
s thatwhen
George
eappears
n
the
play
he is
accompanied
y
Jacky,
ho,
needless to
say,
s his
servant.
ogether
hey
onfigure
nd
justify
he
fundamental
structuresf
mperial
ultural elations.
We see "Massa
George"
akeon
what
can
only
be understood s "the whiteman'sburden"ofeducatingJacky-in"comic"scenes
about such
things
s
Jacky's
ntellectual
nability
o
negotiate
he
change
n
tempera-
turefrom he heat
of
midday
to the chill
of
evening, change
that
George's
colored
"friend"
s
apparently
ot
able
to
predict:
When
Jacky
good
deal
hot
here
..
he
can't feel
berry
ittle
old a
longway
off .
Jacky
ot
white
fellow"
59).
From
here,
the
play
moves
to a
portrayal
f
Jacky
s
the
stereotypical
appy
savage,
willing
o
serve,
but
lacking
mental and moral
sufficiency:
eorge
comments n
his
"poor
shallow brain"
62).
But
Jacky
s
above
all
loyal.28
hen
George
gets
ick,
Jacky
tays
with him and tends him
as
best he
can,
but,
of
course,
he
doesn't
do
too well.
Fortunately,
obinson
ppears
on
the cene
ust
n
time;
t s
he,
not,
Jacky
hat
knows
how to
get George
back
on
his
feet.Robinson's arrival
also makes
possible the
introduction
f more
comic business
demonstrating
oth
Jacky's gnorance
nd
an
Englishman's
pluck":
when
Jacky
hreatens obinsonwith a
tomahawk
sic),
he is
easily
put
n his
place
by
a
few
trong
words
67).
After his series
of
patronizing
nd
emphatically
acist
representations,
he
play
moves
on to the crucial
momentwhen
Jacky
nacts the deal role
of the
colonized
subject.
earning
hat
George
nd Robinson re in
search
f
gold,
he
leads
them o
a
nugget arge
enough
to secureboth their utures. his
moment
ot
only
sets
up
the
"happy
end" the udience
expects,
t
also
givesGeorge
nd
Robinson n
opportunity
to comment
urther
n
Jacky's
haracter. e
is
presented
s
both a
savage
and
as
"natural"man: "thesepoorsavageshave gotan eye likea hawk for verythingn
nature"
76).
Jacky
s
the "noble
savage"
who
gladly
revealsthe existence f a
great
nugget,
whichhe refers
o as a
"yellow
tone,"
o his
whitemasters. obinson
ays
to
George:
"Here
is
a
true
philosopher.
Here's
Ebony
despises
Gold"
(77).
Idealism
combines
nicely
with
apital
t
this
point
o
prove
that
he
"philosophical" borigine
desires o
help
his whitemaster
o
empire
nd economic
well-being.
his
s
no doubt
the
Englishman's
ompensation
or
being
cut
off rom
ature. t
is
also the
point
at
which the
lower and
upper
class members
of
the audience share
again
in
the
pleasurable
discovery
f
n
idealized
space
beyond
he
metropolis
seful
or
uilding
mutual onfidence
nd,
possibly,
ucrative oexistence-thanks o
this
demonstration
of their
ommon
English
uperiority
ver
subaltern
eoples.
What
s most
nteresting
bout
this ection
f
he
play
s that t
s n
fact ased
in
real
events.
But those
events,
which
had been
widely
publicized
n
England
n the
early
1850s,
are
not
reproduced
n the
play.
nstead of
the
story
f
an
educated,
native
Australian
who worked
for
Dr.
W.
J.
Kerr,
nd
who,
after
eporting
heexistence
f
a
huge gold
nugget,
was
rewarded
albeit
nsufficiently)
ith
"two
flocks
f
sheep,
two saddle
horses,..,.
a
quantity
f
rations,
nd..,.
a team
of
bullocks
o
plow
some
Jonathan
rac,
"Hamlet,
Little
Dorrit,
nd the
History
fCharacter"
n Critical onditions.
egarding
he
Historical
Moment,
d.
Michael
Hays (Minneapolis:
University
f Minnesota
Press,
1992),
82-96, and,
further, rac,CommissionedpiritsNew Brunswick,NJ:RutgersUniversity ress,1979),chs.5-6, and
David
Simpson,
Romanticism,
ationalism,
nd
theRevolt
Against
Theory.
28
The
Anthropological
eview
f
1866
p.
120)
asserts
hat
[the
Negro
and the
Mongol]
are beardless
children,
whose
life s
a
task
and
whose chiefvirtue
onsists
n
unquestioning
bedience."
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REPRESENTING
MPIRE
/
81
land
in which
he
and
his
brother]
re about to sew maize and
potatoes,"
nd instead
of
factual
eportage
n the
waning
f he
gold
boom
n
Australia,
r
the
political
nrest
among
the
white)
workers
here,
r the
anti-Chinese
entiment
hathad
grown
up
around1860 therewere bout15,000 hinese nAustralia tthe ime)when therewas
less
land
to
prospect,
we are
introduced o
Jacky
whose
representative
tatus
s
underlined
y
the
fact e
is made thechief
f an
aboriginal
ribe.29
Of
course,
he
play
does notmove
quite
o
simply
r
directly
s I have
presented
t.
