Gender, Race, Renaissance Drama 9780719028397, 0719028396, 9780719028403, 071902840X

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CULTURAL POLITICS

Gender, race , Renaissance drama

CULTURAL POLITICS Writing Ireland :

colonialism

, nationalism

and culture

DavidCaims

and

generaleditorsJonathan Dollimoreand Alan Sinfield Shaun Richards

Simon Pugh

)

,

(

-

,

Race gender Renaissance drama Ania Loomba Pre Raphaelites reviewed Marcia Pointon editor

HelenWilcox editors

)

Ann Thompson

(

:

,

Opera ideology and Jeremy Tambling Teaching women feminism and English studies

and

language film

nature

-

Garden

–

,

Poetry language and politics John Barrell The Shakespeare myth Graham Holderness

Gender, race, Renaissance drama Ania Loomba

MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS and NEW

YORK

PRESS New York

,

MARTIN

'S

by

USA and Canada

ST .

distributed in

the

MANCHESTER

.

822

9

8ora

L

© Ania Loomba 1989

Copyright

Publishedby Manchester University Press Oxford Road , Manchester M13 9PL , UK andRoom 400, 175 Fifth Avenue , New York , NY 10100, USA Distributedexclusivelyin theUSA and Canada by St. Martin ' s Press Inc . , 175 Fifth Avenue , New York , NY 10010, USA British Library cataloguingin publicationdata

Loomba , Ania

, race, Renaissance drama . — (Cultural politics ). I. Drama in English , 1558-1625. Special subjects . Women , Critical

Gender

I . Title II . Series 822' . 3' 09352042

studies

Library of Congresscatalogingin publicationdata Loomba , Ania

( . est . .4 - )

est . - .)

Race , gender , Renaissance drama / Ania Loomba p. cm. — (Cultural politics ) Bibliography : p . 159 Includes index .

.

17th century

.10

.

). 8

—

History

in

00

.

$ 15

in

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( . 2 . .) (

-

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Great Britain

Politics and

hardback paperback

Typeset

,

by

in

Joanna Koinonia Limited Manchester

,

,

by

in

Printed Great Britain Hartnolls Limited Bodmin Cornwall

88 -

—

-X -6

-

- -

7190 2839 7190 2840

0 0 -

ISBN

'

'.

.

.

-

and teaching India Theater and society literature Title Series PR658 P297L6 1988 822 009 355 dc19

. I.

-X

. . .3 7 .

-

0

in

. - II . . . 9 . 6 . —

5 .

in

,

1 .

pbk ISBN 0 -7190-2839 -6 : $35.00 ( ISBN 7190 2840 English drama History and criticism English drama Early modern and 17th century Patriarchy Elizabethan 1500 1600 History and criticism literature Racism literature Imperialism English literature Study Sexism literature literature Canon Literature

26641

)‫طا‬

557-4079 Theat

- 18 -89 Contents Acknowledgements

'

Series editor s foreword

: Cultural

page

vi

politics

Introduction

, patriarchy

and post -colonial English

1

Imperialism

2

Sexuality and racial difference

3

The ' infinite variety of patriarchal discourse

4 5 6

Women

's division

studies

of experience

Travelling thoughts ': theatre and the space of the other Seizing the book

Bibliography Index

of work

cited

142

5

159 173

Acknowledgements happy to acknowledge the many people whose support , criticism own work has made this book possible - especially Jonathan Dol limore ,who supervised the thesis on which the present project is based and encouraged me to write it , and Alan Sinfield , whose comments and

I am and

;

I

in

.

N

; ;

for

editing have been invaluable . I would also like to thank John Drakakis for his suggestions and criticism , and for sending mematerial ; Jacqueline givingmehis stimulat Rose for her consistent support ;Martin Orkin ing book Rajeswari Sunder Rajan for generously sharing her own work and ideas Ahmer Anwar and Pradip Datta for their suggestions Pratap Rughani and Deepa Grover for sending material could not find a

,

I

To

,

,

,

in

to

to

,

,

as

is it

.

,

all ,

.

,

,

,

of

.

.

very stimulating India Suvir Kaul owe one rare book and friendship The solidarity Primla Loomba Nayanjot and Kishore Lahiri Gayatri possible Thapar and my son Tariq made write chaotic circum Rajiv Thapar Kerys Murrell and stances Mymain debt usual my sister Bindia Thapar above

Foreword : Cultural politics

life

The break -up of consensus in British political life during the 1970s was accompanied by the break -up of traditional assumptions about the values and goals of literary culture . Initially at specialised conferences and in committed journals , but increasingly in the mainstream of intel the new and challenging psychoanalysis and poststructuralism and juxtaposed with work not customarily accorded literary artistic standing Somerecent developments offer significant alternative traditional practice others are little more than realignments familiar positions to

structuralism

,

,

feminism

, .

of

;

of

a

to

.

or

,

Marxism

,

literary texts have been related

of

,

lectual discourses

'

of

be

to

.

so

on

a

,

,

art

'

'

a

,

of

‘

'is

be

to

':

'

'.

'

of

)

( at

.

.

,

a

is

But our belief that combination historical and cultural context theoretical method political commitment and textual analysis offers the strongest challenge and has already contributed substantial work We call this cultural materialism using the word culture The evalua There are least two ways tive use has been more common when we are thinking about the arts superior values and literature cultured the possessor and refined sensibility both which are manifested through positive good literature and fulfilling engagement with music and

of

,

in

,

in

it

':

, .

of

Cultural Politics Finally cultural materialism does not pretend

.

political neutrality

.

to

,

.

:

the series title

of

in

,

,

,

as

;

in

as

of

it .

it

of

a

) is

of

'

is

'

‘

(

to

.

'

'

.

,

it

of

a

its

to

it

or

:

a

by

in

is

The analytic one used the social sciences and especially anthro pology significations seeks describe the whole system which society section understands itself and relations with the world Cultural materialism draws upon the latter analytic sense and popular culture therefore studies high culture alongside work other media and from subordinated groups opposed Materialism idealism insists that culture does not production cannot transcend the material forces and relations Culture not simply reflection the economic and political system butnor can be independent Cultural materialism therefore sees inseparable from the conditions texts their production and reception history and involved necessarily the making cultural meanings which are always finally political meanings Hence

to

an

of

,

or

as

,

its It

attempt mystify does not like much established perspective allegedly the natural obvious interpretation literary criticism

viii

FOREWORD

the contrary , it registers commitment the grounds social order that exploits people race gender sexuality and class develop this kind understanding The Cultural Politics Series seeks sequence volumes that has intellectual coherence but restric tive format The books will be both introductory and innovatory intro ductory innovatory that they will clear and accessible their application distinctive perspectives both established topics and Shelley Arnold Eliot the Leavises and new ones the tradition Williams though often terms very different from theirs culture and politics are again important intellectual debates the centre Dollimore

of

Alan Sinfield University

Sussex

to

no

in

;

.

of

,

,

to

to

,

,

of

at

,

in

In

.

of

in

be

.

:

of

to

, of

.

of

a

,

a

in

Jonathan

,

. On

on

fact

its

textual

of

given

transformation

For Bindia , Rajiv and Kerys

Introduction

to

.

its

in

,

; .

be

of

'

in

of

,

of

of

)

(

is

its

Sensitivity to race , class and gender in feminist criticism , despite being infancy Renaissance studies agenda for some time on still especially feminist ones are only beginning address not just the oppression coexistence but the interlocking these various structures surprising The absence class the title this project might then

.

in

its

and in

of

in

of By or

.

,

is

it

a

as

,

especially

of

affects our analysis women class still theoretical and analytical category The recurrent disorderly women and public confrontation between independent and private authority the drama the period has been the subject

largely missing

as

racial difference

,

of

of

a

as

is

it

my analysis But not intended statement omission historiography whereas Renaissance and criticism have increasingly been interlinking concerned with the sexual and class politics the period

it

,

a

.

of

of

.

,

or a a

of

of

by

.

,

of

of to

a

as

much Renaissance criticism lately and large has been read proto implying indicative either radical female assertiveness punishment aligns deviancy feminist theatre female which the drama with patriarchal ideologies Each these positions has included variety feminist approaches ranging from the liberal and essentialist materialist and historicist This book will examine the sexual politics in to

of

in

)

in

is

to

'

to

lift

it

in

, .

(

,

as

;

its

it

an

alongside setting analysis these plays racial difference subject two distinct but connected ways hence race and gender rather than class but both used related class Renaissance drama Firstly will focus upon the black presence some texts order interrupt recent debates and the theatrical punishment the

.

to

of

by

)

-

(

it

a

,

of

to

of

a

at

'

',

by

rebellious woman out from the options laid out current criticism Patriarchy best functional term useful for referring those social structures and ideologies that contribute the subordination women has lately been dislodged from the status transhistorical and unitary phenomenon which was accorded varieties essen tialist feminism the ongoing and by no means conclusive attempts a

for

'

at

to

it

,

.

,

In

).

51

'

feminist theory the drama attention racial difference has least two important implications One becomes obvious that each hierarchical

(p

what Joan Kelly had termed the doubled vision

of

to

a

.

. of of

,

to

it

combine class and gender analysis have dismantled into histori cally and culturally variable complex and even contradictory amalgam institutions and attitudes But sensitivity race calls the tripling

the

INTRODUCTION

as

by

,

of

specificity

interwine different aspects emerges

each

more

.

on

's

women

the

subordination

;

of

between

clearly

.

of or

,

to

of

as

'

*

.

is analogous to and linked with others The which women and black people are constructed the others white patriarchal society are similar and connected and they also reflect upon other sorts exclusion such that based class Two race further problematises feminist efforts make analogies

of domination

structure processes

a

a

.

be

,

is

by

to

It

a

,

,

of

of .

'

'

a

to

a

a

a

of

in

to

,

by

a

of

as

'

' '

for

in

of

to

to

.

of

by

,

in

. of

,

can

,

in

combining race class and gender only confirms that The difficulty neither women nor their opponents considered homogeneous Renaissance patriarchy like any other not monolith but shifting alignment various power structures which are also conflict with one another Women black people and other oppressed subjects are both constituted and subversive this authority seemed me acknowledge crucial for feminist criticism rather than efface con duplicate the tradictions the female subject this drama and not perfect revolutionary demanding idealist search unified providing distilled opposition heroine capable monolithic prerequisite for patriarchy subversive text This will involve his toricising the repeated theatrical foregrounding duplicitous women terms Renaissance politics and society the position women and contemporary discourses about them and the rather complex position

.

.

'.“

, -

its

)

by

(

to

us

,

occupied the popular theatre itself Also real women and their liter representations especially men are not identical All this must lead situate the text among various con texts

ary

'

of

is

)

.

1

-

pp

.

,

a

neutral

or

,

,

in

its

,

its

it

;

of

a

in

assumed

be

the text cannot

to

of

be '(

to

a

,

to

it is

The reader

is

to

by

even explained

'by

is

the discursive strategies the text extending the discussion origins because particular text put created also the use which function particular conjecture particular institutional spaces and within particular audiences Steve Neale quoted Morley relation 170

not

solely

If

is

by

its

not communicated

?

. of

.

'

p

',

),

,

all

to

(

'

,

at or

of

any other literature But what are the contexts this cultural production occurs every point where meaning the time and Reproductions communicated Sinfield 131 then these are not ideological limited the and material conditions the inception subsequent deployments Textual meaning the text but must include

unchanging

of

.

category

in

of

('

of

a

to

.

of

in

in

a

in

of

of

of

to

. of

to

my second usage map aspects This leads race and gender English literature was the history the plays themselves The export establishing the ideological hegemony crucial component the English literature was strategically British Empire Asia and Africa employed play the service colonial education and had role worlding Spivak what has termed the the Third World The Rani

INTRODUCTION

a

's

.

of

by

in

of

as a

a

by

in

of

.

of

or

.

-

in

its

Sirmur ', p . 247 ) . The fact that my position as a teacher of English literature in Delhi University is shared with more than 700 others is some indica tion of the massive presence of the subject in colonial education and tenacity phrase implies the post colonial situation But Spivak passive colonial subject The presence English the canon the pre valence these readings the Indian classroom does not only make straightforward and now tired statement about colonial hegemony English literature study formal discipline British institutions

colonial rule and was itself shaped both ends the imperial connection project the the next chapter shows the encounter between Western text and Indian readers has been and post complex drama where imperialism the site colonialism colonialism and patriarchy interact What does this imply Renaissance criticism the task the oppositional critic amplify and strategically read culture position the marginalised voices the ruled exploited oppressed and quoted excluded Lentricchia Dollimore Shakespeare then he must sensitive how textual usage the conditions textual reception may contribute such marginalisation and also provide the space from which question will consider the question disor derly women and racial others Renaissance drama also though not exclusively from the perspective encounter with non European and female readers the Indian classroom where English literature and established canon have acquired specific political and ideological

,

of

,

,

'

of

of 14 ),

.p

',

of

-

its

its

,

in

,

of

,

' it in . I

‘

to

,

to

to

,

to

, ', or ,

,

(

'

be

/ s

as

so

of

-

to

re

? If it is

for

.

a

of

is

,

As

.

in

.

At

both fulfilled the demands

what happened overseas women were implicated

,

am

I

to

“ a

by

by

it

as

'

of

in

to

I

its

).

. -

of ,

as

in

on

of

, . of I

byto

(p

to

am

my experience shared with India but not subscribing what Baldick has characterised cult raw experience privileged the English literary critical tradition from Arnold through the Leavises and beyond 203 Rather hope break my own position historically determined components into order examine the impact disorderly women has been mediated our existing course drawing teaching this drama

connotations

many others

of

.

to

,

an

.

its

byat

of

of

a

;

–

all of

as

;

in

as

;

of

;

of is

in

it

to

,

us

of

it

as

as

might be negotiated alternative criticism and missing allows see what current Western debates The volatile and violent nature Indian sexual politics the heterogeneous nature Indian society the acceleration social and political fissures recent years well the consolidation the bourgeois state contingency manipulation another level the revealed law and political and religious authority provide these material basis from approach the diverse constituents which Renaissance sexual poli tics employing racial and sexual difference overlap with The two ways critical practice

INTRODUCTION

'

each other . Both together contest

'

what preferred readings have made history and drama and also offer an alternative position on the political and ideological effect of female disobedience . The his tory of Western sexual politics and the contemporary situation of women in Europe and America are only one standpoint from which to evaluate such an effect . Moreover , it is a standpoint that has been

of Renaissance

moulded by ern

criticism

a long history of the exclusion of racial difference in West and social thought . I don t just mean that the black presence

'

plays has been overwhelmingly neglected , but that certain generalisations about ' the female subject or women 's resistance have ( crept in . I am suggesting that the introduction of racial difference is useful beyond analysing the representation ofblacks ; it also allows for perspective on the question of authority itself, even a more complex where colour differentiation either appears to be , or actually is , absent. It can be argued , for example , that the gender politics of a pre -Freudian society have been generally interpreted on the basis of assumptions derived from the very Eurocentric models of sexuality predominant in post- Freudian Western thought , and that this may be interrogated both in

the

by historicising

the relationship between patriarchalism and racism and the perspective allowed by a different culture . Both these ways of correlating race and gender , then , alert us to what Lentricchia has called ' the multiplicity of histories ' - both within the text drawing upon and of the text . This perspective , of course, seen post modern theoretical work spanning various discip great deal lines and isms which has been increasingly concerned with dismant ling the unifying intellectual traditions dominant Western thought as

be

,

on

.

of

-

', of

-

a

Its

,

of a

,

,

effect cultural analysis and literary studies generally and Renais sance studies particularly has been invigorating and has contributed

I

,

to

is

,

on

in

be

)

in

(

.

to

to

enormously firmly commit the shaping critical practice which political transformation ted But the other hand need acknowledge the warning which has been voiced especially often by political dangers privileging colleagues Delhi that there may

.p 5 ).

',

'(

',

of

,

As

‘

an

.

,

is

to

fragmentation and heterogeneity the extent that the very possibility understanding formulation and therefore resistance and change questioned history may then dissolve Perry Anderson has cautioned antinomy into structural determinism and destructured con tingency see Montrose Renaissance literary studies What Allon of

a

,

in

its

,

to

to

of

,

)

'(

.p

of

scepticism White has called carnival 138 then becomes new and equally paralysing orthodoxy which has specific and particularly dangerous implications for the Third World whose intelligentsia was adopt dominantWestern paradigms initially persuaded linearity coherence and development block out own rich heritages

'a

✓

can

from

INTRODUCTION

'

favour of the caloniser s monologue. Now an uncritical play on the com plexity of power structures and resistances can serve to disguise the control , consolidation and unification of neo -colonial and imperialist , as well as indigenous , power structures especially in Asian , African or American societies . see , however , that this itself involves a particular interpretation of otherwise useful perspectives ; for example , Doraiswamy points out that much Western work on Bakhtin ‘ is an appropriative discourse based on silences , misrepresentations and reductions , that have forestalled a genuine dialogue on Bakhtin and his contribution to thinking on culture ' ( p . 110 ) . Allon White has shown , indeed , how Bakhtin 's work offers a critique of much deconstructionist practice (pp. 123 -46 ). No theory is

Latin

it is up to us to utilise

critically what we

see

, and

Bhatnagar

(

valid

of

globally

can

We can

also

').

of

at

.

