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

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67 (24). Arthur is overcome by wrath which, as Genius taught Amans, “Wol as an angri beste loure, / And no man wot the cause why” (Confessio Amantis III.30-31). And Arthur in a murderous rout sounds much like Genius’s description of Eolus, who “Between the wawe of wod and wroth” (Confessio Amantis III.217) condemned his daughter. In this state, Arthur’s inner—and physical—sight is compromised, for he does not recognize Merlin in disguise, though his companions Ulfius and Brastius do at once. Metaphorical blindness has been connected by Gower to those kings who lost their reason, blinded by selfish, usually unkynde, sometimes incestuous desires. It is significant that Arthur’s lapse is recounted at this juncture in the story. The very next line in the book relates the coming of the earl Sanam and his daughter Lyonors, a “passing fayre damsel” (26), upon whom Arthur immediately “sette hys love gretly” (ibid.). It is reported that Lyonors bore Arthur’s child, Borre, who became a knight of the Round Table. But word reached Arthur that King Ryens was making war on King Lodegreaunce, “for the whyche kynge Arthure was wroth, for he loved hym well and hated kyng Royns, for allwayes he was ayenst hym” (27). After Lodegraunce was rescued, Arthur’s eyes fell upon Guenevere, and he at once loved her and married her. Twice, in short succession, Arthur’s wrath is followed by his love for a beautiful woman. His sight and his reason show signs of instability. Malory’s next tale contains the incest which eclipses the marvels of all the other adventures of the Round Table knights. Its proximity to the tales of conjoined love and wrath links it to the blindness and loss of reason that Gower, too, often associated with incest. King Lot sent his wife Morgause to court to spy on Arthur; with her came her
68 four sons, Gawain, Gaheris, Agravaine, and Gareth. She was a “passing fayre lady” wherefore “the kynge caste grete love unto hir and desired to ly by her” (27). The logic is interesting; because she is fair, therefore Arthur engages in sexual relations with her. Arthur “begate upon hir sir Mordred. And she was syster on the modirs side Igraine unto Arthure . . . Than the kynge dremed a mervaylous dreme whereof he was sore adrad. (But all thys tyme kynge Arthur knew nat [that] kynge Lottis wyff was his sister)” (28). The narrative seems to shield Arthur from criticism over sleeping with his sister. There is an implication that because he did not know, the incest was not accounted dishonorable. But no comment is made on the fact that sister or not, she is another man’s wife, and Arthur a married man. His dread over the dream, which was of griffins and serpents that burnt and killed all the people in the land, is an implicit warning about his dishonorable behavior, yet he put it out of his mind as he gathered his knights to go hunting. Arthur pushed his horse so hard on the hunt that the animal “lost his brethe and felle downe dede” (28). The intensity of the hunt reflects the effort Arthur made to put the thoughts of the dream out of his mind. While waiting for a new horse, Arthur sat down and “felle downe in grete thought” (28). Suddenly he hears a strange sound and sees the strangeste beste that ever he saw of herde of. So thys beste wente to the welle and dranke, and the noyse was in the bestes bealy [lyke unto the questing of thirty coupyl houndes, but alle the whyle the beest dranke there was no noyse in the bestes bealy]. And therewith the beeste departed with a grete noyse, whereof the kynge had grete mervayle. And so he was in a grete thought, and therewith he felle on slepe (ibid.).
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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
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 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: 66 material for adaptation or trans
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 and 124: 116 knife as phallus. Eros (Cupid)
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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
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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
Page 151 and 152:
144 Castle of Otranto, the knife is
Page 153 and 154:
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:
Page 167 and 168:
161 Riddy, Felicity. Sir Thomas Mal
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SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...

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