Unordinary Gentlemen
As we know, our site name is ironic- gentlemen are anything but ordinary now. Here Andrew Gimson mourns the death of the English gentleman and its concomitant ideal of good, selfless conduct. George Bernard Shaw called a gentleman one who puts more into the world than he takes out. Gimson makes a helpful distinction between the social and moral ideals of gentlemen. One suspects that young women who wish they “met more gentlemen” haven’t wealth or family standing at all in mind.
Most of those women don’t want gentlemen either.
Tall dark and handsome strangers, sure…
Gentlemen? not really.Report
Oh good Lord. Another starched elegy for Dr. Arnold and the public school system. If memory serves, Bernard Shaw also said the strength of England lies in the fact that everyone’s a snob.Report
From Shaw’s Pygmalion, Act V:
LIZA DOOLITTLE. You see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing and the proper way of speaking, and so on), the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she’s treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will; but I know I can be a lady to you [PICKERING], because you always treat me as a lady, and always will.
Pickering is a gentleman, a true gentleman, because he is at all times considerate and comfortable in his consideration. He follows the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them to do unto you. His kindness shines through his actions.
Wealth and social standing have nothing to do with it. It’s our 20th century obsession with both that means we can’t have nice things like gentlemen anymore.Report
I think that depends on what you mean by a “gentleman.” Mr. Gimson’s article, linked in the OP, offers the following suggestions (which I admit I’ve culled out of the article quite selectively):
These are not bad sentiments at all; they are at minimum a good starting point for putting together aspirations for self-improvement. Yes, the painfully formal social demeanor that Mr. Gimson tries to describe may not be particularly attractive in a man (or a woman, for that matter) but I will say that good moral character, intelligence, and courtesy in both men and women ought to be considered norms rather than exceptions.Report
Yeah, I don’t really share the dudgeon of the author. I’m somewhat interested in codes of behavior throughout history, though, and I find interesting the idea that those codes have fallen into disuse. I also like your idea that the character traits they embodied are alive and well.Report