,

,

to

of

a

of

to

process

of

ongoing

a

all

lay

19 its

see also Ryan

.pp ,

of

vision

its

as

',

;

,

of

on

its

go

inescapable provisionality

or

as of

of

,

of

it

be

,

in

',

Uses and limits Foucault Discussing diversity feminist theories and politics Newton and may argued that provisionality Rosenfelt point out that know ledge the historical determination our own attempts understand ing and the relative coherence human vision deny the very possibility changing reality But either understanding and theorising about they argue none these have historically precluded political seeing knowledge transformation and change moreover form degrees historical practice does not mean we cannot claim relative coherency and completeness while maintaining the while being

).

,

by

,

.

a

,

in

'

of

'

to

of

on

is

to

.

'(

to p

;

transformed xxix 213 unifying ideologies and Therefore resist the closure effected criticisms not necessarily slide into political and academic impotence My emphasis the plurality voices Renaissance drama does not replace preferred readings with simple pluralism also mean but in

be

,

of

'

,

.

as

to

struggle and resistance indicate the sites the plays which our may amplify Following own contradictions readers and critics Raymond Williams crucial and useful distinction between residual dominant and emergent aspects culture contradictions can

',

as

,

,

do

its

,

;

or ).

-

'

, , .pp

73

' ,

is

-5 ).

pp

.

its

(

a

',

(

for

;

an

as

acknowledged indication that dominant ideologies are potentially unstable and never totally effective hence they may provide the space radical intervention and change see Sinfield Shakespeare and edu cation 134 Authoritative discourses past traditions and institu deployed form and structure tions within which the text effect and frame successive new encounters but not completely deter Firstly dominant discourses mine these see Dave Morley 163 homogeneous and therefore themselves are notmonolithic uniform potential for divergent readings the discourse contain Volosinov

INTRODUCTION insists , can become ‘ an arena of struggle 'because it is ‘multi -accentual '. For example , as Homi Bhabha has suggested , the stereotypes of colonial

discourse connote ‘ rigidity and an unchanging order as well as disorder , degeneracy and demonic repetition ', indicating the insecurity as well as power of this discourse ("The other question , p . 18 ). Similarly , the patriarchal notion ofwoman as witch acknowledges female power even as it seeks to demonise it. Therefore , these stereotypes are not entirely

'

contained

,

or

Moreover , in

harnessed by and useful to , those who produce them . certain literary texts , this ambivalence may be even more It has been shown that Shakespeare s The Tempest

in

is

of

it

,

of

).

(

-

3 5

a

recognise the nature and power the preferred and readings precisely institutionalised which seek efface contradiction by claiming universality naturalness and objective and therefore true

of '

,

an

,

to

to

important

of of

The

pronounced . ' exemplifies the operation of colonialism in ‘amoment of historical crisis ' and therefore simultaneously contains 'the apotheosis , mystification and potential erosion of the colonialist discourse ' (Brown , ' This thing of darkness ', pp . 48 -69). My own analysis of Webster 's Duchess Malfi will suggest radical instability the patriarchal stereotype the duplicitous woman see chapters equally While locating the radical instability contradictions

:

, of

,

in

,

.

of a

'

by

in

in

‘

‘

of

by

via

'.

a

representation facts But second undermining their effect occurs the important distinction made Paul Willemen between the sub ject constructed and marked and the text and the social subject history living Real readers are subjects social formations rather subject are not single text The two types than mere subjects

for/

by

).

's

,

,

,

10

a

it

in

of

.

of

on

by

-

is

of

a

to

.

to

its

;

).

167

'(

.p

in

to

relation other texts problematics institutions dis cursive formations These clashes render the text potentially volatile can become space from which question and even subvert dominant educational deployment Preferred readings emerging from European institutions particular role play overseas have had The female reader the sub continent the recipient texts that are the products another

(s )

position

is

, , '

As

.

up

to

.

of

(

'

p

, .

commensurate cited Morley 169 More generally dominant dis courses are not the sum total the reality experienced the subject reader The disjunction between the two may become impossible opened the former efface hence further space for radical readings Morley says the text may be contradicted by the subject

;

-

.

alternative reading and teaching practice

be

can

,

I

as

to as

to

,

for

formulating

an

in

.

in

;

speak attitudes written men andmade behalf anti feminism specific purposes but projected universally valid and hope true But precisely these alienations show useful

brought

INTRODUCTION in their essay on The Tempest , there combining the historical conditions real difficulties the origin ating moment production the text and the successive inscrip during history tions text the course 192 will attempt Firstly the discussion expands include many new

I

as

of

-3

),

( .pp

' '

to

to is

,

is

,

of it

post colonialist education

is

in

elitist attitudes

'.

'

by

far

demands like this

generalise the Indian and

its

of

,

study

.

in

a

,

more detailed examination than For example almost impossible situation The nexus colonialist patriarchalist

which

each

possible

-

areas

of do .

to a

of

of

of a

in

are

As Barker and Hulme acknowledge

further complicated

,

.

of

be

to

is

of

,

-

are of

am

I

to

are

,

a

on

I

,

as

to

'.

,

'

-

-

of

,

of

,

of

of

of

any cross cultural analysis over simplifications and generalisations lapsing into the universalisations adopting the paradigms dominant criticism modernisation replicating the histories theories whereby the Third World seen Western progression Finally much would like suggest that opening outthe discussion critique post colonial English Renaissance tragedy and offering studies are not contradictory enterprises and even collateral they offering ways reading texts inconsistent the extent that in

there are many dangers inherent

of

a

all

by

is

,

of

the diversity Indian social structures and my own perspective shaped limited and specific positioning within these Secondly

all

-

a

,

.

it is a

of

in

-

,

in

of

a

I

,

to

a

of

.

of

an

,

."

,

I ',

a

as

in

of ,

is

to

Shakespeare not likely solve the problems arising from his privileged position strategy that wemay employ our curricula but English studies while still negotiating the future Perhaps diasporic Indian post colonial intel what Spivak calls lectual one cannot avoid such oscillations between contexts and cul tures will still suggest however that connections between alternative textual readings and teaching practices are not just unfortunate result our position The ways which interpretations texts spill over critique into the institutions literature are important for those seeking political intervention contemporary cultural make studies and hope both together will identify the grounds for anti racist

.

in

,

'

its

,

be

it,

as

,

re -

to a

in

it

their partisanship

.

. 6 ).

(p

,

:

as

-a

as

to

of

‘

of

of

,

As

of

materialist and feminist appropriations the plays Chris Baldick argues English criticism from Dryden onwards poetry position passes from the subordinate position defender self ppointed authority from which can turn the offensive literary comment since Arnold particular English social well put literary criticism has Patrick Parrinder has lost innocence appropriations then need not apologetic about Our own

INTRODUCTION

Notes that our notions of historical change 1 Since Joan Kelly made her seminal proposition and progress can look very different with the introduction of gender as an analytical category (pp . 19-50) , Renaissance scholarship (cultural , historical, literary and inter - dis ciplinary ) has been rich in sensitivity to the interlacing of class and gender . A comprehen sive list of such work is not possible here but one may mention the studies of Joan Kelly , Alison Heisch , Natalie Zemon Davis , Keith Thomas , Lawrence Stone , Catherine Belsey , Jonathan Dollimore , Stephen Greenblatt , Louis Montrose , Lisa Jardine , Ann

Rosalind Jones , Alan Sinfield , Leonard Tennenhouse and Linda Woodbridge as having richly contributed to this approach (see bibliography for details ) . For example , Irene Dash , Wooing, Wedding and Power finds that Shakespeare ' s heroines are able to learn the meaning of self- sovereignty for women in a patriarchal society '

( p. 1) . Marilyn French comes to the opposite conclusion that Shakespeare was a mis ogynist with almost a pathological fear of women and sex (Shakespeare 's Divisionof Experi ence ) . Both these books adopt transcendental definitions of patriarchy and do not attempt to contextualise the plays in terms of Renaissance culture . Linda Bamber , Comic women, Tragicmen differentiates between a feminist Shakespeare who writes comedies and a misogynist tragic bard ; she defines the feminine as ' some general principle of

difference , . . . that which exists on the other side of a barrier ' (pp . 4-5) . On the other hand , Juliet Dusinberre ' s Shakespeareand the Nature of Women traces an emergent feminism in the plays to ' radical ' Puritan sexual politics . Lisa Jardine disputes this and argues that the drama confirms patriarchal prejudice ; she is rigorously historical and her view to me seems to be in conformity with the results of some feminist historio graphy of the period , such as Joan Kelly 's ' Did women have a Renaissance ?' (see Kelly ,

‘ simple

Women, History, Theory ) . Leonard Tennenhouse confirms and extends this opinion (Power on Display) whereas Catherine Belsey (The Subjectof Tragedy ) shifts emphasis by seeing the plays moving iowards liberal humanist ideals . Iwill return to the debate in later chapters .

3 The material generated by contemporary feminist debates is enormous .For a discussion of these see chapter one of my ' Disorderly Women '. Kate Millett ' s SexualPolitics and Shulamith Firestone 's TheDialecticof Sexremain classic articulations of the radical feminist definition of patriarchy . Kuhn and Wolpe , FeminismandMaterialism; Barrett ,Women 's Oppres sion Today; Jaggar, Feminist Politics; Eisenstein , Capitalist Patriarchy; and Sargant , Women and

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certain reading 167 argued that Marxist dialectics provided the basis for such work which however can effected critique the mechanical reductionism much Marxist theory The ques ).

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widely discussed useful examples are Carby White woman listen Bhavani and Coul The incompatible ménage trois Parmar son Transforming socialist feminism Joseph OtherWorlds Gender race and class Davis Women RaceandClass and Spivak Feminist Reviewno Representative positions the class ender debate can be found Summer 1986 Hartmann The unhappy marriage Weir and Wilson The British women movement Young Beyond the unhappy marriage Lown Not

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Revolutionprovide accessible refutations of this position ; they point out transcendental and ahistorical premises and discuss alternatives The ways which race problematises and critiques white feminist theory has also been

INTRODUCTION

all

tions of the relation of base and superstructure , of ideology , and the relationship of the individual to social formation , especially after Althusser , opened up the question the what is submerged , marginalised , hidden by dominant culture . Structuralism , differ ent post - structuralisms , psychoanalysis , certain feminisms , as well as the work of indi interrupted previous social viduals such as Gramsci , Foucault and Macheray have in

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Morley article indebted discussion the interrelation between texts and their readers May June 1987 Interview with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Book Review Vol no English literature and the women She suggests also that the teaching movement have been historically discontinuous and continually bring each other crisis which may explain some our added contradictions feminist critics

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formulating the sense different conception social totality one many determinations phrase from Marx For the result use literary criticism committed social change see Newton and Rosen felt Dollimore and Sinfield and the Literature and Society Group Kumkum Sangari warns that postmodern scepticism itself the complex product historical conjuncture becomes authoritative because inscribed within continuing in

thought

which unity programmes

, patriarchy

Imperialism

and

post -colonial English studies And who in time knowes wither we may vent The treasure of our tongue , to what strange shores This gaine of our best glorie shal be sent T' enrich vnknowing Nations with our stores ?

What worlds in th 'yet vnformed Occident May come refin ' d with th ' accents that are ours ?

Samuel Daniel , Musophilus ( 1599 )

Contradictions and consolidations

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More students probably read Othello in the University of Delhi every year than in large proportion British universities combined developed English teaching them women But the politics colonised countries have largely been excluded from considerations current crisis This indicative both the insular nature even radical and alternative Western criticism and the difficulty for the post colonial critic interrogating pedagogy whose most successful project the English literary text strategy has been amalgam Inquiries into the his universal value morality truth and rationality in

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English literary study tories and ideologies India are only beginning formidably large range over and clear that they will have methodological canvas and involve various skills from archival work discourse analysis My own concern here outline some aspects English the institution studies exists today particularly the growing feminisation These relative stability the discipline and unlearning can are the contexts which the process initiated

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great works discontinuity literature cannot easily flourish the fracture which covered over alien legal system masquerading law such alien ideology established the only truth and set human sciences busy establishing the native self consolidating other For the early part the imperial nineteenth century India the literary critic must turn the archives

,

IMPERIALISM

,

PATRIARCHY

But conversely ,

it

ENGLISH STUDIES

may be proposed that

the enterprise

of English

teaching in India can be read as one of the texts of imperial governance . In a

literature

pioneering

essay , Gauri Viswanathan has pointed out that ' humanistic functions traditionally associated with the study of literature - for example , the shaping of character or the development of the esthetic sense or the disciplines of ethical thinking - are also essential to the process of sociopolitical control ( p. 2) . In England , literary education was a par ticipant in the creation of a paternalistic , elitist culture , designed to con tain the challenges variously posed to the status quo by the middle and working classes as well as women . In India , it not only responded to the exigencies , ideologies as well as the contradictions of colonial rule , but was crucial to imperialist strategy . But, in both cases , it needs to be added that we are not speaking of an already given , well defined discip linary formation . English literary study was shaped by the same political processes in which it actively participated . In other words, it did not

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have some inherent claim to , but was invested with humanistic and moral attributes . The history of this investment is interlaced with what Chris Baldick has called the civilising mission of English literature in relation to various subordinate classes and groups. Two further observations will indicate the complexity of the forma tion of this discipline . Firstly , the colonial history of English teaching shaped development the metropolis and the two pedagogic trad Secondly English literature like British itions can seen interlaced general education was not inserted upon colonial vacuum but complex entered into interaction with indigenous education the

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whatwemay demarcate three interpenetrating cultures Anglo Indian the British India and Indian One recurring issue theories colonial discourse the effectiveness imperialist strategy Edward Said work has analysed Orientalism body European discourses which offered certain construction the East facilitated the hegemonic control colonised cultures and peoples and indeed deeply affected their self conception well emphasis Benita Parry discusses recent essay Said the power colonial discourse has been criticised the grounds that renders oppositional culture and the colonial subject mute and disallows the spaces from which the hegemony the imperialist construction questioned can But while both the consolidation and authority should be discussed the resistance desire locate opposi possible tion not sufficient romanticise the colonial subject

-

be sensitive

, RACE , RENAISSANCE

GENDER

DRAMA

durability , we will have to differentiate between various colonial sub jects and acknowledge stances which are double - edged . For example , it is possible to argue that Indian nationalists received the European text contrary to the intentions of their colonial masters , since the indepen dence struggle was paradoxically led by Indians schooled in Britain and

the British system here . But although Indian nationalism resisted colonial rule it also consolidated own hierarchy and will discuss shortly this complicates the nationalist interaction with English litera bourgeois nationalism ture From the position the humanistic claims as

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in

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institionalised English education could not and fact did not need subverted Again despite their differences both colonial and post independence

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educationists shared certain attitudes literature women and modern isation result the enormous political and social upheavals inde pendence notwithstanding dominant patriarchal and literary ideologies ways that only were adapted the exigencies the new situation deepened the contradictions those involved with English literature on

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India and especially women becomes necessary then note the ways which colonial nationalist and post colonial discourses both explanation literature and women interlink Lata Mani discourse something which focuses analysis that which stable and persis ordering point assumptions reality tent the social and opposed shared those who claim each other relevant here WS recent discussion which followed lecture given Delhi Univer Marilyn Butler Revising the English Canon opinion was sity shaped place divided about how canons are the first While receptive complex politics speaker analysis the the involved the forma great authors tion the hierarchy and sympathetic also her argument that this was more than power conspiracy sections the audience felt that much canons are institutionalised and supported by vast structures teaching job market and publishing they are not simply the oblique results cultural norms The two positions are not

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irreconcilable but the fact that the Indian reader especially cannot assume that the English canon has been firmly placed the Indian curriculum without great deal consolidation and alliances between otherwise divergent positions with this mind that will trace complicity between indigenous and imperial power structures and not imply simple collaboration between them order This also suggests that the dominant asumptions English studies colonial way challenged education cannot uniform colonised subject

IMPERIALISM , PATRIARCHY, ENGLISH STUDIES

but particular sections of colonised peoples are, for very specific reasons at different periods , in a postion to dismantle the edifice .

