Depictions of a Rake

My roommate of three years had an ongoing love affair with the show Grey’s Anatomy, so I've had a hefty serving of Seattle Grace Hospital. The first person who came to mind when I read the blog prompt was the infamous McSteamy, otherwise known as Dr. Mark Sloan. I lost interest in the show a while back and can’t say I’m up to date on the character; perhaps McSteamy has changed his philandering ways. But even on a show where everyone is sleeping with everyone else, he stood out as the womanizer. His long history of one-night stands and affairs was well known among the female doctors and interns, but thanks to his “steamy” looks and personality, he didn’t have much trouble attracting—or seducing—them.

Mark Sloan’s similarities to Florio, the rake in the article “On Seduction,” are obvious. Florio possessed all the accomplishments of the gentleman, except virtue.” In class, we pointed out that what made a man a gentleman was his sharp dress, polite manner of speaking (or flattering), and education. So Mark Sloan—handsome, smooth talking, and one of the most renowned plastic surgeons on the East Coast—fits the basic description. Like Florio, whose “vices were too frequently repeated to be concealed,” Sloan still maintains his excellent professional reputation and rubs shoulders with the well-to-do.

I like the line in “On Seduction” that says, “His having a spice of the rake in him did not render him less pleasing in their eyes.” Florio’s dangerous streak makes him more agreeable to “the fair.” On Grey’s Anatomy and several other shows, it’s all too common to see women, including the virginal good girl, attracted to the irresistible bad boy character. Today’s rake, like those of the past, doesn’t try too hard to conceal his behavior, because a wild reputation often works in his interest.

Not to go off on a tangent, but I think specifically of Desperate Housewives. Susan’s sweet daughter, Julie, can’t help but fall for Edie’s nephew Austin and (like the fallen women we’ve been reading about) questions whether to give up her virginity—her “virtue.” I think Austin is another good example of a modern Florio who “had so long wantoned among the vicious of the other sex, that…virgin innocence alone seemed capable of affording him the desired pleasure.” Of course, that didn’t keep Austin from cheating with Danielle on the side, but he found the innocent Julie difficult to resist.

McSteamy certainly doesn’t have many virgins to choose from at Seattle Grace, but similar to Austin and Florio, he wants what is off-limits. He develops an interest in Dr. Hahn, who repeatedly refuses his advances. At one point, she tells him that he isn’t attracted to her but rather to the fact that she isn’t attracted to him in return. She has become a conquest, the precise word used to describe a boastful rake's exploits in a few of the early American articles. And once the man has conquered, there isn’t much reason to stick around. The one-night stand hasn’t changed, and 18^th century seducers inevitably left the woman crying—or dying. Most modern women don’t end up like Philenia, although there are often tears involved when a modern rake never calls back.

So honestly, I wouldn't say that the rake--his characteristics, desires, and aversion to committment--has evolved much over the past two centuries. Florio is still breaking hearts all over primetime TV.