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

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subvert both patriarchy and monarchy, but the final resolutions of the plays reaffirm male
dominance.
A line of continuity in the usage of the incest theme from medieval works into
early modern works begins to emerge. The damage to self and society from incest is
augmented by early modern anxieties over keeping women and inferiors in their proper
places. And decades later Manfred, the tyrant of The Castle of Otranto, rivals any
described by Gower. The concern in this tale is for the fate of the family. The death of
his son proved to be the catalyst for his own descent into madness. Like Henry VIII,
Manfred developed the impulse to divorce his wife of twenty-plus years in order to marry
another, younger woman whom he hoped could provide a male heir—but this female is
clearly out of bounds for him. His relationship to her is that of a father-in-law, incestuous
by moral and legal standards. Manfred’s overriding concern is not primarily sexual;
instead, his desire is to keep and control his property. But Manfred needs a female body
for this task, and the females under his control fare poorly, with wife Hippolita cast aside,
Isabella traded to Manfred by her own father, and Matilda slain. Without a female,
Manfred loses his castle, possessions, and power. While this appears to be subversive of
patriarchy, the end of the story finds the castle restored to its rightful (male) owner.
Likewise, the concern in The Castle of Otranto and The Mysterious Mother is the fate of
the family. The patriarch fears loss of control over what has been, for centuries, his
domain—his property, his wife and children, and all who live in his house. The
Mysterious Mother proves the horrors of a family without a father to take control. Under
the Countess’s rule one calamity is compounded by another; the mother proves to be both