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Nebrija author As back 1492 Antonio one the first modern grammars recognised that language empire the perfect instrument Barker and Hulme 197 India was the first site for British experimen tation with this early colonialist perception see Basu The formal decision introduce English education was taken only 1835 upon the advice Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay who arrived serve the Supreme Council Lord William Bentinck Governor General

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company and the native elite classes Despite the growing military strength the Empire colonial pro register nouncements education both confidence and anxiety relation their native subjects For example Charles Grant Scheme the Intellectual Moral and Social Regeneration the People India justification imparting 1792 marks out the stability the Raj English education the East India

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spite his aggressive posture Macaulay departs from the certainty expressed Grant document regarding the willing subjection the Indian people His Minute Indian Education betrays uneasiness about their natural loyalty the English indicating the need for interpreters between and the millions whom we govern But this class was marshalled the same policy advocated Grant persons Indian English education was ensure that class blood

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA On the other hand , this strategy of a Filtration Theory , involving the cooperation of the native elite , could also be advanced from an opposite position of educating Indians in their own languages . This is one of the

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various points at which the apparently different views of the Orientalists , who advocated education through the vernacular , and the Anglicists , who supported English , can be seen to converge . Although the Orien talist passion for Sanskrit, for example , contradicted the premises of English teaching at one level , at another , ‘ it was as a dead language ,

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and Orientalism consolidated the native allies imperial rule The former catalysed the wide scale emergence what Said identifies the native informant Orientalism 324 the col example onised intellectual The reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy expressed disappointment the establishment Sanskrit schools Calcutta and urged the British government allocate funds for employ Both

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the other hand tied with revivalism purposes India which served several was used politically princes Spivak endorse the claims Hindu see Rani 264 also established brahmins the custodians and true representatives varied and heterogeneous Indian tradition and customs thus rep ressing the claims those excluded haditio brahminical hegemony such Dilip Simeon notes that the lower castes and classes and women classexcluded

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talent and education instruct the natives mathematics natural philosophy chemistry anatomy and Europe have carried other useful sciences which the natives perfection that has raised them above the inhabitants degree the Bailey and Gorlach other parts the world 354 not surprising having unex that Roy also gave thanks the Supreme Disposer pectedly delivered this country from the long continuing tyranny former rulers and placed under the government the English Moorhouse Such intellectuals ultimately reconciled their conflicts by resorting notions universal humanism Sunder Rajan India

,

IMPERIALISM

, ENGLISH

PATRIARCHY

STUDIES

15

the theory of the ' Aryan ' racial origins of brahminical civilization , given credence orientalist scholars such as Professor Max Mueller . . . gained much popularity among diverse sections of the nationalist intelligentsia , including Viv ekananda , Tilak , Justice Ranade , Dayanand Saraswati, Keshab Chandra Sen , Aurobindo Ghose , Bankimchandra and B. C. Pal. The theory could make the Indian elite feel equal to the ruling Englishmen . . . as well as buttress their social superiority over the low -caste sudras . . . . The arrogance ofthe paramount power was sought to be countered by the assertion of an older tradition of paramountcy 61 )

of

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The common sense assumptions attaching colour prejudice and have slowly come conferred upon people assumed non Aryan such those Southern India and tribal peoples British policies upon actively operated existing then Indian politics legitimised existing dominant tendencies and introduced new ones racism

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On the part the British the project differentiate between various colonised people later be bolstered by social Darwinism evident Aryan revivalism Indians were designated anthropologically superior African blacks which crucially affected Indians own internalisation racist ideologies The myth persists that prejudice against Indians was more closely related station and class than was race such Moorhouse 178 has led Indian participation racist structures neglect analyses East and South Africa and racism their critique especially ironical colonialism which the context

against Indians abroad today the important role this myth played blocking out identifications Indians with blacks persuading them intermediary zone which nevertheless accorded that they occupied them inferior status see chapter

.

racism

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Simeon rightly points out that nationalism rarely has that pure virginal ideologues like indulge themselves about which Depending the social forces and processes which articulate can imperialist tolerant be defensive chauvinist universalist humanist polarisation racist Fanon describes colonial culture between those who threw themselves frenzied fashion into the frantic acquisition the culture the occupying power and took unfavourably criticising their own national culture every opportunity setting out and substantiating the claims and those who took refuge way which rapidly becomes unproduc their indigenous culture convergence between the tive India we can locate areas two This one the contexts which the English literary text became not site conflict but accommodative ideal where the humanistic quality

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

16

of that

assumptions

sciousness and

of good

single shelf

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European literature

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a Westernised

small rural college in the Midnapur district by Nirmalaya Samanta , a lecturer there . longer compulsory no those undergraduates who are not the subject unlike most other universities However optional English paper the marks this paper cannot affect

Consider the situation

of West Bengal, English is majoring

include both

in

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discipline could one .

a revivalist

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the position the student but mentiond his her degree certificate The popularity the course remains unaffected not merely because English professional and official reasons necessary immediately confers status the girls who opt for English but because will group together and feel that silk parasols are now order opposed the usual nylon ones Meanwhile with the problem trying make Lawrence The White Stocking make sense stocking potato farms and have never seen students who live ersonal communication ballroom their lives English was not taught just foreign language but was the means imposing ideologies way being and seeing culture cluster privileged signifier literary which the text became the This centrality

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uncover Firstly Gauri Viswanathan has shown given that the British administration declared policy was one non interference native religions English literature became carrying out civilising mission and proclaiming itself means expressed altruistic and reformist the 1820 doubts began language teaching and secular education about earlier policy The Orientalist Horace Wilson maintained that mere language cannot work any material change and that only when we initiate them into our to

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missionaries the one hand and fears native insubordina support English literature other discovered maintaining control them natives under the guise liberal education Viswanathan tion

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particularly adopt feelings early age and get them literature impression and sentiments from our standard writers can we make upon them Viswanathan The fear that secular education would nurture native rebelliousness was articulated missionaries who deplored the lack prevailing pedagogy Since religious moral bias maintaining the status quo instruction the sort that was useful possible Britain was not colonial soil British administrators pro

IMPERIALISM , PATRIARCHY , ENGLISH STUDIES In Macaulay 's pronouncements , the English literary text occupies the position of an advance guard of the British empire , effecting 'pacific triumphs of reason over barbarism ' (Moorhouse , p . 96 ) . He speaks of

the propagation of that literature before the light ofwhich impious and

cruel superstitions are fast taking flight on the banks of the Ganges . . . And , wherever British literature spreads, may it be attended by British virtue and British freedom (Baldick , p . 71). The superiority of British ignorance culture over native and stupidity is expresssed by the differ ence between Western and other texts : a single shelf of a good European

'

was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia ' , p . 722 ). Contradictory claimswere made on behalf ofEnglish literature : on the one hand , that it was ‘ imbued with the spirit of Chris library

(Macaulay

', and , on

that such a double stance allowed English

lay

the other , that it was ‘not interwoven to the same extent with the Christian religion as the Hindoo religion is with the Sanskrit language and literature ' ( Viswanathan , p . 19 ) . Macaulay ' s Minute reveals tianity

simultaneous that the administration shall always abstain from giving any public encourage converting natives engaged ment those who the work Christianity But irks Macaulay that this policy should imply the encouragement Indian literature which propogates false History false Astronomy false medicine and false religion when they could be instructed literature that could teach them sound Philosophy principles and true History 723 And sound religion reiterates

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Vulgar Factions write good Hand well grounded gone through the Latin Grammar quoted Spivak Rani Macaulay and the recom 254 The 1853 India Act also authorised mendations the report the Civil Service the East India Company open competitive examinations 1855 proclaimed that there would for the Indian civil services which English Literature and Language pressure upon would constitute 000 marks paper This resulted English universities teach these subjects formally Oxford first pro English taught Raleigh fessor literature Walter had earlier the Anglo Oriental College Aligarh chapter three Baldick qualifications needed for imperial governance also tied The shift English with the displacement Classics the home country that and

at in

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71

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Members the Indian Civil Service affirmed that the culture that men dealing got Oxford and Cambridge was the greatest importance with the natives Baldick but what culture men got Oxford

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

18

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and Cambridge was determined also by the British experience in the colonies , where English literature had become the civil counterpart of missionary activity on the one hand and military force on the other – ideological mission effaced by supposedly private individual universal and non political nature Viswanathan suggests the English literary text functioned highest and most perfect state the surrogate Englishman state the Perfect implications English literature became the guru teacher culture The culture knowledge guru culture slide easily from knowledge decorum and from behaviour downright submission One this tribe published handbook aright submissicom might interact socially with the British 1915 ad addressed Indians who 1915 your advises them not chew betel nut stroke any part person bite nails scratch such habits are not considered polite

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tance elsewhere masters merge Do not over sensitive criticism Learn tolerate Englishmen are apt criticism occasion somewhat rough and ready what they say and but remember that such downright con necessarily overbearing duct not and not convert hasty word only jest deadly what intended into insult quoted Moorhouse pp 176 in

of

The fact that many those schooled this system did not learn not substantially alter the claim that English literature morality and knowledge was universal source even Indian

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Shakespeare was attributed the study The ideas which were imbibed from the rulers literature and attitudes were rationalism civil liberties and constitutional self government No one could pre contact with Englishmen that time for long read Shakespeare scribed reading the colleges without catching the infection Spear nationalism 166 But the ways which art and especially ideological apparatus literature functions the Althusserian nationalism

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organisation sense perpetuating dominant power relations involves and institutionalisation which include criticism and interpretation Specific readings Shakespeare are needed back the claim that was instructor Indian nationalists just others have made possible his becoming spokesman for right wing ideologies Britain

IMPERIALISM , PATRIARCHY , ENGLISH STUDIES

“ The experiencing type

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A central feature of hegemonic ideologies is their projection of the dominant viewpoint as universally true , transcendentally valid and non political . In this way , they claim to represent humanity and their finally others inferior and non human Thus he and man are patri people and both subsume well archal representations exclude

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woman Thus also white racism implies not only that European culture superior but that the only kind culture there can be exclusion necessarily non human barbaric and from the non European specialisation animalistic Knowledge the East for the European but knowledge the West for the Asian African becomes synonym ous with education knowledge culture we add this the repository dominant representation literature some fixed and unchanging human essence we can begin approach the significance European text the colonial context which also resulted specific kinds teaching and critical practices The primary contradiction engendered this situation involves the fixing English literature and the Indian reader into positions that imply permanent and inherent inability comprehend the latter

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Indians and their ability educated there are this very town natives who are quite competent discuss political scientific ques tions with fluency and precision the English language 725 728 English studies was established The elitist nature and civilising mission through strategic inclusion well exclusion certain categories people Eliot Richards and the Leavises among others bemoaned the effects mass literacy according Leavis the sudden opening the fiction market the general public was blow serious reading Baldick 207 Indian critics just after indepen dence also regretted the fact that where the past few people knew great deal about Shakespeare today large number know little about Muliyil English literary studies him The institutionalisation

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Britain involved inclusion the uncultured into the boudoir knowledge where their inferiority would become apparent and their chapter two subservience ensured see Baldick India the pattern was repeated but with more complicated hierarchy the Europeans privileged then native informants and then their sucessors were independence English readers But both before and after the survival

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

it . as

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like the universe itself open view emphasis added Menezes

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expansion into precisely those people literature depended upon appreciating had been deemed some ways incapable The universality and essential veracity literature well the special ability comprehend these are the two assumptions which ages the inclusion exclusion principle rests Shakespeare appeals particularly experiencing type and most temperaments mind He

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This statement significantly from volume entitled Shakespeare Came India Although obviously coinciding with the anti historical thrust dominant Shakespearian

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specific dimen the universalism the English text took sion India begin with involved particular appropriation both individual spiritual texts and India For example the Orientalist conception abstracted soulful India takes added meaning relation liter dominantly construed ature which have similar characteristics was inserted into Shakespeare criticism India Orientalist compari interpretation sons between him and Kalidasa which involved

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chap spokesmen for harmony order and regeneration Aurobindo Ghosh even saw Shakespeare embodiment Shakespearian world creative Ananda the life spirit who created

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spite realistic elements romantic world the word world the wonder and free power give him life and not mere external realities Aurobindo credit was continually disturbed the defect Elizabethan work the fact that the characters not living beings working out their mutual humanity jostling each other Karma but external figures crowded stage 132 Later readings however erased such Shakespeare was elevated discomfort the status seer the

his own and

very true sense

condition pacifist people and the theme spiritual India The stereotype long history has had traced the Vedantic texts which were fiercely contested later was politically useful for the Raj and also for government propaganda the national movement now surfaces highly stratified society Colonialist contain the growing violence discourse seized upon and reworked such stereotypes the Orient legitimise own patriarchalism Aurobindo comments Shakes peare reveal their interaction with the notion the universality liter particular ature and the English text Secondly Jasodhara Bagchi has suggested English literature was major component the ideology nation building that was consoli a

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human

, PATRIARCHY , ENGLISH STUDIES

IMPERIALISM

under British colonial rule in the nineteenth century . The univer sal humanism put forward by institutionalised literary studies was useful in the task of hegemonising native elite culture . It offered a programme of building a new man who would feel himself to be a citizen of the world while the very face of the world was being constructed in the apparent mirror of the dominant culture of the West (p . 3) . There contradictions this reception the English text When Milton and poetry mouthed by Indian nationalists the hierarchy implicit Shelley dated

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being strained On the other hand such colonial pedagogy appropriation rests cultural difference Therefore the obliteration English studies does not really challenge the ideological premises but reinforces their claim universal value rationality and truth poems Tennyson introduction Rowe and Webb published 1938 declared that the emotions that he appeals are

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understand and common The moral laws upholds are those primary sanctions upon which powerful Tennyson exercises average English society founded English speaking peoples charm over hearts and minds Quoting this Alan Sinfield notes that the editors were professors English literature Presidency College Calcutta one the breeding generally

which

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radical Indian nationalism He comments that the word justification seen both cultural imperialism and wishful thinking Alfred Tennyson True but the radicals Presi dency College would probability have had quarrel with that Bagchi says this was not merely claim literature the masters harbinger open but was literature secular outlook life and grounds

here

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. 4 ).

of

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sesame the great treasures the world became the mantra for fight against obscurantist traditionalism New India The recognised we are duality the stance must locate both departure English studies from imperialist connotations the civilising mission

or or

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English studies from the Raj continuity that ensures the passage and post colonial education English Two other points are crucial One this nationalist reading perception exclusivity literature not break from idea the experiencing mind first this mind was naturally either white wore white mask the subaltern reader was inevitably less equipped see Thus Geoffrey Kendal the British actor whose troupe performed

a

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us to

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Shakespeare years every corner India received letter from theatre group Kerala thanking for bringing them closer the ʻreal thing from which they Indians were excluded the English company was coming news that Trivandrum was like droppingmanna the way starved people Somehow other

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA bond has linked “ Forward Bloc " and " Shakespeareana ” together . . . Let Shakespeare keep India and Britain united ' ( p . 89 ) . From universality to Empire is a short step : editor volume examining Shakespeare plainly the England India puts trade commerce imperialism and the penal code has not endured but the imperishable Empire Shakespeare will always with And that something be grateful for Narasimhaiah The book was

,

of

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p

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years after independence

But the experiencing intellectual but could include the upper class upper caste intellectual well The ideological effect continuing reverence for the canon was the Indian student peaking background especially one not coming from English my students position disability exclusion and awe one 1980 chemistry but had compulsory year who was majoring English literature felt obliged include Jack Austen list her

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authors the transcendental status the literary text continued containing the tensions society that was not rendered useful homogeneous by expelling post independence colonial masters discussions education conducted from avowed positions anti favourite

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widest connotation but the outward expression He who basks the glorious and radiant sunshine true and genuine literature does not recognise such man made barriers caste class difference of language and the like such literature that we now Sadasivayya need for understanding the true meaning culture and religion Sahitya

'

idea that transcends

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are obvious English studies positioned themselves both from the society which they were conducted and

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remove the panacea for social evil The English literary establishment has prey nostalgia been for the Western homeland looking down regional literatures and isolating itself from other sections the academy academic and political conservatism notorious And

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has been able reconcile itself with revivalism various sorts Bengal the evocation Jasodhara Bagchi has pointed out that the Hindu Brahminical golden age was conducted within the protective English literary values umbrella When the theatre moved out the household the aristocracy into the public commercial stage Girish adapta Ghosh showed the glory Hindu heroism alongside Shakespeare tions 1941 Amarnath Jha his presidential address English teachers asserted that Conference

' the

can

IMPERIALISM , PATRIARCHY, ENGLISH STUDIES

's

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only correlation of the Hindu and Western canons is a task that performed English quoted the critic literature Tharu Recently Nagarajan suggests that from Edward Thompson novel End Hours 1938 we can establish new context make the study English relevant English the traditions India the teacher guru who will respond This India the spirit which knows nothing Significantly the divisions time for Nagarajan symbolised girl who insists committing sati this India significant three instances the equation India with Hinduism The ideologies attaching institutionalised English studies then are complex and should not simplistic notion collapsed into cultural adopted challenging imperialism strategies The the orthodoxy will responsive have this complexity

of

An

Women and English studies overwhelming majority

by

;

in

,

is

.

It

to

,

is

is

by

a

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's

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study English litera those who choose increasing devalu India are women and the trend sharpened subject subject ation the Fanon colonised male for women the split between black skin and white mask intensified their gen perhaps encapsulated dered alienation from white society which their relationship the Western canonical text somewhat ironical

ture

a

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( of

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of

).

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it

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.

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for their roles better wives and mothers Alan Sinfield points out that operate respect whilst Literature made mode exclusion including paradox disadvantages girls class them this seems Shakespeare but only shows Literature flexibility cultural form and education 136 The alignment certain disciplines male and

,

.

all

,

to

.

)

in

85

-

all

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of

.

be

to

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65 be -

pp

is a

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;

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to

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of ',

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in

to

it

:

to

relation

,

in

to

female

located

is

as

neither limited India nor accidental needs the dominant ideologies concerning both women and literature and their concrete social effects Women the literary text the individual subject and ideology are interconnected multiple ways see Barrett Ideology Separately and counterposed various combinations each them comes the social be regarded transcendent and trans historical constituted by some unchanging essence Literature private activity and women are the private life men literature universal and women are the mysteriously produced women too are irrational same literature literature both divinely inspired and useless activity women are goddesses whores both literature and women are potentially danger ous and following Plato excluded from the male republic These arguments reinforce the patriarchal association male with rational others

be

women because

by

literature

the their literature at

analogies

of

as

and female with instinctual . Despite these producers same time disadvantaged

of are

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

24

.

is

,

of

as

as

So

exclusion from the privileged spaces supposedly occupied the canonical author well the academic hierarchy are predomin antly male while the average student English literature largely

)

,

to

to a

led

,

as in

,

of

a

Kristeva and other French feminists This marked slide into idealist premises and reinforced the patriarchal asscociations

Coward

back

. -

or

of

,

of

as

,

.

