SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...

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117 carefully constructed identity. His sister’s body becomes the nexus of his raging uncertainty, but the actual danger comes from another direction: from below. Ferdinand is unable to control his sister—hence, all women. Women, even royal women, are conceived as inferior to men as are people like Antonio and Julia, yet they pose such a threat to the aristocracy that Ferdinand retreats into madness; furthermore, if the king is unable to control mere women, it bodes ill for his ability to control men. The three plays examined in this chapter reveal some of the specific concerns of the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages, a time which it may be said began in incest as did the Arthurian age that was so inspirational to Henry Tudor did. Incest disrupts family and societal structures, to be sure, but it begins in the early modern era to represent other tensions as well. Shakespeare’s Pericles (C. 1607), Beaumont and Fletcher’s A King and No King (1619), and Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi (C. 1613) reflect the anxieties attendant to fear of regression and insidious threats from the very people that nobility relied on to attend them and make their world possible. Incest in early modern plotlines reflects a conservative desire to maintain existing social and class structures and to defend them against erosion from emerging— and base—societal forces. The overarching conclusion to be drawn from consideration of what these threats may mean in the early modern era is that patriarchy must be supported and upheld. But only a patriarchy free from the tyranny and unsound judgment which ushers in chaos and suffering can allow the land to prosper, demonstrated by the contrasting portrayals of the good king and the bad king in Pericles. Patriarchy is also threatened by increasing female agency, which Arbaces deals with along with the threat
118 posed by his slide into unreason and tyranny. Antiochus proved to be a tyrannical king and Arbaces seemed to be following in those footsteps, but a comic twist in the end of the plot provided an end to both that threat and the threat posed by the possibility of a female ruler. To these fears is added another in The Duchess of Malfi. The Duchess’s brother becomes not only tyrannical but murderously demented by his apprehension over the uncontrolled sexuality of his sister and the power she wields. He also fears the rapid and easy entry of the serving class—a steward—into the nobility, entry that is directly attributable to the Duchess’s usurpation of male power and privilege. Incestuous, transgressive desires threaten entire kingdoms and nations, and the only way to meet the threat is by a reassertion of patriarchy.
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SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading
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READING INCEST: TYRANNY, SUBVERSION
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APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. R
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2 of it, despite its familiarity to
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4 about incest was influenced by th
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6 clarification. Pope Gregory II ad
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8 sibling, and mother-son. 2 She no
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10 is viewed by both. Incest in eig
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12 subverts both the social and the
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14 CHAPTER II ‘SWICHE UNKYNDE ABH
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16 a book to each of the seven dead
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18 Richard” (111). The dedication
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20 an idea familiar to Gower’s me
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22 laboring-folk and Piers, in retu
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24 introduction of Amans, the unsuc
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26 learns. Augustine takes up the i
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28 of the king, whose primary duty
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30 bribed two priests to convince P
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32 story of incest implied, averted
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34 Again, her response impassions h
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36 in the most extreme sense. When
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38 in the first book, and relates t
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40 benign, sympathetic interpretati
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42 and Machaire, and at the same ti
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44 To finish the turn in the narrat
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46 oghne prest” (V.1382-3). Geniu
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48 incestuous. When she vows to tel
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50 epilogue that acts as a prayer f
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52 Of wommen were absent as thanne;
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54 speak at length and discover the
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56 Biblical incest, mostly unjudged
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58 of a king and the function of la
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60 country. But the incest—the wo
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62 As chivalry is a controlling the
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64 conflicting demands of love and
Page 73 and 74: 66 material for adaptation or trans
Page 75 and 76: 68 four sons, Gawain, Gaheris, Agra
Page 77 and 78: 70 can not be ameliorated, at least
Page 79 and 80: 72 killed save Mordred, who was fou
Page 81 and 82: 74 surrogate son-knights. Cherewatu
Page 83 and 84: 76 Lo ye all Englysshemen, se ye ha
Page 85 and 86: 78 demonstrated to all present on t
Page 87 and 88: 80 corruption that plagues the Pend
Page 89 and 90: 82 CHAPTER III ‘INCEST IS IN ME
Page 91 and 92: 84 wished to rid himself of Anne Bo
Page 93 and 94: 86 societal forces. The plays focus
Page 95 and 96: 88 in the family and on a national
Page 97 and 98: 90 reputation shifted such that vie
Page 99 and 100: 92 comes not from an instinctive ap
Page 101 and 102: 94 virtue, resists and is made whol
Page 103 and 104: 96 willingness to sacrifice the liv
Page 105 and 106: 98 Rejection of God and divine orde
Page 107 and 108: 100 is as an “ungodly sickness”
Page 109 and 110: 102 exercise her own agency. Though
Page 111 and 112: 104 potential problem of having a f
Page 113 and 114: 106 The plots of these three plays
Page 115 and 116: 108 play, the Duchess will have bee
Page 117 and 118: 110 As we have seen, the Duchess us
Page 119 and 120: 112 BOSOLA. It seems you would crea
Page 121 and 122: 114 But as Ferdinand’s outrages i
Page 123: 116 knife as phallus. Eros (Cupid)
Page 127 and 128: 120 and, as Kenneth Graham notes, i
Page 129 and 130: 122 Castle of Otranto displays the
Page 131 and 132: 124 Theodore is killed a group of k
Page 133 and 134: 126 memory, and regard your highnes
Page 135 and 136: 128 first Gothic playwright, publis
Page 137 and 138: 130 the castle is there primarily t
Page 139 and 140: 132 strength, and the men enter the
Page 141 and 142: 134 God bless me; and pass’d on.
Page 143 and 144: 136 familiar. It is more usual for
Page 145 and 146: 138 sensation of horror in the audi
Page 147 and 148: 140 foil to the Countess, with her
Page 149 and 150: 142 And when he knelt, weeping, to
Page 151 and 152: 144 Castle of Otranto, the knife is
Page 153 and 154: 146 and political realities during
Page 155 and 156: 149 destruction and disaster. One o
Page 157 and 158: 151 subvert both patriarchy and mon
Page 159 and 160: 153 BIBLIOGRAPHY Aers, David,ed. Me
Page 161 and 162: 155 Classen, Albrecht, ed. Violence
Page 163 and 164: 157 Ford, Jane M. Patriarchy and In
Page 165 and 166: 159 Lenz, Joseph. The Promised End:
Page 167 and 168: 161 Riddy, Felicity. Sir Thomas Mal
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