| Abstract: | Erin Mackie explores how Mr Spectator became one persona through which James Boswell represents himself in his London Journal (1762–63), providing an antitype of the ‘rake’ persona which Boswell derives in part from Macheath in The Beggar's Opera. In this antithesis most attention falls on Macheath, but Mackie notes that in Tatler 27 Richard Steele creates a sentimental portrait of the rake as ‘the most agreeable of all Bad Characters’. Thus Boswell finds in the Tatler's rake an image of himself which stands in relation to the disapproving Mr Spectator. With this in mind, Mackie notes that the Spectator papers which describe the Mohock riots of March–April 1712 also characterize such displays as innocuous theatrical expressions of youthful ebullience. Boswell, then, finds acceptable dress for his criminal masculinity by casting himself into a ‘mock-heroic impersonation’ whilst using the narrative position provided by Mr Spectator to give himself ‘spectatorial immunity’. |