,

it

of

.

of

up

of in

ian

-

to

(

of

.

,

of

patri the private the central philosophical and political premises archal and idealist thought are laid bare ideology and literature then naturally became cent The questions ral feminist theory and politics which converged with post Althusser developments Marxism and psychoanalysis seize upon expose and invert some these assumptions The resultant debates opened questions subjectivity and the intersection the individual and the social However among some feminists also certain reduc whereby women were credited with conventionally unrecog tionism knowing such nised forms intuition and female revolution con sequently became largely semiotic private and pre social the work

the other Just

.

Britain

's of

.

on as

the one hand and the status women Anglicists and Orientalists reinforced the

,

-

pre colonial India on

in

earlier

in

to

If

, .'

of

knowledge and behaviour women with some types neither women nor literature are universal categories their seem ingly global alignment needs be historicised Indian women educa tion under the Raj was crucially involved with their status and schooling

,

in

-

re

At

.

an

in

of

,

of

notion British cultural superiority and colonial and Indian educationalists concurred their ideas about the nature Literature certain shared assumptions about women and their education made English Literature ideal choice for their schooling both otherwise divergent situations shaped patriarchal the same time the Empire

is

of

's

of

a

it

,

to

of

:

,

in

's

. is

.

in

to

of

of

so

,

as

,

of

.

in

relations both countries But such manoeuvres also included the racist domination British men and women over Indians and class con English tradictions within either country well the feminisation complex intersections patriarchal and Studies India points colonial histories although Women education crucial constitutes later stage the imperial project Diane Barthel analysis the case Ghana pertinent

,

.

or

as

of in

to

of

as

a

to

,

of In

the first stage education males was seen critical the political control the colony and the ideological goals the association assimilation The educated male elite would serve key role the colonial economy functioning privileged buffer between the white administrators and the mass African

IMPERIALISM , PATRIARCHY , ENGLISH STUDIES people . But by educating this male elite in the first stage , the colonists were laying the groundwork for the second stage , when a female elite would be educated to correct the resulting social disequilibrium and, more broadly , to solidify colonial control by transmitting knowledge and appreciation of Western cultural forms to their children

. ( p. 153 )

on

, .i

' e.

, ‘

).

at

20

's

by

in

(

, p .

for

In India , higher education provided by the British government was upper initially restricted to potential recruits the administration educating Indian class men Liddle and Joshi British efforts women were begun early the nineteenth century but were under learning and restric mined social conservatism regarding women

and contact with men this itself cannot be suggest life British accounts tended many learning Over centuries the exclusion women from had evolved conjunction with increasing caste orthodoxies with rather unevenly the tightening caste and class barriers brahmins had increased the longer allowed exclusiveness education Women were attend the democratic assemblies and high caste women were withdrawn from their previous occupations education and the arts Liddle and Joshi But course such traditions were contested not simply imposed inforcing Indian and British patriarchal attitudes were mutually On the one hand Indian oppression women was constantly used justify Empire and the British become the self proclaimed liberators

;

.

to

to

, '(

of

,

on

-

to

to

of

by.

re -

of

, p . . 63 ).

in

-

.

, ..

no

'

,

of of )

(

in

to

the Indian way

', of as

;

their movements

of

tions

attributed

in

as

in

for

till

by

a

in

;

or

of

In

.

,

at

is

of

the

.

of

to

of

,

of

;

native women the other Indian men had time and again used protection from foreign males the idea increase confinement complicity between British and indigenous women One example patriarchies matriliny the suppression areas such Malabar puberty women married men for three days only and Kerala where subsequently entered into free sambandhan relationships with visiting husbands the nineteenth century the brahmins decreed that these husbands could not be dismissed without the permission the entire village clan 1868 the British legislated that man provide his

's

).

-

28 9

is

be

.

to

her husband The passive Hindu woman pre feminine behaviour which can

of

a

is

of

the Hindu woman simultaneously model

ness

by

.

as

of

-

's

.

of

a

of

of

(

, 99 .

In

a

.

,

wife and children whereas then property was inherited his sister children 1896 the Madras Marriage Act made the sambandhan relation monogamous marriage Liddle and Joshi ship Kum Kum Sangari has traced some the complex manoeuvres that accompanied the development paternalistic and feudal colonial government between 1770 and 1830 The British selected aspects pre colonial past India the basis for their own rule The antiquity continuity evoking the submissive and native customs stressed

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

26

for the British woman and a signifier of the meekness and governability of the Indian people . But the stereotype of the libidinous Eastern woman also hovers on the margins , and justifies the need to govern her (and by implication also the Indian male ) . Sangari also links the self-projection of the British state as a benevolent patriarchy to the emergent familial norm in Britain itself ('What makes a text literary ') .10 scribed

Mies

has also shown how

the submissiveness of Burmese women to own men was perceived by the British as essential to smooth colonial government ( quoted Rughani , p . 19 ) . After the 1857 war for Indian independence , when education , lan guage and literature were stepped up as (despite Macaulay )more subtle their

and more effective methods of control, women ' s education became a priority for the Raj ." A crucial point was the arrival of women miss ionaries from England in the middle of the century , when as many as thirty per cent of women over twenty were single , and defined as ‘redun

dant ' since women weremeant to be wives and mothers . These women posed a problem in a way that poorer single women who became domestic servants did not: the latter were seen to fulfil both essentials of women 's being: they are supported by, and they minister to , men ' (Forbes , p . WS 3 ). So the shipping of women as missionaries to India served a dual purpose : the problem faced by male British educationists they began penetrate was overcomeas to the seclusion of Indian women and to educate / civilise them , and ‘ redundant ( i. e potentially subversive ) women were removed from the home country . Forbes reminds us that 'women missionaries of the period were not only the helpmates of the imperialists but were themselves imperialists re -enacting the drama of

as

(

is

of

').

to

of

on

based

prepare women better companions and mothers see Arya Samaj equal education The idea not necessarily equal intelligence and may serve only the premise rein

'

,

Kishwar

to

aim

in

its

the coloniser and the colonised within the confines of the zenana '. Simultaneously with British education , Indian reformist groups also began indigenous schooling , which was radical in that it asserted the cultural independence and progressivism of Indian traditions , but not

Sir

'. ,

,

to

of

‘,

for

.

to

on

In

.

force the gender differentiation established elsewhere nationalist attitudes women we may trace similarities with humanist writings female education during the English Renaissance Jayawardena points out that Indian nationalists modernity meant educated women uphold the system but educated the nuclear patriarchal family

).

24

, .p

,

all

'(

by

be

to

is

's

to

's

be

's

so

:‘ A

fors

'

Thomas More letter his children tutor explained that education prepared men public employment and women for maternal and wifely service woman wit cultivated the more diligently industry Warnicke that nature defect may redressed

IMPERIALISM , PATRIARCHY , ENGLISH STUDIES In any case English

language remained central to much indigenous ironical that even though the Arya Samaj movement was initiated with the idea of propagating Vedic learning , none of leaders English Kishwar Arya Samaj could escape the stranglehold WS both types education were consonant with patriarchal and learning during colonial premises However the case women

:' it

is

.

p

',

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of

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.

).

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17

of

its

schooling

of ,

,

of

(

of ).

3

's

,

,

the Renaissance both their methods and the effects generated were complicated because they also opened out spaces for women resis tance see chapter The association female and irrational literature and mysterious

.

are

it

its

in

'

67

.pp

p

a

,

In

).

-9

of

hunting Yet both

,

see Baldick India education and are increasingly required qualifications for sucessful husband

(

job

marriage market

even

an

's

',

(

a

the

);

, .

at

a

as

it

in

of

.

to to

justify the exclusion women from some types limit their professional and productive activity Today also ties with the increasing technocratic bias education The psychologist Burt categorised literature subject that girls good history became The English Studies Group 253 very early subject women additional accomplishment preparing them for

has been used knowledge and

If

:'

.. .

too

of

so

of

,

,

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53 -4

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pp

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these must maintain subordinate female status highly educated proud she will she will have ideas lumberg English literature like her own and Dwaraki education convent ensures culture and status and also seen equip women for the perfect female occupation which natural extension their nurturing and mothering role besides being genteel not too time consuming and not too highly paid the same time there relative exclusion women from male strongholds science engineering and management that gender hierarchies are repro

girl

,

to a

an

are

,

's

on

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the

of

.

,

-

,

.

to

is

to

.

in

duced the job market the early debates women education there much resistance their studying sciences but not single one preferred literature Matrimonial advertisements index brides and they abound with specific requests for convent educated girls for teachers and even directly for English literature graduates The

-

,

in

to

,

of

of

to

of

.12

–

‘

'

a

English

of

capacity literature thus has instruct women roles the guardian culture the decorous home maker and the subsidiary idiary earner Recently the Government India proposed overhaul higher edu earnetent choice variety

or

its

,

of

despite

or

‘

's

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,

).

22

,

of

(

'

or

.

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to

to

'

in

on

of

;

its

India rhetoric about the advancement women draft Padvancemen policy document The Challenge Education carries no separate section perspective women education Yet subjects like morals values keeping politics off the campus have high priority education sections devoted them The Times India March 1986 The efforts maintain patriarchal attitudes towards women work education and cation

or

.

are

. ')

'

(

its

to

'

seal off also

to

marriage , and to keep education ‘ apolitical , interwoven history politics the text and claims value from legitimise existing gender relations

is To

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

28

be

The establishment to

, by51

in

in

(

,

, 3

-

of

,

to

of

in

,

in

A

.

of

is

a

,

far

.

,

,

be

a

,

.

).

22

,

-

of 84

to

-

,

;

in

.

at

is

in

to

in

of

the English studies empire India needs indicated spell out what order stake The education system dramatically expanded and grew after the British left 1947 whereas 1950 there were only twenty seven universities with 362 000 students 1983 the figures had swelled 140 and 360 000 respectively The corresponding primary Times India March 1986 The increase secondary and school education was even more dramatic This means very small section that today more than the elite has access higher education and students may drawn from lower middle class trading and farming backgrounds Even though the majority people are more alienated from British culture than was the case during the Raj this expansion has meant huge increase the absolute numbers point studying English literature case Delhi University every The vastness

.

,

at

one whose 140 000 odd students must study English literature for least one year during their undergraduation There are over 700 lecturers

neo colonial

free

-

not

of

out that this edifice

:

points

is

.

in

the subject Sunder Rajan control

,

-

,

,

by

)

these institutions

. (p .

created

administered by these institu defined the very material

is

in

,

by

conditions

is

,

,

,

studies seminars and workshops that literary criticism India

Not surprisingly

.

tions

31

advanced

, of

.

a

as

of

(

).

-

of

in

To a

very large extent English language and literary studies India function under the aegis two quasi governmental foreign agencies the British Council and the USIS United States Information Service These organisations perceive English and American literatures the cultural products their respective countries and promote them accordingly There exists therefore well estab funding grants patronage publications libraries centres for lished system

of

is

to

.

in

,

,

obvious

:

is

dominant Western criticisms critics institutions define the critical debates India The dependence Third World intelligentsia upon First World institutions clearly related the lack The result

-

,

-5

;

in

pp

.

is

,

,

to (

In

').

of

.

is

of

a

ern

', ,

of

funds and poor research facilities and working conditions our countries and hasbeen discussed elsewhere Said Orientalism 323 English studies the west Altbach Servitude the Mind relation hegemony particularly pernicious given that imperialism hardly thing the past Macaulay had articulated the common sense assump

IMPERIALISM

, PATRIARCHY , ENGLISH

STUDIES

-

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to

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is

'

in

-

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Heof

);

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of

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p

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.

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Rani

of

in

);

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into

14

.

)

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writing true history which will fuse diverse elements integrated whole single consistent theme his case portray the transformation theory this modernisation India on theory quotedPination Spivak under the West into modernin nation nation state Rani moWest moder Macaulay day versions state Sirmur 260 Modern acaulay are abundant He versions good European literature single shelf had said that worth the whole native literature India and Arabia Bhatt and Aggarwal 1982 chief level examiner for the University London pro possible exception nounced that the fact remains that with Naipaul there nothing African and Caribbean literature match quality those works which normally found within the substantive

of

rogative

‘

'

as

-i

re

of

.''

,

of

'

of

any colonial regarding the civilisation tions other peoples and spirit therefore the statements informs even some post Raj revalu d espite example changes ations For the Indian scene requiring nterpretation quick the facts Percival Spear censure Indian historians efforts too compartmental he claims for himself the pre

of

body

).

, .p

.

to

on

.

in

to in

000

20 ,

at

So

be

I it

of

'(

at

texts set Advanced level Parker 197 English courses have already indicated the centrality the text may well that least students have read Shakespeare Delhi University annually These numbers are important order underline that no matter how marginalised English literature may seem

of

an

on

's

.

in

for

of

of

The figures also indicate the commercial aspects

English

Literature

:

of

.

‘

'

,

in

of

today the context technocratic expansion and emphasis more disciplines useful dominant readings are being deployed enorm ous scale English department hierarchies may control the careers many hundreds people each university

is

.

,

for

the

a

,

publishing firms example important here Their profits the role single anthology prescribed for compulsory reading are enorm from

of

at

,

.

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.

set

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of a

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on

)

(

;

to

. 2 ).

'

(p

of

a

of

it

'

,

BA

in

.

absolutely

. ..

is

As

potential market English Rukun Advani says this level running rupees vast the stakes into several crores One Pass anthology prescription means sale around 200 000 rupees publication He points out that both money and offers may be used by some publishers secure contracts for printing anthologies from particular universities thus vicious circle ofmediocre up rigidity syllabi and conservative criticism and The emphasis the text has obvious pedagogical implications ous

.

is

to

it

).

, .p

well 76

cram

Baldick

a

'( '

-

of

a

in

crusade India soon found that his task was simply given number worn subject into well worn heads

to

's

,

in

, '.

' ;

of

as

a

of

ensures reverence for the canon and the passivity the reader When texts are studied discrete and autonomous their contextualisation precluded this turn makes more difficult discuss the relativity implementing Macaulay their truths Walter Raleigh cultural

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

30

, an

'

article titled Teaching Shakespeare in India ’ (written by an as the first article of a book evaluating Shakespeare in India ) suggests that a number of plays be read , even by the pass student , and read rapidly ' (Rollo , p . 3 ). In 1986 , says Sunder Rajan , such a policy of

In 1964

Englishman

'saturation

continued to be recommended (p . 30 ). It would be worth considering the ways in which such teaching practice interacted with hegemonic learning traditions prevalent earlier in India . The brahmin ical methodology of derivative scholarship , based on established texts and conducted through a high emphasis on retention , duplication and inviolate sanctity of the received canon (see Altbach , ' In search of Saras wati )was a fruitful ground on which to implant a teaching of the western

'

in

be

to

can

text that placed the student in an uncritical passivity . While English education (and the universalism of the English literary text ) sought to expand learning beyond the narrow circle permitted by brahminical learning , perhaps it suggested that other ways the two of

a

,

in

-

of

go

a

,

of

.

of

interacted ensure the passivity the learners and the status the received text Today very narrow token shuffling texts takes place within spectrum The Duchess Malfi may and Macbeth may come but the is

. S .

V

)

,

at

do

all ,

.

or

or

in

honours BA course Delhi Of course women writers outside George Eliot Emily Brontë Austen not figure and feminism

of

in

-

is

,

–

(

,

,

.

of

broadly the qualify greats remains undisturbed Englishness canon ing criterion and the exceptions are those that this orthodoxy would permit mainly American writers Hemingway Miller and Naipaul who the only non white author included the English

,

by

(

'

'

of

of

or

a

,

. on

is

still officially frowned upon syllabus revision programme Sunder From her own experiences suitability Rajan realised that rather than any notions excellence immense and complex network forces determine which usually

.

is

of

(

A

of

-

a

, ,

.

'

of

“

up

in

) of of

.

)

saturation

'

and the

,

course revisions Translations are and large ruled out students with English recommended She con undergraduate colleges for whose students the cludes that teachers courses are intended have little more than recommendatory powers the selection texts massive hierarchical edifice consisting the university post graduate English department committee courses

means block

At

's 's

.

879

,

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30

.

of

'(

.p

,

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to

Of

cil

exists

of

senior teachers the Faculty Arts and the Academic Coun syllabus revision authorize course there have been shifts what English literature popularly prestige signifies and serious inroads into one time Shakespeare plays monopolised university school and elite urban theatre Kendal company Shakespeariana gave performances between June 1953 and

made

IMPERIALISM , PATRIARCHY , ENGLISH STUDIES

,

.

in

to

).

p

, ; .

it

the

'(

a

At

'

be

classes and semi-urban masses . The company wound up as they language found that English was no longer used India plays English everything one time meant unless you could quote Shakespeare you would not get job Kendal 161 Today students

middle

the highest marks school would rather opt mong the non history science subjects economics commerce These subjects ensure wider career options and are now more useful while taking civil service examinations Obviously the requirements for ruling India have changed since the Raj The alignment women with literature thereby pronounced becomes more Education policy India seems going the way Thatcher Britain with impending cuts tighter con trols retrenchment and the ideology functionalism which used hit out subjects such literature the context neo colonialism perpetuates the theory development according imperialism which that Third World countries should produce rather than think English departments ironically reinforces that division The politics asserting the while the ivory tower superiority literature English language teaching has ensured centrality But the literature wider readership and academic circulation than would otherwise

.

