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

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33 thus her sexual desirability. Her words are those of a wife seeking to comfort her husband rather than a daughter’s. The scene is potentially incestuous because of the intimacy between father and daughter. That Petro does not act sinfully is due to his daughter’s great humility, which is of course the answer to the sin of Pride. In this instance Gower uses the incest theme as a means to demonstrate God’s mercy, emphasizing again the difference between the charity and cupidity. Alphonse loves knowledge for the selfish reason that it brings him fame and is unable to appreciate knowledge for its ability to lead him to a more genuinely pious life. Similarly Petronelle, who in genuine humility offers to answer the king in her father’s place, succeeds in stopping the incestuous threat from advancing only because she represents charity, responding to the riddle in unselfish honesty. Now an interesting exchange takes place. The king is first astonished at Petronelle’s beauty and love for her father, and further amazed at her answers to the three questions: The king, which reson understood And hath al herd how sche hath said, Was inly glad and so wel paid That al his wraththe is overgo . . . And if thou were of such lignage, That thou to me were of parage, And that thi fader were a Pier, As he is now a Bachilier, So seker as I have a lif, Thou scholdest thanne be my wif (I. 3322-40)
34 Again, her response impassions him, and Alphonse rewards her father with an earldom, thus making him a “Pier.” Alphonse immediately marries Petronelle. Whereas the dialogue between father and daughter signaled the possibility of incest, Petronelle’s marriage to the king occurs only after the transformation of Petro into a peer. In effect, Petronelle marries a father substitute. The narrative comes close to an incestuous relationship but instead sin is averted. Petronelle has shown by her actions and words the intimate and loving relationship with her father, and that she is incapable of the gross sin of incest because of her innate virtue. As in the triumph of patriarchy in the later Tale of Apollonius, medieval marriage involved the exchange of women, which was fundamental to making alliances between different houses and in keeping peace. The ritual of marriage involved the giving away of the bride, the gift to her of a ring or some coins, and the “kneeling of the bride before the man who became her new master” (Drury 5), the final signal that she had been given to the power of another male. In the feudal relationship the king was considered the head of the land just as a husband was considered the head of his own household, both of these modeling the ideal relationship between God and man. And a good king, or a good husband, is one who is able to control his desires, focusing on the good of his family instead of gratifying his own wishes. The endowment of Petronelle with matchless humility and goodness is important in demonstrating that this story models charity and a spiritual way of life. The threat of incest is stopped only by her goodness. Petronelle is a new Mary, having “personified and advocated humility . . . not only similar to Mary in character but in her ultimate reward; she is worthy to be exalted by King Alphonse as
Page 1 and 2: SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading
Page 3 and 4: READING INCEST: TYRANNY, SUBVERSION
Page 5 and 6: APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has
Page 7 and 8: TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. R
Page 9 and 10: 2 of it, despite its familiarity to
Page 11 and 12: 4 about incest was influenced by th
Page 13 and 14: 6 clarification. Pope Gregory II ad
Page 15 and 16: 8 sibling, and mother-son. 2 She no
Page 17 and 18: 10 is viewed by both. Incest in eig
Page 19 and 20: 12 subverts both the social and the
Page 21 and 22: 14 CHAPTER II ‘SWICHE UNKYNDE ABH
Page 23 and 24: 16 a book to each of the seven dead
Page 25 and 26: 18 Richard” (111). The dedication
Page 27 and 28: 20 an idea familiar to Gower’s me
Page 29 and 30: 22 laboring-folk and Piers, in retu
Page 31 and 32: 24 introduction of Amans, the unsuc
Page 33 and 34: 26 learns. Augustine takes up the i
Page 35 and 36: 28 of the king, whose primary duty
Page 37 and 38: 30 bribed two priests to convince P
Page 39: 32 story of incest implied, averted
Page 43 and 44: 36 in the most extreme sense. When
Page 45 and 46: 38 in the first book, and relates t
Page 47 and 48: 40 benign, sympathetic interpretati
Page 49 and 50: 42 and Machaire, and at the same ti
Page 51 and 52: 44 To finish the turn in the narrat
Page 53 and 54: 46 oghne prest” (V.1382-3). Geniu
Page 55 and 56: 48 incestuous. When she vows to tel
Page 57 and 58: 50 epilogue that acts as a prayer f
Page 59 and 60: 52 Of wommen were absent as thanne;
Page 61 and 62: 54 speak at length and discover the
Page 63 and 64: 56 Biblical incest, mostly unjudged
Page 65 and 66: 58 of a king and the function of la
Page 67 and 68: 60 country. But the incest—the wo
Page 69 and 70: 62 As chivalry is a controlling the
Page 71 and 72: 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
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96 willingness to sacrifice the liv
Page 105 and 106:
98 Rejection of God and divine orde
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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 and 124:
116 knife as phallus. Eros (Cupid)
Page 125 and 126:
118 posed by his slide into unreaso
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
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128 first Gothic playwright, publis
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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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