Reconstructing Masculinity in Charlotte Riddell's ‘The Open Door’ and Rudyard Kipling's ‘They’

Abstract

This essay examines how two much-anthologised ghost stories from the long nineteenth century – Charlotte Riddell's ‘The Open Door’ and Rudyard Kipling's ‘They’ – challenge the perceived idea that the experience of witnessing a spectre has a shattering or feminising effect on men. Instead, ghostly encounters enable the male protagonists to develop a form of spiritual awareness which bolsters rather than undermines their embodiment of traditionally masculine traits. The concept of manliness was continually being contested and redefined during the period in which these tales were published. Its perceived links with rationalist materialism were also being eroded as various male-orientated groups sought to synthesise the ghost within scientific discourse. ‘The Open Door’ intriguingly promotes a supernaturalised form of masculine identity through an interrogation of class: the spectral encounter is crucial in the development of the middle-class protagonist into a model of hardworking Victorian masculinity. ‘They’ reworks the motif of the manly but spiritually sensitive central character via a focus on paternity, suggesting that trauma and loss can be adequately incorporated into this rehabilitated form of British masculinity. Both tales thus utilise the experience of ghost-seeing to highlight the importance of emotion and sensitivity to masculine identity at the end of the long nineteenth century.