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power during Independence the Indian have During the transfer bourgeoisie found the continued use European language advantage ous social and political control They could maintain their own privileged position through their monopoly over the colonial language

'

on

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central

an

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(

, .p 6 ).

Whittey English was not just window the world but remained central signifier social difference although the difference itself shifted from one race that class and tied both with the current brain drain and internal cultural imperialism Because general education English Literature well entrenched continues learning during recent debates be posited measure the pass course syllabus for example was argued that student could graduate The not comprehend Shakespeare he did not deserve English status studies and satellite activities therefore deeply contradictory declining marginalised yet still once and stable

Seizing the book of

in

to

an

in a a

',

,

a

for

,

‘

‘a

is

of

.

'o

-

can

as

There are passionately held differences the ways which the post colonial subject deal with the historical burden the alien tongue The Kenyan writer Ngugi Wa Thiong points out that since language foreign language ensured carrier culture education that learning colonial child became cerebral activity and not

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

has kept her him

,

'

whoring after

. 's ,

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/ s

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32 -3

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( pp

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for

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, .p

’;

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the people

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language

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of

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33 )

, .p

But David Dabydeen

Guyana quotes James Baldwin

from

to

,

(

44

Socialist

New

no

;

national politics and commerce

is

is

of

;

is

‘a

in

(

'

's

bastards

in

English

'

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all

Macaulay

67 )

Gods Victor Anant quoted Parthasarathy Thiong European concludes that black African writer publishing colluding with the covert imperialism that still operates the language European language that his own country bourgeoisie and inter

we are

'o ,

which words

17

,

,

. 13 ,

pp

the

to a

by

emotionally felt experience ' (Decolonizing Mind The resul tant schisms have also been indicated Paulo Friere who noted that duality colonised intellectuals were condemned their inner they are simultaneously themselves and the oppressor most being Athough we whose consciousness they have internalised simplification need resist the third world intellectual into person undifferentiated geographical historical sexual positioning wrong suggest that see chapter would not lives with this Othello like split consciousness the wedge being the alien language

the

con

or

,

of

's

is

in

'. ‘: I

of

my experi any language that will bear the weight argues English ence He that black African notthewhite man English and that two three centuries use have made the language indigen will write

trary

33

is

be

to

in

is

,

; ,

.

.

.

an

an

for

of

Do in

an

to

of

up

-

of

of

to

of

,

in a

is is

It

be

.

to

'

as a

to

be

'

no

it

to

yet

it

In

of

, and

of

).

, no . 44 , .p to

(

, is

-

so

.

,

of 's ,

,

of

to

ous the African people see New Socialist The relationship Africans Afro Americans and Indians the English language not universally identical and there correct attitude the col deny the elitist connota oniser language India would hard just English foreign language would tions and see ignore the history the last two centuries The language question multilingual multinational multiethnic state extremely complicated regional chavia and intersects with the issue chauvinism for example many regions English preferedicegional against Hindi because resentment prefered the political and culth cultural domination the Hindi speaking belt All these issues are tied with the question alternative pedagogy English English literature seems me that creative writing distinguished from teaching English literature should cultural any foreign literature cannot break differences imply that the teaching

of

of

of

be

a

In

?

in

for

,

is

,

;

the study other literatures the notion the inviolate transcenden kept free text which should contextual contamination may be

tal

in

in

.

is

to

,

of

's

to

is

:

it

to

,

?

is

the reverence alien culture What alien culture recent seminar Ruth Vanita pointed out that alienation applies not just Kanthapura the English literary text difficult teach Raja Rao Delhi because students there are ignorant and dismissive South Indian culture The question not limited what language used English studies intersect with orthodoxies the ideologies dominant from

,

IMPERIALISM

PATRIARCHY

, ENGLISH

STUDIES

33

in

it

to

a

.

re -

to is

, ‘

'

it

It

to all

found in departments of Hindi, Bengali or other literatures as well. It is clear that alternative pedagogy will have to question not only the criter ion of Englishness that dominates our curricula , but also the boundaries between literatures and other disciplines : we need to teach not only different literatures but literatures differently may be argued that interpret the Western text way that simply makes more meaningful entrench further into our

.

of

to

,

is

.

it

a

,

for

-

of

appro education and that we need throw out the book instead priating complicated many positions may The debate and our only may distinguish specific strategic be We need between situations example between politically committed theatre and alternative

,

it is

, ,

.

is

in

Or

the space

few

criticism

of ( a

,

,

Western

these ways

is ,

being quietly subverted

in

that the text

be

imagine

is

But

as to ?

."

condensations

all in

)

of

,

' '-

mutilated pages

to

as

becoming redundant key books which offer

on

is

increasingly which the teacher and the class room experience locally produced rely students prefer summaries translations and simplified often

in

ways

.

do

,

in

.

:

a

,

far of

.

to

of

in

English

to In

arguable that urban India the first case limited elite circles and has not absorbed the dynamic influences indigenous traditions which have oflate fruitfully lent themselves alternative theatre practices But given the enormity English studies within academic institutions radical intervention more urgent and imperative This again can take various forms for example one could locate the possible subversion latent the ways that Indian students not comprehend English literature the theatre

is in

academic practice

to

of

a

'.

he

/

s

As

to

;

by

ori

The Tempest

an

'

a

-

,

in

of

as

,

re -

of

of , a

'

their

,

.

in

as

.

expressive

's '

or

people

Alternatively they may

their

of

to

suit contexts different from

be

in

,

written

the African and Caribbean appropriations

adopted alien culture own reality Theodorakis used Neruda Canto General statement resistance against dictatorship interpretation Greece Or else appropriation may involve simul taneous examination their meaning more than one culture and

(

see chapter

re -

deliberately

ginal ones

as as 6 )

be

can

of

.

,

to

en

.

,

to

,

ifs /

. ..

,

:'

on

I

-

a

of

,

.

at

are

,

we know

for its

hegemonic institutionalised deployment jobs education and many hours classroom con somewhat naive tact still stake One script school leaving examination that Fagin was saw contained the following remarks Oliver Twist sweet old lady One night before Oliver was born his mother died The student failed and he had obliquely resisted what was supposed learn the result was hardly revolutionary teachers who are not about resign our jobs masse we have look for other alternatives rather than romanticising subaltern incomprehension The appropriation literature itself can take different forms texts even

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA than one history

more

.

, of .

of

,

in

to

,

be

as

far

It is in this sense that I approach Renaissance drama, which constitutes the privileged core of the canon ofmaster texts of English literature . In terms of language it is a body of literature removed from Indian may imposed texts students and therefore seen the most alien question this presence While we may continue the absence

of

being removed from existing curricula likelihood explore the possibility identifying ways which the texts interact with the students own reality Women who have been seen the centre the dominant deployment literature will also my emphasise that interact here does not mean be focus need expanding the universal applicability the text The colonial and post cope with alienation suppressing colonial reader has been forced since taken the very index his her inferiority Thus point simultaneously Othello colour which identification for point such reader and alienation from dominant readings that can

,

. of his ‘

of

a

of

.

/

of

is be

to

a

a

's

,

is

it

it,

to

by

.

of

'

,

of

.

of

.

I

to

at

be

to

'

in

of

it

any immediate

we can

,

,

,

).

2

'

's

,

to

'

an

is

to

as

.

a

to

'

if

a

,

.

is

to

see

.

In

to

to

or

,

the

or be

.

,

,

, to

be

–

or

as

of

on

a

(

‘

as

of ;

an is

in

).

5

of to

as

,

act

of

to

a

it

to

).

of

an

's

, .

(p

phrase

47

from John Berger When Cleopatra herself trans Antony forms into Roman wife we are told understand process oftragic compromise romantic sublimation rather than pathetic attempt erase the contradictions her existence see chap explained ter Or the violence against women Jacobean drama women who themselves experience daily violence indication spiritual chaos the transgressive woman here becomes reflection degenerate society and indication The female reader potentially not actually rebellious silenced along with the literary creation Appropriation here does not question only institutionalised readings but the text well which may seen contribute the marginali disorderly woman Cleopatra sation Othello order why they focus this recover these marginalised voices a

adopt

an

of ,

'

in

to

to

(

'

in

is

's

in

blackness favour universal passion jealousy the Indian classroom Masculine jealousy and female passivity become natural human conditions Again see chapter history and dominant criticism works efface the subaltern woman experience persuade her adopt white male positioning order For example Indian woman who made see Cleopatra the stereotype object the Oriental seductress turns herself into erase Othello suppressed

in

's

in

,

is

,

I

it

it

; .

in

in

is

,

,

be

-

a

of

cannot recovered series barricades erected around the literary negotiated and these include the way text must which the reader encounter with the book lifted from the historical geographical and gendered spaces only one strategy possible which occurs This some specific classroom situations will hope problematise both dominant readings and feminist reductionism Western discussions

IMPERIALISM , PATRIARCHY , ENGLISH STUDIES

of female

oppression and resistance

in

, and

on racial difference in the texts

in

35

Renaissance drama by drawing the readerships of the texts .

Notes 1

I am indebted to Rajeswari Sunder Rajan 's ‘After Orientalism ', Gauri Viswanathan 's “The beginnings of English literary studies in British India ’, chapter three of Chris Baldick s The SocialMission, and the papers presented at a seminar , ' The study of English literature

'

99 )

of

.

at

)

as a

',

.

;

TLS , , 4 - on 10 11

of

as

by

3

.

(

,

to at

.

'

(p

western cultural practices Butler was delivering the Krishna Memorial lecture Miranda House Uni Delhi December 1987 this was almost identical her article Revising the canon December 1987 which was earlier presented lecture Cam bridge Movements that challenged brahminical domination and caste traditions also revolted V

our understanding

Marilyn versity

'

2

on

its

in India : ideology and practice ', held at Miranda House , University of Delhi , in April 1988. All of these have marked out a crucial area of inquiry . I was pleased to find that Thomas Cartelli 's, ' Prospero in Africa ', acknowledges that it was the product of a deepening involvement in the study of postcolonial literature and clarifying impact

,

,

( .pp

51 70 )

of

;

28 50 )

( pp

.

tional traditions was undermined

Thapar both suggest that Aryan and Liddle and Joshi Romila speaking peoples had suppressed the indigeneous Dravidian and tribal peoples the racially inferior and whose own traditions subcontinent who had been relegated

,

,

,

as

of

.

4

“

,

in

63 )

, .p

' . (T

an

in

against educational orthodoxy using languages other than Sanskrit such Prakriti Magadhi and Jaina teaching was first preserved Pali and Shauraseni Buddha taught hapar oral tradition thus the authority Sanskrit and dominant educa

I

,

of

a

to

of .

,

of

).

(

,

, p to .

a

,

to

is .

's

A

M

.

E

,

in

5

'It

of

was under the influence Darwin that Fellow the London Anthropological Society argued 1864 that the Chinese and Indians were superior the Africans being more notable for docility intelligence and industry Moorhouse 175 Passage India for example the spirituality and emotionality Forster

In

6

far

So

.

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including that matrilinear organisation had been enclosed gradually within patriarc hal and highly stratified society This view has been generally accepted but have Nayanjot Lahiri that recent archeological work been informed challenging the conquest notion the strict sense without attributing patriarchal and racist Aryan conquest notions here confining myself the ideological results conflict with racial sexual and regional underpinnings

in

is

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directly interwoven with their immaturity irrationality and incapacity Indians deal with practical matters Their government with the less likeable but rational English then widely taught regrettable necessity Incidentally this book India and becomes

of

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the British had been unyielding and had not gradually introduced parliamentary institutions into India during the last forty years British rule the nationalist move revolutionary form ment must have organised itself must have become contemporary nationalist junta like Kuomintang China more probably (

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Strachey quoted Lawrence

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examination questions concentrated around the representations the Hindus soul the Muslims heart and the British head while the political meaning these remains unexamined strong and deter the transition from the Raj Indian self government despite mined opposition the British radicalism was kept check both British strategy and the leadership the nationalist movement On the one hand

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA character by deflecting radical challenges . The idea of anon - violent struggle was a brilliant strategy on the part of Gandhi , not the least because it also guarded against more militant and revolutionary alternatives . No doubt there were conflicting elements even here , since Gandhian politics simultaneously mobilised large sections of the people , including women , into action . Even so , the continuity of certain hegemonic attitudes was insured : for example , women were drawn out of the home, but under a patriarchal leadership and on nationalistnot feminist platforms . For a fuller

bourgeois

discussion of this see Kumari Jaywardena ' s Feminism andNationalism. only are English departments the most resistant to syllabi changes , or democratic functioning , but they have largely isolated themselves from teachers ' politics . A recent point overwhelming majority India teacher strike case Delhi Univer sity English department teachers those not employed the colleges and involved only post raduate teaching refused join They stressed their loyalty department

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rather than those the Delhi University Teachers Association the India organisation Even when 230 000 teachers universities and colleges over impending policies whereby teachers India were strike against the government bureaucratically monitored and their recruitment promotion and evaluation would service conditions would worsen they did not stop teaching Arguments stressing the decisions

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teaching difference between teachers and industrial workers the morality noble profession above pecuniary interests and teacher moral obligation students teaching were made justification One also teach matter what the conditions at

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participation teachers politics See Alison Jaggar 373 Rosalind Coward Ann Rosalind Jones Julia Kristeva Michele Barrett Ideology Stuart Hall Recent developments 162. referring Sangari paper was delivered the Miranda House seminar English India see note above Pratibha Parmar points out that even today discus sions of the hardships of Asian women can provide further fodder for the liberal racist

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heard these through the government propaganda machinery one had any doubts about the politics bred institutionalised English studies they were set rest during question this period On the other hand especially among younger college teachers ing greater inter dis the critical practice taught this orthodoxy has led not only ciplinary research and commitment alternative pedagogy but also more active

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Asian men beingmore sexist than white men too easily reinforce ideas and can especially relevant 252 The case sati this connection has been dicussed elsewhere see Mani Spivak Rani Liddle and Joshi we only need recall that provided major moral justification for continued British rule The British consulted brahmins while formulating legislations sati thus giving official sanction the right represent the diverse and enormously varied customs and this high caste group significant that sati traditions the Indian people As Liddle and Joshi point out

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indebted Geraldine Forbes article facts about women education cited these paragraphs typical French diplomat Indian origin The following matrimonial advertisement visiting India this December draws monthly 500 dollars seeks marriage with bride god fearing pretty fair slim Tamil speaking literature The Times India Bom bay November 1986 use the notion common sense here and subsequently drawing the discussion

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sified and calcified existing patriarchal women economic life well

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was practice the higher castes with whom the British had made alliances whereas matriliny was form family structure which both British and patriarchal high castes found immoral Hence British non interference well their reforms inten

IMPERIALISM , PATRIARCHY , ENGLISH STUDIES beneath it , but is perhaps best seen as a ' storehouse of knowledge ' which has been gathered together , historically , through struggle . . . in common -sense

'hidden

terms , historically and culturally specific images of femininity and masculinity are presented as 'natural ' attributes of females and males . Whilst we should not forget that these definitions are contested , we must also remember that they are embodied

)

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ring British empire has truth Today English spoken by roughly seventy one million people India more than multilingual the number Britain McCrum 322 crucial link language country with fifteen recognised languages and over 300 dialects has aquired the being passport status the important government posts controlling the economy and ensures new export labour the west according recent news Technology finds employ paper report one the Indian Institute three students in

15

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Spear finds those Indians who supported English education for glossy India Britannica anxious 126 Similarly Geoffrey Moorhouse emphasise what distance itself from the conventional imperialist stance but also Empire India Moorhouse also smugly comments that Roy praise the

Not surprisingly ward ooking -l

14

sense ideologies their

for

within the dominant institutional order and are inscribed within the social relations ofeveryday life . This ‘massive presence 'has the effect on the onehand of disciplining the subordinate classes in practice and on the other hand of giving these common

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Times India March 1986 high culture over time Shakespeariana was downward filtration There has also been patronised by the local ruler whose order that they down and tell sad stories kings speaks the death the cultural schism the upper classes India But important remember that the players survived because their popular performances

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back the colourfully translated Hindi version the text and memorize the proper answers from the same source thus making both teacher and text redundant appropriation along the lines article Bhabha Anund Meseh

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dangerous spot mountain road the way famous shrine the Himalayas reads When shall we three meet again thunder lightning rain Sunder Rajan invokes Homi Bhabha analysis the ambivalence subaltern response Signs colonial authority where mimicry and camouflage also mark subversion taken for wonders She suggests that we should see the responses of Indian students who confronted the double authority the book itself and the English teacher to

17

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joke about famous villain the Hindi screen he asks henchmen administer Hamlet poison the they ask him poison that will convert hero What that boss be replies the boss Although only joke not this captures the survival the particularly unexpected places someone also told me that traffic hoarding text

Sexuality and racial difference Men

's power )

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pp

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In the context of female Indian readers the violence repeatedly com mitted the female body Renaissance and especially Jacobean urgent contemporaneity that challenges not only tragedy takes the self enclosed and self referential readings traditional criticism but simplistic First World feminism which danger Spivak also becoming complicit with imperialism points out Imperialism and

