Masculinity In David Lurie's 'Disgrace'

Disgrace is set in a post-apartheid Cape Town where the protagonist David Lurie is forced to terminate his job after Melanie, a student, files a sexual abuse claim against him. In this essay I will explore how David Lurie's own view on masculinity is affected by his idolization of Lord Byron, and how this allows him to justify his immoral actions.

The protagonist, David Lurie, a university professor, is particularly interested in Lord Byron, a poet known for his licentious lifestyle, and an inspiration to the literary concept of 'Byronic heroes'. A Byronic hero is arrogant, intelligent, emotional, morally and characteristically flawed and often sexually irresistible to women. Lurie possesses many of these qualities, visible already on the

Something Lurie was used to in his youth. Like all things in life, one day it all ended. Without warning his powers fled. Glances that would once have yielded a response were no longer. Overnight he became a ghost. If he wanted a woman he had to learn to pursue her. Lurie yearns to desire and to be desired by women, it is deeply embedded in him. However, “it surprises him that ninety minutes a week of a woman's company are enough to make him happy, who used to think he needed a wife, a home, a marriage” He can no longer rely on his magnetism, nor does he seek companionship, so he creates the perfect romance, a woman who wants him, who desires him, for ninety minutes a week. His dream world quickly vanishes when Soraya no longer wants his

When telling Bev Shaw about his encounter with Melanie he states “I was the troublemaker in that case.” After the rape of Lucy, he admits to being able to imagine being the men, to “fill them with the ghost of himself” However, he does not believe that he has to alter his behavior or admit to his mistakes. When discussing with his daughter Lucy, he proclaims “I am not prepared to be reformed” She answers him “so you are determined to go on being bad. Mad, bad, and dangerous to know. I promise, no one will ask you to change”. Is he pleased with her description? With the idea of himself as a vigilante, fighting for what he believes is, if not right, then natural? This quote supports that idea: “One can punish a dog for an offense like chewing a slipper, but no animal will accept the justice of being punished for following its