Category: CPB Favs

“He shuddered, and for a moment he regretted that he had not told Basil the true reason why he had wished to hide the picture away. Basil would have helped him to resist Lord Henry’s influence, and the still more poisonous influences that came from his own temperament. The love that he bore him — for it was really love — had nothing in it that was not noble and intellectual. It was not that mere physical admiration of beauty that is born of the senses and that dies when the senses tire. It was such love as Michelangelo had known, and Montaigne, and Winckelmann, and Shakespeare himself. Yes, Basil could have saved him. But it was too late now. The past could always be annihilated. Regret, denial, or forgetfulness could do that. But the future was inevitable. There were passions in him that would find their terrible outlet, dreams that would make the shadow of their evil real.” (Wilde, Chapter 10).

“In this century it is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It dictates and pervades great works of art like those of Shakespeare and Michelangelo. … It is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as “Love that dare not speak its name,” and on account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an elder and a younger man, when the elder man has intellect and the younger man has all the joy, hope, and glamour of life before him. That it should be the world does not understand. The world mocks at it and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it.”-Oscar Wilde during his trial in 1895 for homosexuality

This clip is from David Hasselhoff’s tour of the musical Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This song specifically is a “duet” between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as they argue over who is the “true” version of Jekyll/Hyde. I picked this video clip to include into my commonplace book not only because Hasselhoff puts his entire soul and Hasselhussy into this performance, but because I think it speaks to how the themes of duality and inner monstrosity are adaptable into many artistic forms. This piece also shows how timeless the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is, from the duality of nature to the true definition of what is good and what is evil.

Link to artifact: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/vyt65q5w

The artifact I chose for this entry is a nine-page doctor’s report regarding a small-pox outbreak in a Catholic school for girls in Manchester. This report and outbreak occurred in 1888 and was centered around the St. Joseph’s Certified Industrial School for Roman Catholic Girls. The report is written by Dr. David Page and is addressed to a Mr. George Buchanan of an unspecified medical department (most likely London). Coincidentally, the document was printed for Her Majesty’s Stationary Company by Eyre and Spottiswoode. The contents of the report focus on the girls who were infected at the institution, the vaccination status of most of the “inmates” at the school, and the sanitary arrangements and regulations put in place at the institution. I chose this artifact because it reminded me of Jane’s experience at Lowood when a typhus epidemic spreads. It also reminded me of Charlotte Bronte’s own history where a similar experience left her two sisters dead of consumption while at school. These experiences made me think of the prevalence of outbreaks, especially in religious schools for girls. It makes me think of whether Bronte included her own experience within Jane Eyre in order to raise awareness for the sanitation requirements at institutions aimed towards girls. I also think that this awareness fits into Bronte’s own feminist approach to writing, as she writes the women at Lowell with individual traits and minds that may have been lost during the 1800s. Women were often neglected and thought of as second-class citizens, so it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to reason that regulations and health requirements of schools for girls weren’t held to high standards. In her own way, Bronte may have included sections of Jane Eyre to push for better health care standards for women. Even though the event at St. Joseph’s school happened after the publication of Jane Eyre, it can still be reasoned that outbreaks like this and at Lowood were relatively common. Regarding Jane Eyre‘s feminist theme, I think health-care for women is also an important aspect of the novel that doesn’t seem to be touched upon often while analyzing this work.