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sexual difference 225 true that the similarity between vio lence the plays and that which directed against women India important factor startling and assessing how these shall suggest plays can received Even the most sober and conservative estimates acknowledge the following wives the latter would have mur dowry dered for Delhi alone the reported figure two such deaths

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Western accounts the pitiable condition non European history which inevitably went suggest the barbarity and primitivism such societies and the superiority Western civilisation Indian feminists have stressed however the increasing oppression against women must analysed the context modern Indian society contemporary contradictions not and unfortunate remnant feudal past women

of

history

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poor and dalit lower caste daily rapes and sexual exploitation women and nurses office workers domestic servants landlords employers and policemen are part their daily lives Kishwar and Vanita 255 and are daily escalating age old and high tech methods coexist female infanticide continues and intrauterine chromosomal examination amniocentesis used abort female foetuses unprecedented scale see Miller the practice widow immolation vigorously defended sporadic revival years after being sati officially abolished and the countryside women are still harassed and even killed the grounds that they witches These are but few examples constantly vulner situation where the average woman patriarchal and class violence and the ideologies attaching able While recounting such facts we need always bear mind the long

see how

institutionalised

SEXUALITY

AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE

(

-

)

's

.

of

all

)

a

Tis

readings of Renaissance tragedy work . In this body of drama , female transgression , both real and imagined , is repeatedly and ruthlessly oppressed by the family , state , church and judiciary : Desdemona (Othello ) , the Duchess of Malfi , Vittoria (The White Devil ), Bianca (Women Pity She Beware Women ), Annabella (' Whore and Beatrice Joanna The Changeling break the rules female conduct and are punished Early

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it

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modern Europe witnessed the mass scale burning and torture women witches and Renaissance dramamakes clear that witch

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category flexible enough cover any sort female deviance and rebellion spiritual chaos The much vaunted theory Jacobean drama implicitly connected female disobedience with degenerate social silencing any notions order and thus contributed disobedience which actual women readers may harbour the Indian classroom imposing universalised models commits another violence that human relationships upon subaltern readers paradoxically the points intersection with our lives are carefully excluded For example undergraduates Miranda House Delhi the name not insignificant

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who were dissatisfied with Desdemona silence her husband brutality we were told that we did not under stand her because we had never been love Othello thus became sort universal text love and love implied female passivity can be argued that many ways we were prepared for such readings by the popular Western romantic novels which flood the Indian market English speaking urban schoolgirls and which consumed vast quantities these novels the English Studies Group point out The subordination the woman the narrative ideological syntax home strikingly visible progressive extinction and children her powers They cite articulate speech instance from Barbara Cart

the face

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Many college students very uneasy space where India occupy romantic love free choice and sexual passion can exist ideals popular cinema where they become reconciled nurtured also common sense notions female obedience but where the probable reality their own marriages entirely different Desdemona defiance her father plays and encourages such ideal but she then betrays her submissiveness Discussions with my own students later located being murdered betrayal such the source our uneasiness

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE

40

DRAMA

Desdemona comes uncomfortably close to the battered wives that now crowd the Indian ( especially urban ) scene. A recent Indian feminist interpretation of several Shakespearean plays as spectacles ofwife -mur der can be seen as a response (though unacknowledged as such ) to the similarities ; it also implicitly addressses the discomfiture of readers told to accept rather than question Desdemona 's silencing and locates this within the daily experience of Indian women (see Vanita ,‘Men 's power , pp . 32 - 9) .

is both compelling and disturbing . But reading the play woman immediately problematises the notion ofmen s power and therefore also any comparisons we may make . I found it difficult to accept that 'Othello 's words could easily be interchanged with Claudio ' s' or that ‘universal harmony ' is at stake here (Vanita , p . 35 ) . Western feminist interpretations have also claimed that 'the play 's

Such

a view

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central theme is love – and especially marital love , central conflict Neely men and women 212 Othello treated prototype universal man and his blackness not even hinted we preferred readings Othello like most men return the paradigms combination the forces love and hate which isolated impossibly pure states Desdemona and Iago Kernan we probe deeper into how male violence constructed the plays how ever our critique the silencing women literature and the exposure classroom can include other sorts violence and silences text like Othello can then be seen have more complex between

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Christopher Norris has pointed out that despite variations Othello part from Johnson Leavis can be seen certain domin Shakespeare studies ant cultural formation the history effort ideological containment attempt harness the unruly energies significance suggest that this the text stable order stable order could only invoked the simultaneous exclusion criticism

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gender and race therefore firstly recent feminist essay points out both Othello critics who sentimentalise Othello and Iago critics who emphasise Iago realism and honesty badly misunderstand and misrepresent the women the play Neely 212 and secondly largely ignored by critical Ruth Cowhig indicates the question race commentaries 1693 Thomas Rymer interpreted the play caution Maidens Quality how without their parents consent patriarchal they run away with Blackamoors This combined waywardness necessity view female and the obedience racist both

class

SEXUALITY AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE consciousness which prioritises the submission of women ' of Quality '. Nearly 300 years later , Leslie Fiedler , among the first in recent times to acknowledge the connections between the racial and sexual themes , argues that Othello moves from being a stranger whose colour estab

lishes his difference (' cultural' rather than ethnic ) to becoming, towards the end of the play , ' colourless : a provincial gentleman - warrior , a down right English soldier fallen among foreigners ; which means that he no longer functions archetypally even as a stranger , much less a black ' ( p. 160 ) . For this downfall of the inwardly white Othello , Desdemona the 'white witch ' and Iago the true black are jointly held responsible . Emilia

‘by

‘ first

is

' and

and last an untamed shrew

. . . seem

their lives and functions

'

rather

generally

, the women

'

Iago s view

to sustain

of

( p . 141 ) . It is a measure of the problem Iwant to highlight that although Carole Neely criticises Fiedler s misogyny , she both ignores racism which Ridley but there nevertheless and makes less crude than Rymer analyse the impact no attempt Othello blackness the sexual relations the play address sexual difference the expense the produce what Newton and Rosenfelt have called racial feminist on )

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especially invalid version the human condition xvii which for women the third world who the juncture both sorts oppression Although the question race has been admirably dis essays cussed recently see Cowhig and Orkin often ignored underplayed even by those concerned with alternative and political discussions

gender to

reduce the colour

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quite diminish the force the sex Working together they can simple mapping unbearable 563 Even though racial differ ence the sexual possible precisely because Othello colour and gender make him occupy contradictory positions power relation any suggest firstly shall that Othello blackness central under standing power structures male female sexuality the play secondly the filtering sexuality and race through each other prism profoundly affects each them thus indicating more clearly what Len tricchia has called the multiplicity histories both authority and thirdly interweaving resistance and such does not dissolve the tensions oppression but acknowledges and addresses between different forms placing the schisms and discontinuities identity them well foregrounded which recent criticism has seen Renaissance drama Tragedy within the see Dollimore Radical Tragedy and Belsey The Subject neglected context racial difference

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

Historicising

for

racism

It had been amajor problem critics blackness with his central position

of

the play the play

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reconcile Othello Therefore either his trying colour was ignored much critical effort was expended prove that Shakespeare did not intend him be black see Cowhig premised upon racist notions black inferiority Both views The notion that men are the same includes the apparently conflicting Ridley one that blacks inferior and hardly men efforts prove Othello non negroid racial origins are notoriously and crudely

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the sources from which real surprise either quickly slide back ethnic is

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Cinthio drew his story Fiedler 143 discover that Fiedler moral categories ones How colours come be invested precisely the history racism to

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it

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that Othello was

the play that since miscegenation had primar read the blackness Othello no real surprise therefore discover It

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racist There are more colours than one Africa and that man European eyes black colour reason why he should even look sub human Then we also hear that for Shakespeare black does not describe ethnic distinction fair has primarily moral significance that there was England that the racism Elizabethan kind horror that contemporary audiences might feel black white

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history during Elizabethan Evidence such times has been accumulating and here will only amplify aspects that crucially link gender powerful and with the question Hunter identifies

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ancient tradition associating black faced men with wickedness Shakespeare which came right own day Part this tradition derived from Bible centred conception ofthe world which humanity was graded according geographical distance from the Holy Land hence black people were devilish because they existed Christianity outside both the physical and the conceptual realm

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Blacks became identified with the descendants Ham and their colour direct consequence sexual excess The devil and his associates even Reginald Scott fairly rationalist The Discovery Witchcraft were inextric ably linked with blackness damned soulmay and doth take the shape

to

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34

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blackamoore Hunter strangers Hunter also includes general cultural hostility factor influencing racial prejudice but erroneously locates this response day and night which the basic antinomy him explains the

AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE

‘

presence of racism

all

SEXUALITY

)

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the latest times

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over the world even darkest Africa from the This dangerously universalises and naturalises white racism whose various histories indicate interlinking situations oppression rather than trans historical colour consciousness Eldred Jones pioneering study Othello Countrymen established that Shakespeare literary sources for his portraits did not depend black people and growing black presence England with evidence that there was widening contact with white inhabitants Hakluyt Principal Navigations bears witness the beginnings slave trade between 1562 and 1568 England and sold hundreds Hawkins brought blackamoors black Spain slaves there were several hundreds black people living earliest

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Thus Hunter arguments that Elizabethans had no continuous con tact with black people and no sense economic threat from them historically disproved But the crucial point that the black presence was both perceived and constructed threat the state Royal proclamations and state papers nervously point the great num negroes and blackamoors bers the country which kind people there manye Queen Elizabeth correspondence already deport eighty nine black people with the Privy Council seeking significant July 1596 contrasts black warrant issued those

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'.

of

people with her white subjects Christian illustrative the Orientalist split between superior European culture constituting and the inferior non European peoples and cultures constituting them This split Said has argued establishing the hegemony crucial component the former Orientalism But Elizabeth communique also crucially puts for ward the argument that blacks will create unemployment want ser rampant vice for her white people Here again she evokes the myth black sexuality and their populous numbers seeking limit and con

kinde

passage

, .p 6 ).

(

in in

of

of

.

in

of

.

of

a

of

by

's

in

Its

in

trol black presence the imperial country quoted Cowhig immigration and deportation laws are not acci today echoes past prejudices dental but are ensured continuous reworking later relations dominance Cedric Robinson speaks the ways which the ideologies earlier feudal relations were both preserved and transformed the new mercantile and colonial situation He says that the identification black with evil had not only been directed

to

.

as

.

,

as

upper classes since the European nobility projected itself drawn from different ethnic and cultural groups than the common people Thus travelling merchants were regarded foreigners According Robin

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

44

son , racism was not simply a result of capitalism . Rather, capitalism itself was profoundly shaped by ideas of racial differentiation . Therefore , although the ideal of a unified greater Britain was encouraged , the ten dency of European civilisation through capitalism ... was not to homogenise but to differentiate – to exaggerate regional , subcultural ,

'

, of

).

3

,

of

(

by

up

of

'

as

.

by

of '

,

in

,

;

in

to

as

.

of

a

;

-f

-

of

a

as

, of

the

dialectical differences into “ racial ” ones ' (Robinson , p . 27 ) . A similar tendency is traceable in the case of women ; increasing , upon restrictions their activities inheritance and public participation accompanied the widening separation of the centres of production and consumption , even as dominant ideology posited the notion woman more equal companion man see chapter Women and indeed other marginalised peoples were excluded from the pro personal achieve jected ideals self fulfilment and self ashioning mobility ment and sexual difference became central preoccupation religious and secular authority Irreconcilable contradictions with respect people are opened women well those kinde such exclusions both cases medieval differentiations were not simply adopted but modified and altered the new circumstances

-

. ..

or

its

63 )

,

of a

to

. of

‘

to

a

of

the

of

to

by

.

,

or

of

' as '

'

a

pre sixteenth century Therefore the definition black supplied deeply stained with dirt version the Oxford English Dictionary having dark deadly purposes malignant was useful beyond medieval religious and cultural chauvinism Even this chauvinism has been attri project greater buted Robinson the failure unified Europe during the eleventh and twelfth centuries and transference spiritual kingdom from one terrestrial social order that Chris

, by . by p

(

)

3

'

'

.

D

‘

a

.

as

'

It

2 ).

.

,

for

,

,

(

of

a

is

of

not solely constructed the purposes rationalising the economic aspects colonial plunder but this certainly crucial component rationalisation them see Lawrence

of is

true that racist ideologies

are

(q

'

to

in

's

of

lay

.

(p

'a

to

.

).

'

(p

10

Both Hunter and Said Orientalism note that the new knowledge about foreign peoples generated Renais expeditions was filtered through and shaped existing sance ideologies and prejudices But religious traditional outlook which explain why increasing factual information Hunter uses fallow was itself adapted and pressed into colonial service Winthrop Jordan projection says that the linkage between black and devil represented onto the African the bourgeoisie own anxieties about their role entrepreneurs developments capitalist the burgeoning that disrupt uoted threatened the social order Lawrence pp 61 tiandom

expediency

a

newer

,

)

of

in

).

57

’, .p

- -

towards blacks and

a

hatred

be

(

“

Just plain common sense Hence common sense attitudes towards black people Othello which will identified shortly indicate both the older tradition

more complex

SEXUALITY

AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE

ideology of racism . The attitudes ofmodern audiences / readers may not be identical with those of Shakespeare 's original audiences; moreover , the play 's readership is not a unified category and Indians among them have experienced a different history of racism . Even so , contemporary colour prejudices are interlinked ; they draw upon and rework this ear lier history . There is a historical dependency between patriarchalism and racism . In Europe , the increased emphasis on heterogeneity of peoples and groupings that Robinson mentions occurs alongside the escalation of patriarchal discourses on the separateness of female identity from mas said , in the Indian subcontinent

, the consolidation of exclusions . In the colonies , specifically 'called out the basic sexist tendencies ' in the racism colonised countries and cultures ,'calcified existing ones and introduced others ' (see Ogundipe -Leslie ). Helen Carr points out that ‘ colonialist , racist and sexist discourse have continually reinforced , naturalized and legitimized each other during the process of European colonization ' ( p . 46 ) . Although the specificity of racism and patriarchy should not be important Both women blurred by this analogy , the connections biological and natural inferiors and and racial others are posited similar characteristics are attributed them culine . As I have power involved

racial , sexual, and

:

to

, , -

,

,

on in

of

-

,

,

,

,

,

;

,

,

or

,

no

, , ,

)

, .p

.(

Carr

50

,

evil unpredictable the

tive

,

,

,

,

,

no

no

,

:

,

,

of

-

,

as

in

.. .

of

.

as

colonialism non Europeans occupy the same symbolic part women Both are seen nature not culture and with the same ambivalence either they are ripe for government passive child like unsophis ticated needing leadership and guidance described always terms lack perseverance initiative intellectual powers the other hand they are outside society dangerous treacherous emotional inconstant wild threatening fickle sexually aberrant irrational near animal lascivious disrup

space

the language

.

as

'

'

are

caste

.

it

of

areas in

to

,

to

.

,

as

of

of

operations patriarchalism Thus seek extend the control and authority man father over women and white man father over black men and women Both black people and women need guidance yet both threaten elude and disrupt

of

'

'

'

‘

Ravenous tigers and inhuman dogs

on

of

a

of

's

on

in

).

4 -5

, .pp

'(

as

of

as

Cowhig points out that only we recognise the familiarity the figure the black man villain Elizabethan drama can we appreciate what Shakespeare audience must have been the startling impact Shakespeare made significant departures from his black hero source material from other representations blacks the Renaissance

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

46

stage , and from his own Cowhig have shown ).

earlier portraits of Moors (as both Hunter and

The tradition of the black villain -hero in Elizabethan drama resulted in a series of negative portrayals of black men , such as Muly Mahomet in Thomas Peele 's The Battle of Alcazar or Eleazor in Lust 's Dominion , written by Dekker and others . In Shakespeare ' s Love s Labour Lost, Black is the badge ofhell / The hue of dungeons and the school of night ' ( IV . 250 Cinthio version the Othello

of

's

)1.

In

'

iii .

'

his blackness already displeases Desdemona

'

to

's

at

A

.

,

's .

caught

of

to

'

'

)

,

is

,

. : of .iii 5 ).

,

95

for

by

‘

a

of

the play are actually the result

V

. iii .

and The recurrent savage tussle Roman victory over the consolidated

(V

'

'

ravenous tiger

23

II .1 .

(

/,

a

,

)

-

as a 63 5

.1 .

(V

'

to

of

)

(V

14

'

', ‘

in

of

. of iii ‘ . ,

.

of

In

,

referred horrors

, , /

,

of

murder her without being

in

of

,

and Othello care Hunter points out changes many features Cinthio tale but not the Shakespeare earlier fullest treatment colour the hero brief look race Titus Andronicus reveals the extent which Othello departs from the usual linkage black men with deviant white women Titus Andronicus the siren queen Tamora and the inhuman dog unhallowed slave Aaron are not only lovers not only accomplices unleashing tale murders rapes and massacres night Acts black abominable deeds Complots mischief treason separately villainies but are almost interchangeable each story

fully plots how that Shakespeare

of

'

is

, ';

),

of

)

's

.

If

'

is

.

' ', (I. 1

in

'

,

52

.1 .

(1

of

'

of

-

,

'

to

'

22 ,

'( I.i .

