Identity Formation against Oppression in Robert Bage's Man as He Is and Hermsprong; or, Man as He Is Not

Abstract

This thesis argues that Robert Bage (1730-1801) uses anti-colonial discourse and the identity formation of the protagonists in his novels Man as He Is (1792) and Hermsprong; or Man as He Is Not (1796) in order to criticize all kinds of oppression in and out of England and to express his view that English feudalism and colonialism are oppressive and exploitative orders. The English novelist Bage, though not included in the canon of the eighteenth-century English literature and drew little attention from the twentieth century scholars, is a significant author because of his reformist views about England and anti-colonial ideas about English feudalism and colonialism. Bage criticizes and challenges the oppressive, exploitative, and expansionist mindset, and ascribes this mindset to feudalism and colonialism. Accordingly, as this thesis claims, Bage stands against all kinds of oppression such as patriarchal, aristocratic, feudal, and colonial. As opposed to the oppressive traditions and values of feudalism and colonialism, he has reformist views shaped by the social, political, and philosophical novelties of the eighteenth century. Commonly belonging to the Jacobin literary movement, Bage is influenced by the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the ideas of liberty and individuality that stemmed from these historical events. Hence, the introduction chapter of this thesis evaluates Bage’s life with respect to his contemporaries and the historical background of the era when he produced his works. Additionally, it examines anti-oppression and anti-colonial discourses with reference to the concepts of colonialism, postcolonialism, and nationalism. Man as He Is and Hermsprong are analysed respectively in two chapters to discuss how Bage criticizes all kinds of oppression, exploitation, and tyranny by portraying the conflict between individual identity and aristocratic group identity in these novels. This thesis uses the anti-colonial theory both metaphorically and directly to examine the author’s criticism of oppression. The first chapter analyses the change of identity experienced by a young aristocrat who refuses the aristocratic values and adopts an ideology against oppression in Man as He Is. The second chapter examines the spread of the protagonist’s ideology against oppression in a feudal English village in spite of the oppression of the local authority in Hermsprong.