Boytoy - in Literature

In Literature

The advantages and pitfalls of sexual relationships between people of very different ages provides fuel for many literary works, but these relationships are rarely depicted in a favorable light. When a young woman seeks out an older man, her desire for guidance and support is often depicted as tragically naive. In George Eliot's Middlemarch, for example, Dorothea Brooke marries the distinguished scholar Casaubon for high-minded reasons. In a time when women in England were barred from seeking higher education, Dorothea's only option is to marry a man who can educate her at home, but her desire for knowledge and wisdom is frustrated by Edward Casaubon's suspicious and selfish nature. He allows Dorothea to serve as his assistant but is too timid and narrow-minded to share her genuine passion for new ideas. Discovering her elderly husband's flaws too late, Dorothea is only released by his death to remarry, this time for love.

In the novel Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding, the dashing rake Tom Jones is depicted as being deeply in love with a girl his own age, the pure and virginal Sophia Western. But Tom's love for Sophia is nearly thwarted by the selfish desires of Lady Bellaston, a much older woman who takes Tom as a lover. Because Tom is penniless and Lady Bellaston is very wealthy, she holds much of the power in the relationship. After their initial sexual encounter, she provides Tom with ample money and a new wardrobe, favors which he gratefully accepts. Yet Fielding presents the older woman as selfish, spiteful and cruel, implying that any older woman who desires a younger man must be acting from sinister motives. Conversely, Tom's willingness to sleep with Lady Bellaston, and even accept presents from her, is hardly condemned by the author at all.