Table-Talk · Chapter
On Effeminacy of Character explained
Hazlitt explores the concept of effeminacy in character and style, contrasting it with manly firmness and decision.
What happens
Hazlitt explores the concept of effeminacy in character and style, contrasting it with manly firmness and decision. He critiques writers who are overly concerned with polish and public reception, and discusses the related traits of timidity, dilatoriness, and the coarse opposite. The chapter includes reflections on Lord Byron, John Keats, and the Della Cruscan school, and ends with an impassioned apostrophe to a slumbering genius.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This passage marks the dramatic climax because it reveals the central psychological reversal: the lady who sco…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Criticism and Critical Practice
Hazlitt critiques the effeminate style of writers who are overly concerned with critical reception and alter their work to avoid offense.
- The Psychology of Habit and Novelty
Discusses the habitual timidity and dilatoriness of certain characters, who are unable to act with decision due to ingrained weakness.
- Fame, Reputation, and Public Opinion
Examines how writers' anxiety about public opinion leads to insipid, unoriginal work and a lack of masculine energy.
Characters to notice
- William Hazlitt
The author, who presents his analysis of effeminacy of character and style, and contrasts it with manly firmness.
- Lord Byron
Mentioned as a pampered and aristocratic writer who is not effeminate.
- John Keats
Criticized for a deficiency in masculine energy of style; his 'Endymion' is described as soft and fleshy, without bone or muscle.
Key passages
“By an effeminate style I would be understood to mean one that is all florid, all fine; that cloys by its sweetness, and tires by its sameness.”
Hazlitt defines an effeminate style as overly ornate and sweet, becoming cloying and monotonous.
Central definition of the chapter's main concept.
“I cannot help thinking that the fault of Mr. Keats's poems was a deficiency in masculine energy of style. He had beauty, tenderness, delicacy, in an uncommon degree, but there was a want of strength and substance.”
Hazlitt believes Keats's poetry lacks masculine vigor, possessing beauty and delicacy but not strength or substance.
Key critique of Keats's poetic style.
“There is nothing more to be esteemed than a manly firmness and decision of character.”
Hazlitt values a decisive and firm character above all.
Contrast to the effeminate character described earlier.