Events
n
the
last act
unfold,
s did those
of
the
first nd
second,
n a
context f
"melodramatic"
ension
hat eaves
the audience
no time to reflect n the
possible
discrepancies
etween
known facts
nd the
play's
situation,
he characters r
their
actions.
Jacky
s
quickly
eft ehind
n
the
final
cenes
of the
play
so
thatwe can have
a
joyous
reunion
between
George
and
Susan-a
reunion
hat seems to set
up
an
equation
between
Susan
and the
empire,
oth
of which must
be
wrested
from
he
hands of lesserbeings,with the formererving o complete nd validate the life
founded
by
the
atter.
he end
of the
play
also
brings ogether
hevarious
figures
f
the
first ct
in such
a
way
as
to re-establish
on
a
new
socioeconomic
lane)
the
community
hat
had
initially
een
disrupted
y
Meadow's
corrupt
nd antisocial
activities.
t
seems
ove,
hard
work,
nd
moral
righteousness onquer
all,
while the
(melo)drama
hat
ustains hem unctions
uperbly
s a
means
of
uniting
ll
classes n
the audience
in
the
desire
to
experience
urther
epresentations-if
ot the actual
labor-of
the
unifying
nd
sustaining
roject
f
empire.
In
this
ense,
Reade's
work
s
exemplary
f
the
pecifically
imperialist"
rientation
that
merged
n
the
drama of the
1850s nd
60s. FromTheWhite
lave,
r The
Flag of
Freedom1849)toBritish orn1872)performancesn theatres or heworking lasses
and formixed
audiences
urged
the
unity
nd dominance
f
the
British race"
in
the
imperial
nterprise.
his
type
f
play appeared
most
forcefully
fter
he
Crimean
War,
which
n
itself
an be seen
as a
crucial
tagingpoint
for he
nternal
eordering
f
British ultural
llegiances.30
hese
fabulations f
general nglish uperiority
verthe
colonizedother
efashion
he
ctual tatus
f
the
poor
and
working
lasses and
banish
the real
conditions f
existence
while
offering
n their tead the
mage
f the
mperial
domain
and the
deal f distant
ands and wealth
s
compensation
or he otherwise
painful
need
to submit o the
palpable
constraints
spatial,
conomic,
nd
political)
that
governed
ife
n
metropolitan
ngland.
It s not
surprising,
herefore,hat hediscourse f
empire
nters he
vocabulary
f
the
working
lass movement
more
ully
t
this
ime,
nd that
(false)
onsciousness f
29
The earliest
report
of the
discovery
of
the Kerr
nugget,
which is
obviously
the source of the
incident
n
It's Never oo
Late to
Mend,
ppeared
in
the Bathurst ree
Press,
July
6,
1851. This and other
versions
of
the
story
pread rapidly
o
England,
and,
as
part
of the ore of the Australian
gold
rush,
no
doubt
gave impetus
to Reade's
initial
play
Gold. everal
of the
originalreports
ave been
reprinted
n
Gold
Fever.
TheAustralian
oldfields
851 to the
890s,
d.
Nancy Keesing
Sydney
nd London:
Angus
&
Richardson,
1967),
39-44.
30
For further
etails on the
way
in
which thiswar
figured
n
the
development
of
British
politics
nd
culture ee J. . Bratton,TheatreofWar:theCrimea on theLondonStage1854-55," nPerformancend
Politics
n
Popular
Drama,
d. David
Bradby,
ouis
James,
nd
Bernard
harratt
Cambridge
and
New
York:
Cambridge
University
ress,
1980),
119-37. See
also,
Acts
of upremacy.
he
British
mpire
nd the
Stage
1790-1930.
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82
/
Michael
Hays
national
superioritympedes
the
development
f
an
alternative
ritical
nalysis-
though
not to the
point
of
preventing
he ater
e-emergence
f
class
confrontationn
England.31
ndeed,
t s
only
f
we
make the fforto
see how this
ame
about,
only
f
we seek out the culturalmoments hatmarkthe difference etweenindividual
experience
nd the
universalizing
iscourses hat
mask,
rivialize,
r
distortt
that
we
can
get
at the nternal esistances hat
ermeate
uch
hegemonic
evelopments-and
thereby
void the
tendency
o
produceequally
reductive
ounter-discourses
n
our
criticism.
his is
especially
mportant oday
since,
in
the name
of
post-colonial
consciousness
nd
identity
ormation,
hese discourses
may
ead
us
to
overlook
or
deny
the
counter-hegemonicnergies
hat
re not
only always
present
n a
given
society,
ut that an also
provide
further
mpetus
oward
building
more
open
and
historicallyware-dialogic-modes
of
inter)cultural
nderstanding.
31
John
Foster
provides
further,
uite
interesting
ocumentation of the
development
of
this
nationalist
nd racist
English"
consciousness
n
his
discussion
of
the
impact
of
the
Crimean War
and
the
emergence
of the anti-Irishmovement
n
1861.
Foster,
Class
Struggle
nd the ndustrial
evolution.
Early
ndustrial
apitalism
n
three
nglish
owns
New
York: St.
Martins,
974),
329-46.