In her analysis of Lady Audley’s Secret, Rachel Heinrichs promotes the aspect that this novel focuses on promoting either successful or failed masculinity. Therefore, in her work, she asserts that the novel fails to provide a “viable alternative to the normative ideal of autonomy” (Heinrichs 105). Notably, whereas the author perceives Sir Michael as “the hardest riders in the country”, the element of masculinity emerges when Robert refers to him as a feeble victim of Lady Audley (Heinrichs 107). In other words, whereas the tough riders were granted a special status on patriarchy stratum and treated as tough men, this toughness perception disappeared if one was found to be caring towards or listened to his wife. Speaking from this perspective, Braddon promotes the element that masculinity was rampant in the Victorian era in the sense that she allows some of the male characters in her novel to question the perceived strengths of their peers. For instance, in the case of Robert, he questions the masculinity of his uncle Sir Michael, whom he perceives as being weak from protecting his wife Lady Audley from the investigation and revelations that she was not the person she claimed to be (Heinrichs 107). In other words, Robert promotes the notion that his uncle was not a man enough to deal with his criminal wife.
在对奥德利夫人的秘密的分析中，瑞秋·海因里希斯强调了这部小说关注的是成功或失败的男性气质。因此，在她的作品中，她断言小说未能提供“自治的规范理想的可行替代方案”（Heinrichs 105）。值得注意的是，尽管作者将迈克尔爵士视为“这个最难驾驭的骑手”，但当罗伯特将他称为奥德利夫人（Heinrichs 107）的软弱受害者时，男性气质的元素就出现了。换句话说，虽然硬汉骑士在父权制阶层中被赋予特殊地位，被视为硬汉，但如果一个人被发现关心或倾听他的妻子，这种硬汉观念就会消失。从这个角度讲，布拉登宣扬了维多利亚时代男性气概猖獗的因素，因为她允许小说中的一些男性角色质疑同龄人的感知优势。例如，在罗伯特的案例中，他质疑他的叔叔迈克尔爵士的男子气概，他认为迈克尔爵士无力保护他的妻子奥德利夫人免受调查和揭露，因为她不是她声称的那个人（海因里希107）。换句话说，罗伯特宣扬他的叔叔不是一个足以对付犯罪妻子的男人。
Despite the element of masculinity and patriarchy emerges countless times in Lady Audley’s Secret, there is a need to observe Braddon affirms that masculinity and patriarchy is not always right as it has been portrayed by men in society. In this case, whereas masculinity and patriarchy is supposed to be seen as a sign of heroism and strength, Braddon suggests in her novel that there are moments when it fails to perform this very role and achieve its objectives. For example, through the analysis of a number of male characters in the novel, it emerges that some of them made mistakes contrary to what was expected of them. For example, Robert engages ion cruelty in society not only against women but also men, which leads to some characters questioning his masculine authority. For instance, Lady Audley’s father, Lieutenant Maldon notes, “…the law sir, has that amount of mercy…But you…you come to my house to terrify me – and that is not right sir” (Heinrichs 112). Through this, Lieutenant Maldon portrays Robert as a cruel and dishonourable person who abused his masculinity. Thus, Heinrichs notes that Braddon affirms cases where masculinity and patriarchy fails in society.
尽管在《奥德利夫人的秘密》中，男性气质和父权制的元素出现了无数次，但有必要观察布拉登确认，男性气质和父权制并不总是正确的，因为它在社会中被男性所描绘。在这种情况下，男性气概和父权制应该被视为英雄主义和力量的象征，而布拉登在她的小说中指出，有时它无法扮演这个角色并实现其目标。例如，通过对小说中一些男性角色的分析，可以看出他们中的一些人犯了与预期相反的错误。例如，罗伯特在社会上不仅对女性而且对男性进行了残酷的虐待，这导致一些人物质疑他的男性权威。例如，奥德利夫人的父亲马尔登中尉指出，“……法律先生，有那么大的仁慈……但你……你来我家是为了吓唬我——这是不对的，先生”（海因里希112）。通过这一点，马尔登中尉将罗伯特描绘成一个残忍而不光彩的人，他滥用自己的男子气概。因此，海因里希斯指出，布拉登肯定了社会中男性气质和父权制失败的案例。
In conclusion Petch’s and Heinrichs’ analyses of Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret reveal that masculinity and patriarch play a critical role in the Victorian society with regard to distribution of power in society. In particular, these analyses unearth the aspect that men have always sought to maintain a stance that they are superior to women. Furthermore, it is clear from the novel that masculinity does not just discriminate women alone but also men who show some element of weakness in society. Whereas this is the case, Braddon’s novel promote the aspect that there are moment when masculinity fails, thus undermining its perceived strength and heroism.
最后，佩奇和海因里希对布拉登的《奥德利夫人的秘密》的分析表明，男性气质和父权制在维多利亚社会权力分配方面起着关键作用。特别是，这些分析揭示了一个方面，即男性总是试图保持一种他们优于女性的立场。此外，从小说中可以清楚地看出，男子气概不仅歧视女性，也歧视那些在社会上表现出某种弱点的男性。事实就是如此，布拉登的小说强调了男性气概有时会失败的一面，从而削弱了人们对其力量和英雄主义的感知。