Objects of Desire, Identity and Eros in the Writings of Lord Hervey and Charlotte Charke

Abstract

At first glance, John, Lord Hervey (1696-1743) and Charlotte Charke (1713-60) might seem an incongruous pair for study. Hervey achieved standing first as a Member of Parliament, then as George II’s Vice Chamberlain and later Lord Privy Seal, and, perhaps most significantly, as a favourite of Queen Caroline. Son of the first Earl of Bristol, he was an effete aristocratic courtier who moved in the highest circles of power. Charke, daughter of the actor, playwright and theatre manager, Colley Cibber, failed at every occupation she undertook, lived on the outskirts of society and died in penury. Both, however, married precipitously when young, then went on to set up a household with a member of the same sex (in Hervey’s case while continuing to give his wife regular pregnancies). Hervey’s effeminacy and Charke’s cross-dressing on and off the stage brought them public notoriety. His political position and her renown as an actress appeared ascendant in the 1730s and both ended their lives with frustrated ambitions and disappointment. Each penned reminiscences, but these texts could not have been more different generically. Written over a long period and published posthumously, Hervey’s memoirs left a seemingly indelible and wildly antipathetic picture of George II’s court and its leading politicians as their author affected distance and objectivity. Charke, in contrast, chose autobiography, a form that allowed her the starring role, and produced a hastily penned performance for quick cash.2