‘“Superior; for inferior who is free?”’: Sexual Conflict and the Male Gaze in Paradise Lost IX by John Milton (1667) and ‘Eloisa to Abelard’ (1717) by Alexander Pope

Abstract

In this essay, Finlay employs John Berger’s seminal art historical text Ways of Seeing, in which he explores the concept of the male gaze in art, as a means of framing the gender hierarchies which permeate Paradise Lost IX by John Milton (1667) and ‘Eloisa to Abelard’ by Alexander Pope (1717). Focusing on Berger’s observation that the male gaze determines women’s relation to themselves, the essay explores the tension between female agency and dependence as female characters attempt to mediate the conflict between needing to be at once independent and interdependent in their relationships with men. The essay first implements psychoanalytic theory in order to consider this conflict within a patriarchal context which seeks to inhibit female free will, then it examines the unequal power dynamics and disjunctures which manifest within the unit of the couple. Following this, Berger’s theory is applied beyond the text itself and aids in reflecting upon the relationship between the male authors and critics and the female characters who continue to be hegemonized. Ultimately, it is argued that this central conflict is represented as essentially irreconcilable as female characters fail to achieve psychological liberation whilst remaining dependent on their male counterparts.