. 28 )

',

'

its

a

which has recently been barbarous Goths but they are projected onto the others Roman imperial patriarchy Roman nobility claims be both masculine and civilised Titus grand patriarch deriving his status from his twenty five sons twenty one whom have been slain manfully arms 196 from the beauty and virtue his daughter gracious Lavinia who Rome rich ornament and from his own military exploits Rome has empery

'

its

of

'

-

. ,

as

,

as

?

)

.1 .

(I

'

so

a

a

–

'

:

,

of

'

a

tigers because become wilderness rulers disregard for the people and because their brutal traditions and scramble for power Tamora points out was never Scythia half barbarous 131 what better scapegoats than black man and disorderly woman scapegoats however The play does not really acknowledge them pathologically evil for blackness and deviant womanhood emerge

or

to

no

is

by

,

.

,

, ,

:

to to

he

.

by

is

of

,

to in

, or

,

of

,

no

Significantly there has been debate about the colour ethnic origins prove that Shakespeare had not seen Aaron the Moor effort Moors that racial hatred and miscegenation had not been invented Elizabethan times for unlike Othello Aaron more easily reconciled the stereotype black wickedness lust and malignity His unmiti repeatedly linked gated evil his physical features both himself and others Thus refers

SEXUALITY

unroll -34 6

some fatal execution . ( II.

To do

,

again

III . :

)

-6

of

16

split the patriarchal stereotype gracious gentle

them

.

is

),

.

'

', (II ' .v

23

;

),

a

').

'

do . iii .

-2 ).

(V

, '

, /

of

's

,

'

are

(

of

) , .

a

),

,

'

.i .

II

a

)

“

.1.

,

88

, .1.

its

( by

:

it

( by

:

by

'

(V

,

(I

'

,

is

, ,

passive

'

for Lavinia civilised virtuous chaste and obedient Tamora barbarous most insatiate and luxurious woman and siren Lavinia enclosed Roman patriarchy king father brothers husband nephew militarily waging war against Rome sexually Tamora challenges marrying and manipulating ruler and maintaining lover and Appropriately racially because she and her lover both barbarous she becomes the agent Lavinia destruction along with the irreligi ous Moor Chief architect and plotter these woes 121 Tam

if

woman

Goth and therefore barbar

is a

,

white but she

,

's

lover

is

Aaron

,

Tamora

ous She and Lavinia between

205

1 .

(

.

,

good and fair men call for grace Let fools Aaron will have his soul black like his face

, ' is ), ‘ 52 (

do

Or

of woolly hair that now uncurls

as an adder when she doth

)

fleece

Even

iii .

My

AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE

'O

:

, . ' of

,

of

of

).

is

-

(

,

–

of

-

of

of

'

st

at

.

no ..

is

(

).

-5

II

. iii .

-

it

's

of

ora sons are wicked because their mother not learn her wrath she taught thee Even her teat thou had her tyranny image simple 143 But Tamora maternal destructiveness She combines the attributes the warrior woman masculine prowess military skill and usurping the Amazon male authority sexual promiscuity see Shepherd Amazons She both the epitome stereotypical female duplicity and the converse stereotypical female

.

subservience

of

;

of

pure evil the sup Both Tamora and Aaron become embodiments posedly uncontrollable sexuality women and blacks motivates their Iiaison

.

's

Aaron

blackness makes here honour

,

,

,

as

)

73 -9

II .

(

?

If

foul desire had not conducted you

, iii .

,

an

a

'

to

-

'

all

.

,

's

of

.. .

his body hue Spotted detested and abominable Why are you sequest red from your train Dismounted from your snow white goodly steed And wand red hither obscure plot Accompanied but with barbarous Moor

,

the

be

of

of /

a

At

).

-8

67

,

,

the bosom

of

.

).

embraced

in iii .

V

up

be

to

'(

of

to

is

ii .

IV as .

'( ‘,

'

a

'

of

fac d

contrast

,

by

'

is , to

.

is

-

is

accordingly Amongst Their child devil loathsome toad play the fair breeders our clime the end exposed and purged through the literal expulsion evil Aaron and Tamora He be walled and starved while she must thrown prey beasts and birds 198 Lavinia the compliant woman the civilised world

and

).

as

But passive

she

.

to

iii .

194

'closed in our household 's monument ' (V . her rape has made her too impure live

is ,

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

48

in

at

is

a

,

'

ye

'(

, .p 3 ).

‘

:

stereotypes

black barbarity

Thus even this play and female deviance in

).

9

of

'(

. ii .

IV

97 -

'

Ye

!

'd

lim

is

'

better than another hue

the apparently secure

it

is

.

's

,

,

's .

,

his

,

.

to

,

his

Ye

/

coal black

'

o

for 'er

/

's

); life

,

of

to

!

);

. ' III 1 .

);

-3

'( I. .i

A

20

to 19 -

3

did .

(

'(

of

'a

is

is

of

's

, /

'

he IV .

54 .

is

officially located outside Roman patriarchy But we are Thus evil tigers reminded that Rome itself wilderness that Tam reign ora terror unleashed after she becomes incorporate Rome Roman now adopted happily 462 that Titus himself suffrages threw the people On him that doth tyrannize me that Tamora one level merely revenged Titus what her son Moreover Aaron occasionally strains his stereotype Whereas both Tamora and Titus are responsible for their children deaths the black man stereotypically denied human emotions barters safety his own ensure son What more important defending momentarily while his child that Aaron becomes represen Cowhig tative race protesting against prejudice He claims sanguine shallow hearted be better than his white adversaries boys white walls alehouse painted signs and asserts that

is

.

patriarchal authority

patriarchalism

/

Racism

will

,

,

interwoven with the disturbance

to

.

as

,

,

I,

In

.

,

,

are although marginally opened out Othello shall suggest common sense ideas about blacks are evoked but more clearly questioned dis misrepresentation closely closed And crucially this disclosure

of

,

to

by

.

is

'

'

,

of

,

,

in its

it

to

its

on In

.

a

a

,

on

's

an

is

a

by

I

to

a

as

of

precisely the opposite locate movement which the one honorary white Fiedler and will trace Othello passage from total outsider movement that depends the impact both racial and sexual difference other words Othello moves from being colonised subject existing the terms white Venetian society and trying ideology towards being marginalised outcast internalise every way until he occupies his true position and alienated from precarious ruptured entry into the white world other His

seen

in

's

in

,

of

of

So

At ,

.

its

'.

split inconsistent subject and occupies not

,

is a

,

discussed later she too

'

to

,

,

of

-

a

.

,

it

secure the Othello self conception instead the unified subject humanist thought we have near schizophrenic hero whose last speech graphically portrays the split he becomes simultaneously the Christian and the Infidel the opponent Venetian and the Turk the keeper the State and the being ally passes same time Desdemona from his who would guarantee becoming his sexual and racial other As will be his white status

,

his relation with Desdemona which was intended first place and which only catalyses the contradictions

SEXUALITY

AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE

in the play , not only as Othello 's 'other ' but the Venetian patriarchy . The ' central conflict ' of the play then , if wemust locate one, is neither between white and black alone , nor merely between men and women - it is rather between the racism of a white patriarchy and the threat posed to it by both a black man and a white woman . But these two not simply aligned against white patriarchy since their own relation cannot abstracted from sexual racial tension Othello not merely jealous but man whose jealousy and blackness black man who are inseparable Similarly Desdemona initial boldness and later sub mission are not discordant the context her positions white tripartite and extremely woman and white woman There thus complex relationship between black man white woman and the state the first 125 lines the play racist images Othello blackness

one but various positions

of

is

.

a

,

.

', 's '

of

,

old

he

In

of

,

a

as a

of

's

is

.

a

in

.

,

a

is

or

be

,

are

also that

's

'

society into honoured guest thing thou 101 see Cowhig

).

) (

8

'

, (I. .p ii.

as

a

)71 to

Venetian

From

iii .

I.

'(

of

‘

is

all

'

an

.

's

's

Brabantio

a

of

of

in

which transforms the latent racism digust virulent anger and Iago that inhuman Othello becomes such against whose liaison rules nature

,

woman

of

,

'', a

,

is

'.

‘a

It

'

'',

is

–

Barbary horse devil and abound thick lips black ram significant that unlike Aaron case these images lascivious Moor are evoked almost exclusively the context his contact with white

is

,

an

's

.

is

.

-

being

an

as

an

and we are reminded that sorcery uncivilised and Christian activity Cleopatra sexually themselves Othello and cannot attractive Egyptian

be un

;

in

as

to

linked her being repeatedly constructed well

of

is

,

it

,

.

.

i.

e

an

.

to

to

of a

's

to

at

conviction that Othello has used magic win her once dislodges Othello the status barbaric outsider animal whom he claims his daughter was afraid look upon Here Othello activity with overwhelmingly female connotations associated with may be recalled magically witchcraft Cleopatra too accused enchanting Antony But Cleopatra feminine wiles are specifically Brabantio

no

Constructing the other

notes that

prior

'

,

a

the

eleventh

or

Robinson

to

.

civilisation

'

is

by

-

or

an

.

'

of

or

to

to

as

,,

his

to

us

,

de

on

in in

,

to

of of

.

in

to

despite

is

is a

,

Moor but there real clarity his precise origins slavery and references his being sold his unChristian past Debates over whether Othello was black brown mulatto anxi brown ously tried recover the possibility hiswick whiteness from this ambiguity possibility which the contrary the very construction the other contrary alerts Oriental Orientalist and colonial discourses While we must recognise that group has uniformity each non white race individual identity conferred upon them their common differentiation from white

Othello

twelfth

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

50

centuries the use of the collective sense of the term barbarian was primarily a function ofexclusion rather than a reflection ofany significant consolidation among these peoples ' ( p . 10 ) . Thus , to consider Othello over the textual confusion but to concur with Fanon that colonial discourse itself erases differentiation between various subjects and treats outsiders black while locating

not

to gloss

as

its

its

is

;

black man

all

as a

', is

‘

is

of

.

( or

-o

,

co

to

pt and exclude variously construct certain that the Senate will back his opposition

to its

,

in

is

71 ).

, .p

,

(

,

In

.

Brabantio

'. 't, 's

‘

or

a

amazing capacity

others

is

an

of

as

be

a

of

to

of

.

-

of

,

to

therefore we need stress the common exclusion ofits others whose political colour rather than precise shade non whiteness what matters The conversion the outsider the service dominant culture crucial feature the European encounter with other peoples Hence incorporated Said Orientalism the alien must also Othello valuable Christian warrior the exotic colonial subject the service the state the Senate scene the Venetian patriarchy displays racism

.

to

as

us '

of '

be as

is

': ' -8

).

236

, .p

it )

-

an

often cited

of

,

almost mythic as

his

as

of

is

as

are often regarded hardly human wicked example such illogical

statements

do

:

.

,

Iago

of

is

partly because many This irrational and evidence ness The following passage behaviour

as

's ' ' ( (

).

‘

to

‘

's

I.

'(

iii .

of

'

to

)

if

to it

,

remarkably liberal that appears strange Othello marriage and they don we need only recall their concern with the Turkish threat opposed strategically included Othello the warrior one the Turkish they You must therefore content slubber the your new fortunes with this more stubborn and boisterous gloss expedition 227 Coleridge called according Iago famous motiveless malignity opaque Fashioning Greenblatt still remains Renaissance Self

;

sin

great

a

, as

stand accountant for

diet my revenge suspect the lustful Moor

led

,

to

But partly

do

I

love her too absolute lust though peradventure

of I

. ..

Now

Not out

he

)

-

285

93

wife

.. . ( II .i .

wife

for

with him

,

even

'd

I

Till

am

,

;

a d

;

' I

For that Hath leap into my seat the thought whereof poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards Doth like And nothing can nor shall content my soul

,

,

In

.

of

'

in

a

,

of

is

'

.

,

a

as in

in

?

of

?

In

really suspect what sense does Iago love Desdemona Does Emilia with Othello Rather than confusion motive the passage illus expressive power struggle trates the way which sexual desire specifically racist context Iago loves Desdemona here the same way Ferdinand loves his sister the Duchess Malfi the latter case

SEXUALITY

AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE

erotic desire , brotherly possessiveness and male authoritarianism blend as expressions of aristocratic bonding , and of protection of state and family power . Similarly Iago s love speaks of a racial and patriarchal

' '

'

“

his

as

(

white women losing wife an

Desdemona

choice reveals

's

disgust

at

: 's

,

As

.

Othello Cowhig indicates Iago almost phobic racist horror

of all

,

a

Othello Such possessiveness over suspicion

the fear rationalised

')

to

also reflected

in

to to is

rather than

him

as

.

. ,

all

bonding whereby he becomes the' protector ' of white women from black men More specifically white woman Desdemona belongs

,

-

emphasis added

)

see

us

-7

233

;

iii .

III .

a

thoughts unnatural

.(

Foul disproportion

,

!

in

in all

,

Of her

,

,

to

affect many proposed matches own clime complexion and degree things nature tends Whereto we see Foh one may smell such will most rank

Not

to

is

's

as

of

).

iii .

III .

-

as

'

'

So

as

‘

'.

is

'

'

,

as a

(

‘

to

to

of

a

,

to

his

-

.

is

'

's

a

,

.

,

is

to

'

,

‘

‘

to

This interchange between Iago and Othello allows that the legitimise them naturalness which dominant ideologies invoke selves and which central common sense thinking generally flexible category For Othello seeking efface own blackness through Desdemona patriarchal view love female constancy supposed dis necessary natural Therefore for him Desdemona honesty becomes nature erring from itself 231 But Iago reinter prets erring nature define Desdemona white woman whose love for and constancy Othello unnatural he yokes together stereo typical notions repulsive and female both black ever capable of

In

'. in

'

its

of )

)

(

,

,

of

of

, .

as

,

to

of ,

of

a

as

As

.

of

unnatural transgressions Lawrence correctly points out whereas the rapes black women by white men were seen sort favour the black race the mating white women with black men was regarded fatal Whereas the first extended the power the white man over all women the latter eroded his own territory and allowed for the possibility invasion the Indian context British and other colonial men indulged wide a

as

on

's ;

's

? It

a

of

?

(

a

is

,

in

:'

to

to

a

in

it

Titus Andronicus

Such

is

).

.p

nexus the fears responsible for engender where results racial pol

,

of

',

sense female sexuality

-

common

by black and active ing the extreme horrors evoked

72

:

Just plain

',

rence

as

as

of

's of

,

:

is

a

as

A

to

in

.

of

(

spread sexual liaisons with including rapes Indian women matter course But the horrors British women taking Indian lovers are obsessively foregrounded literature diverse Forster Passage India Paul Scott The Raj Quartet and Jhabvala Heat and Dust contemporary they persist feature racism Britain today the question marry never would you allow your son black girl marry always would you allow your daughter black man Law

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA communiqué deporting blacks , referred to immigration earlier laws, the ‘ preservation of the white race is seen to be at stake. Fanon offered a psychoanalytical exp lanation for this fear , pointing out that racist phobia always reduces the black man to his sexual potential : ' the father revolts because in his opin ion the Negro will introduce his daughter into a sexual universe for which the father does not have the key , the weapons, or the attributes '

,

Elizabeth to today 's British

the possibility feared

,

their desire for black lovers

is

white women

;

the complicity

is

especially threatening forwhite patriarchy

of

what

is

So

)

.

(p .

of

l's

. From

165

lution

a

of

to

the

of

as

as

.

in

,

the

6

's ' s

,

.

of

–

of

‘

'

it

for

In

. ,

is

if

will be further discussed

far

by

).

is as

is is

's

, ,

is

in in

a

,, a

of

64

, .p

'

(

a

at

'

to

.

,

forbidden but always imminent The spectre combined black and female insubordination threatens undermine white manhood and the Empire stroke Lawrence The effort then becomes project the white woman provoked by the animalistic lust desire provoked the black man notion which which traceable back the fifteenth n otion Europe century myth Euron and much earlier India The the black century perpetuates black animalism while rapist even more useful for obliterating female agency and thus simultaneously erases the two patriarchal racism most problematic areas the humanity the alien race and the active sexuality women passive however the white woman Even she contact with the chapter supposed rapacity alien male pollutes her black man in

.

's

' ,

of

'

In

-

).

356 am

black

the

’

'

I

. iii .

(I

a

an

of

. .

of

an

is

Haply for

disrupted

a

in

is of

the context The Tempest But Othello the precisely arises because Othello not rapist and Desdemona unwilling victim not his sexual assault Their desire cannot be spite contained within the myth the black rapist this Iago racism and his misogyny together make him confident that the relation erring barbarian and super subtle Venetian can be easily between problem

,

,

,

).

, .p

I

as

,

an is

–

he as

;

;

he

to

of

(

to

an

is

of

,

of

by

At

in

in

. of

,

,

:

,

of

to

in

is

Othello described terms characteristics popularly attributed blacks during the sixteenth century sexual potency courage pride guilelessness credulity easily aroused passions these become central and persistent features later colonial stereotyping well seemingly remarked the first chapter the beginning the play honorary society well entrenched and accepted Venetian attempt speak better than any white whose hyperbolic speech the language his adoptive civilisation see Serpieri 142 The vul nerability his entry prompts him reiterate his intrinsic merits his lineage and his achievements appears confident that these will match

SEXUALITY AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE

done the signiory complaints

-

19 )

I have

services which out-tongue

18

Shall

:

racism

his

My

's

.. . (1 .ii .

