George Eliot's characterization of the tyrannous husband Henleigh Grandcourt is a key to understanding the construction of masculinities in her final—and most experimental and controversial—novel, Daniel Deronda (1876). Her use of Grandcourt as the mate of the principal female character, Gwendolen Harleth, and as a foil to the eponymous male protagonist, Daniel Deronda, is more complex than is usually assumed, and, unlike the contemporary poet Robert Browning in his portrayal of tyrannous husbands, she resists the “polarization into moral absolutes” inherent in the melodramatic mode. Eliot's commitment to certain “traditional” aspects of gender roles at the same time she acknowledges the need for profound social and cultural change is parallel with her continuing appreciation for the power and efficacy of religious values and states of mind after her loss of Christian faith. A close look at her treatment of Grandcourt's masculinity elucidates the widely discussed theme of individual and national consciousness in the novel, and reading her novel in this context against contemporary works helps us to understand Eliot's overall cultural vision, of which gender identity is one important component.
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