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

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61 (Cherewatuk 221). And this is not the first time, of course, that the middle way has been counseled. It is what Gower’s poet proposed as the best way for him to begin his book. Like in Confessio Amantis hasty love, or lust, is identified with violence and destruction—and often this lust is incestuous, as in the case of Gower’s Antiochus. But Arthur and his knights are concerned with honor and chivalry. The litmus test for Gower as to the ethics of his characters’ actions is love—kynde or unkynde. For Malory, it is honor. Adulterous love might indeed be honorable, if it is true instead of lustful; killing a man to prevent the rape of a virgin is honorable, but killing from selfish motives is not. When the knights, Arthur included, meet a lady and begin a love affair with her, they are acting according to kynde, for the knights cannot help falling in love with the virtuous ladies. Malory, in taking as his subject the exploits of King Arthur and his knights, shapes his narrative around the chivalric code, but chivalry itself is intrinsically problematic and divisive. The chivalric lover must bear allegiance to his spiritual master, God; his earthly master, the feudal lord; and to the mistress of the heart, his virtuous lady. The tenets of the chivalric code are not wholly in the realm of charity nor are they exclusively cupidinous, for it seems that even the best of knights could be the strictest adherents to the chivalric code while committing sexual misdeeds, even incest, in Arthur’s case. While uniting the knights as a brotherhood, the chivalric code also created the possibility of conflicting loyalties, and Arthur and his knights lived in a border area between charity and cupidity.
62 As chivalry is a controlling theme in Malory’s book, and incest an element subversive to that theme, a brief diversion into the nature of medieval chivalry is in order (Hodges 38-71). Chivalry was a function of knighthood in medieval society. Gower’s prologue catalogues the shortcomings of the three estates—knights, clergy, and commons—and the estates system is also prominent in the structure of the prologue of the Canterbury Tales. Though the boundaries between the estates were stretched by the late fifteenth century, the system itself was still entrenched in medieval culture, a culture in which each person has a particular station, ordained by God, and a task relevant to that station. Consider Chaucer’s Knight, who . . . loved chivalrie, Trouthe and honour, freedom and curteisie. Full worthy was he in his lordes were, and therto hadde he ridden, no man ferre, As wel in cristendom as in hetheness, And evere honoured for his worthynesse (GP 45-50) Chivalry may be defined as a collection of ideals, sometimes competing, that guided the knight’s actions: loyalty, duty, courage, virtue, prowess, mercy, protection of women, faithfulness to God and church, and most of all honor saturate the chivalric code. Malory’s publisher, Caxton, brought out one of the many conduct manuals on chivalry circulating at the same time as Le Morte d’Arthur, 19 indicating the degree to which chivalry was esteemed by his audience. The word “code” is not used lightly, for chivalry and its component courtesy were meant to control behavior and allow the ruling class to 19 Le Morte d’Arthur was published in 1485, and The Book of the Order of Chivalry in 1484, translated from Ramon Lull’s thirteenth century treatise on knighthood and courtesy.
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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
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 and 40: 32 story of incest implied, averted
Page 41 and 42: 34 Again, her response impassions h
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: 60 country. But the incest—the wo
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
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
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112 BOSOLA. It seems you would crea
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114 But as Ferdinand’s outrages i
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116 knife as phallus. Eros (Cupid)
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118 posed by his slide into unreaso
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120 and, as Kenneth Graham notes, i
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122 Castle of Otranto displays the
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124 Theodore is killed a group of k
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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
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132 strength, and the men enter the
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134 God bless me; and pass’d on.
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136 familiar. It is more usual for
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138 sensation of horror in the audi
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140 foil to the Countess, with her
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142 And when he knelt, weeping, to
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144 Castle of Otranto, the knife is
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146 and political realities during
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149 destruction and disaster. One o
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151 subvert both patriarchy and mon
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153 BIBLIOGRAPHY Aers, David,ed. Me
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155 Classen, Albrecht, ed. Violence
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157 Ford, Jane M. Patriarchy and In
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159 Lenz, Joseph. The Promised End:
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161 Riddy, Felicity. Sir Thomas Mal
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SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...

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