Brabantio

,

is

of

,

of

to

/

,

is

31 -2 ).

by ' (I

. ii .

'

to

Othello needs believe that my parts my title and my perfect soul Shall manifest me rightly He discover that the dominant ideology encouraged adoptive society especially the notion his doubly illusory the power and indestructible essence the individual

he

he

on

is

,

on

in

of

is

is

.

-

as

are

.

of

by

.

of

if

is

,

.

is

when your skin black simply any black But Othello not archetypal man neither played out spaces already man The drama racial difference occupied divisions class He involved the process social mobility and self fashioning others around him but somewhat different terms Brecht rightly pointed out that

it

or

,

it

for

;

of

of

)

is

,

.

to

- to of be 88 ).

I

:'

of

.

of

's

,

Cassio

in

is

preferment and also Othello who more successful their common pursuit status Iago gains considerable mymeans wealth from duping Roderigo have wasted myself out jewels you The have had from me deliver Desdemona would half Iago

jealous

of

.(

, .p

,

as a

a

.

in

him

he by

,

as a

a

,

't

,

be

as

post general which only possess Desdemona he also possesses outstanding achieve inherited feudal general would but won ments and presumably snatched from someone else must defend fighting property and will snatched from He lives world position and his relationship with the woman he loves develops property relationship quoted Heinemann 217 doesn

he has not

he

as

',

,

.

or

's ,

'(q

:'

. ii .

of ,

to

,

,

,

effect

of

an

located

as

others should

be

control events and the lives

of

's

to

.

's

of

is

.

is

,

is as

's

of

.

).

, , 'is p

in in

,

(

a

IV

186 votarisť have corrupted However class differences cannot sealed off from others Stuart Hall has pointed out the context contemporary Britain Race uoted says themodality which class relations are experienced Gilroy Applied profound 276 Othello this illuminates the invasion gender relations by race Iago intensification and alteration class jealousy Cassio advancement does not become deflected into hatred for Othello sometimes supposed Rather each breeds the other for Othello socially superior the outsider the racial inferior who Iago who has become the means own preferment Greenblatt has persuasively and correctly argued that Iago improvise and ability

)

195

is

and her husband

's

. .iii

(I

'

jewel

“

's

is

.

's

by

of

ence racial hatred Desdemona both her father

,

an

(

to

).

-

, .p

'

of to ‘

colonial ideology which seeks sustain indefinitely indirect enslave by moulding psyche ment the the oppressed Greenblatt Renaissance ideology Fashioning Self 229 But we need add that such not just generally imbibed but shaped and spurred Iago specific experi

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

of

As

'purchase ' ( II.

, ,

's

of

as

,

for

'

or -

.

–

)

'

I

love and when why she loves

if

iii .

III .

361

Frantz

of

).

.

That

gone

'

's

294

( is )

92 's -3 '( ). I.

111

III .

is

'(

occupation

Othello

!

Farewell description

iii .

.

faith

'

is

, s' , , ; ' / not

in

to

of

why my life upon her Chaos come again

that

thee not

It

of '(

iii .

III .

'

'd

'

identity him

. ).

to

(

to

his

is

is

all of

iii .9 ) .

the guarantee her husband upward mobility similar Bianca Women Beware Women But unlike the latter Desdemona also the gate white humanity Slowly his conception own worth comes centre the fact that she chose him over the curl darlings Venice Her desire for him she had eyes proof replaces his heritage exploits and chose me 193 and measure his worth thus becomes the primary signifier his she

,

:

's

of

of

Fanon the encounter between the black man and white woman although somewhat reductive female sexuality illuminates this aspect Othello desire do

,

of

a

am

.

I

of

. am

a

I .. ,

of

.

my restless

,

,

I

.. .

a

am

I

.

By

?

to

be

of

mymind surges my soul across the zebra striping the blackest part suddenly white this desire who but white woman can this for worthy loving me she proves that me white love loved like white man marry white culture white beauty white whiteness white man Out

At

)’

63

.

.

(p

,

hands caress those white breasts they grasp white civiliza dignity tion and and make them mine When

'

‘

-

,

his

.

is

,

his

.

as

as

,

of

.

it

to

in

,

the same time wemust remember that Othello actually emphasises bridge his difference order and win Desdemona His magic invoking his exotic otherness his cultural and religious dif consists ferences well heroic exploits which involve strange peoples and territories He oscillates between asserting his non European glamour and denying blackness emphasising through speech and social position his assimilation into white culture He thus hopelessly

's

Desdemona

:'

,

;

it is a

'

's

to

it

at

to

xvi

).

p

"(

',

Introduction

's

to

a

.. .

at

.

. . .

in

of

is

, ;

in

as

split Homi Bhabha writes relation Fanon split subject black doubling dissembling skins white masks not neat division image being places impossible least two once which makes accept the colonizer identity for the devalued invitation

disobedience power and

to

her very submission

).

, .p

on

in

'

as

it

.

(

'

,

of in

it in

locates

law

's

contrast

,

by

,

'

of

to

as

to to

it

Greenblatt

assertiveness

’; of

of

has already been play central evaluations the Fiedler characteristically calls the power the white witch Tennenhouse desribes the gives her the power speak the language turn which the power marriage give her own body Display Power 125 Desdemona

The erosion

presented

desire which

SEXUALITY

AND RACIAL

DIFFERENCE

arouses sexual tension in Othello (Renaissance Self-Fashioning , p . 250 ) . I suggest that Desdemona 's disobedience and later submission are both related to the shifting positions she occupies in relation to Othello , and to the contradictions that they impose upon her. Cowhig insightfully

's

love

's

the context of a white woman

in

fantasies

:

for

locates Desdemona the exotic male

to

(

of

a

was

early travel book

fanatic

'?

say that Desdemona

'

we not

an

'

,

')

can

)

13

.

of

to

,

black tribe (p

'

'

‘a

of to

so

in

of

?

of

.. .

is

to

of

she not more attracted the exotic myth otherness than the real Given the enormous popularity travel books among white women the Shaftesbury 1710 was lament the fact that thousand Desdemonas were obsessed with stories African men that they would readily abandon husbands families and country itself follow the fortunes hero the

man Earl

of

) of to

are.

for

's

,

.

,

's

'

, '

to

of '

to

of

's '

If

of

in

's

as

,

be , ',

for ‘

(

of

to

not

to

If

subscribe the usual myths about female propensity however the susceptibility Desdemona and her sisters example later figures such Hardy Tess the proverbial out sider must viewed the additional context the confinement the woman and the increasing restriction her mobility and freedom Iago love for Desdemona and Ferdinand the Duchess protect race property and power through emblematic the desire the enclosure the woman Desdemona fascination conversely indi cates her desire break the claustrophobic patriarchal confine Travel we are

for romance

‘

to

to

of

is

It

.

to

to

its

in

's

is

so

in

.

.

on

to

,

)

, .

, '

. iii .

(I

of

all

I

'd '

a

,

adventure and freedom being male domains she first wishes that heaven had made her such man and then begins love Othello for Projected the dangers had pass 163 167 the outsider are the fantasies freedom and love both which are unable be even visualised from within her world true that Desdemona only invokes the right owe duty her husband and not her own autonomy But doing she defies patriarchal control over her particularly disturbing explicit desires Desdemona eroticism

,

;

of

,

iii .

I.

'(

'

250

).

Self Fashioning

-

Renaissance

, .p I

'

to

of

and frank avowal the downright violence her passion and her claim the rites for why love him 248 252 see also Greenblatt

of

of

)

.

, p .

on

'(

a

of

to

a

on

'

:

of

Tennenhouse underlines the connections between sexual relations England Des and the political body Elizabethan and Jacobean specifically Jacobean assault monarchy when she demona poses assumes authority over her body and persuades the senate assert the priority contractual relationship over and against the will the patriarch Power Display 127 The early modern state was not only

,

.

of

an

as

its

patri increasingly misogynist but made explicit the usefulness for tightening authoritarian controls State legislation strengthened the household instrument social control and laws

archalism

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

,

to

,

–

' of

,

;

and

ofof

,

(

:

its

as

).

,

,

,

of

is a

,

of

,

of

,

even

of

potentially deviant people the poor vagrants category prostitutes witches attempted and even alternative religious orders sweep the population within the boundaries the household and alterativendaries strengthen the authority the father Hill Society and Puritanism Stone puritanis Theory The Family Kelly Women History The consolidation the state primary unit the word involved consolidation the family against every category

, .

obligation

The parent child

-

of

making governance intelli

of

in

of

stood terms the patriarchal theory relationship served the precise function

.

,

or

of

in

).

p

'(

of

an

”

"

epitome the whole gospel Thomas 319 Gordon pointed Schochet has out that social hierarchies were explained terms divinely sanctioned status and political authority under natural father

).

55

‘ if

.

'(

p

at

in

. At

is

it

. ..

of

By

'

all

I to

).

is

a

.

(p

-

to

of

to

to

all

expand the experienced and gible and that had be done was comprehensible and therefore acceptable category relationships sub sumed under the parent child rubric include that between ruler and subject argued that 439 Hence James the Law Nature the King becomes naturall Father his Lieges his Coronation concluding that Tennenhouse therefore right Jacobean drama proves one thing that sexual relations are always political and

I

pp

of

; :

of ;

..

of .

of

to

his is

's )

(

am

,

politically subversive desire the same time uncomfortable with intention dissolve the sexual theme into those thematics which determined the components Jacobean drama and the nature their relationship Kingship versus kinship power the signs and symbols natural versus metaphysical bodies that Desdemona

an to

of

fail

–

‘

it,

all

-

is ,

).

-4

.

,

on

As

.

;

be

of

'(

a

adequately

analysis

in

adequate

tools

, of p . . 6 ).

category unto themselves Women are society demands new conceptual their position quoted Kelly The sexual theme can contextualised but

it

define

,

,

is

in

if

'(

of

Display versus the exercise state power Power 123 For sexual relations are political only the way that the non sexual analogies their very specificity denied Gerda Lerner put approximate the position class group caste women but state

-

.

is

is

is

is

,

,

.

,

by(

,

it

by

,

),

,

of

‘

as

If

Desdemona the most explicitly erotic and precisely because her choice heroines Iago and Brabantio and even naggingly seen unnatural not only by Othello himself but also most probably the audience Her

's .

Greenblatt underplays Shakespeare sensual

,

is

its

I

's

is

its

it

ofof

,

to

or

dior

of

of

-

, is

is

an

it

,

is

.

to

,

of

or

and the analogy the wife husband child father rela that subject and king cannot explain the entirety Renaissance gender relations Active female sexuality disruptive patriarchal con anxuality analogous trol not just because emblem for other sorts analogouser patri directly rebellion but because threatens the power base base dependent upon regulation and control archy which especially trans will emphasise again that Desdemona desire object gressive because black which Tennenhouse ignores and tion

of ,

not dissolved

SEXUALITY

AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE

expressions of love do not unambiguously confirm their suspicions about female response to black men because they also shatter the assumption

.

that black men need to force their attentions on white women

scene ,while Desdemona is surprisingly bold and explicit modestmaiden facing the Venetian state Othello finds necessary my appetite deny the palate would agree with Cowhig that these speeches relate directly Othello colour Desdemona hasmade clear that his sooty bosom no obstacle desire while Othello must defend himself against the unspoken accusations the audience it

of

of

of ,

;

to

.

's

is

”

“

it

'

to

I

'.

of

'

to

a

,

for

In the senate

'

.

, fate '

of

the

in

is

of

on

,

's

sexual

an

of

in

maturity

greater female least partly

as

, ,

at of

,

'. : ) ' .

do

,

/

to to

in

‘

for

;

190 1 as

.

1

II .

( |

realism and more generally relationships prefer see

:

at

of

).

'(

1

. .iii

far

is

in

an

,

of

is

,

At

).

10

.

as

(p of

'

as

well the senators because the association sexual lust with blackness the end the scene Othello exonerated from honorary white your the sexual slur and accordingly pronounced son law more fair than black 290 Cyprus after the storm Consider also the meeting the lovers Othello would happily die order arrest the perfection their meeting not another comfort like this Succeeds unknown emphasis added reply contrary Desdemona optimistically looks forward our loves and comforts should increase grow Even our days For Neely this evidence her greater

,

'

to

as

.

in

'

'

his

at

's

;

of tio

an

by

.

,

,

as a

it

,

.

I

to

indication her greater confidence which Othello black man cannot share His insecurity which has already been catalysed words betray Braban present wonder and joy are partially compounded reaction actually possessing her just disbelief his desire revel the uncertainty about the future betrays moment

of

of

.

's

,

's

on in

-

's

.

in

it ?

it

is

, up , or

a

of ,

of

.

to

in

to

,

of

of

of

,

in

in

to

,

.

(

an 4 )

of

in

of

,

in

is

,

an

of

-

's

,

Desdemona power then the confidence both race and class upper class Venetian beauty secure the attentions men around her and the advantages her position She shares something here with the confidence Beatrice Joanna Middleton The Changeling see chapter Desdemona persistence Cassio behalf for exam upbringing where women are taught that their power ple reflects cajole and chide men into favouring them lies their ability Her initial confidence her own persuasiveness and her methods coquet tishly insistent owe something the illusion female power the courtly love This slowly gives way ethic the more sobering reality power that Othello asserts the power the husband over the wife despite his blackness Away from the world because grown which she has Desdemona becomes less assured and confi

's

of

to

a

of

a

is

to

.

a

dent Her transformation from woman who confronts both her father and the Venetian Senate the wife who submits her husband truly feminine love but manifestation insults not result the

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

58

contradictions imposed upon her by

a

racist, patriarchal and bourgeois

. It is important , of course , to guard against reading dramatic characters as real , three dimensional people . But , as Alan Sinfield says, Desdemona seems even more discontinuous than Othello because she is ' less a society

developing consciousness than a series of positions that women are conventionally supposed to occupy . . . (She ) makes sense not as a con tinuous subjectivity . . . but in terms of the stories about “ woman ” that were and are told in patriarchal ideology ' ('Othello', pp . 20- 2 ). Female inconsistency (which I deal with at length in chapter 4 ) is a complex amalgam of being ' scripted by men ' ( the phrase is Sinfield 's ), not only literally

, in

the plays , but generally

, in

patriarchal society .

' s obedience

Desdemona

is

it

of his

he

Othello needs to encourage Desdemona 's sexual freedom up to the point that it ensures his own mobility but also subsequently to curb it . He is proud of her speech in the beginning of the play , for it confers a power and a legitimacy on him . Later he smothers her voice , for she suspected must speak and move on behalf only and not when

a

'

if

of

's

of

-

a

of to

of

white world

's .

At

black man

in

.

to to

,

's of

,

in

of

:

a

is

-4 ).

iii .

( III .

, /

can

, /

of

'O

-

is

marriage not the object her passion curse That call these delicate creatures ours And not their appetites 272 This not general male dilemma however we take into account the importance Desdemona for Othello entire exis tence white society then the power the misogynist idea the changeability duplicity and frailty women rouse and disturb Iago Othello and his vulnerability tales female inconstancy become clearer He has begun feel the limits self fashioning for that

we

point that women

in

is

by

up (

is

)

is

's

in

.

;

I.

iii .

',

's

of

'd

to

,

is

it

impressed upon Othello frailty conjunction with his own blackness Brabantio plant the the first possibility duplicity Desdemona Othello mind She has picked lago deceiv her father and may thee 293 which later each

,

;

)

12

's

to

as

,

of

in

,

in

,

By

.

as

,

to

, of

misogyny and racism Iago later speeches cannot opinion capable be missed Women his are the most unnatural loving black men and the greatest fickleness such ceasing acts such asking acknowledge questions love them Othello this he both

.

The interweaving

-

'd

. 'd ( III . to , iii .

She did deceive her father marrying you And when she seem shake and fear your looks She lov them most 210

SEXUALITY AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE

say

?

a

:'

).

to

he

,

-9

to 87

..1 /; 61 , I 65 ,

'(

to

. 's

,

/

a

IV

of

a

,

'; )'; '

iii .

III .

(

be

?

,

sir

'; '

in

all

in

all a

are

a

or

his

Othello 's humanity and appeals to manhood Are you man Have you soul sense 378 Would you would bear your fortune Marry patience Or shall you like man Good man spleen And nothing man The more he questions Othello humanity the more he appeals his mas begs Othello culine power over women Promising kill Cassio at

up

to

's

in

.

to

,

.

are a

's

by

:

sexual pleasure and specifically excluding racial difference Christian orthodoxy but the erotic inten experienced tension with The ten

,

than

-

2

;

241

a

Othello

.pp

”

doctrine over sexuality

Christian

(

specific

blackness

to

it .

in

is

some atavistic

colonial power

'

manifestation

of

manifestation the

a

less

of

is

‘

sion

“

passion

Nothing conflicts openly with sity that informs every word

of

or

of

to

all

's

to

.

's

to

at

of

's

as

of

.

,

is

to

of

‘

'

a

of

's

,

's .

as

',

let

'

killing her live although Othello has that time never hinted Desdemona Just Othello white identity was dependent upon Desdemona love his destruction her involves belief women frailty which helps him rationalise her supposed infidelity Desdemona begins embody the common patriarchal dichotomy the white yoke together the otherwise devil For Othello this the only way contradictory experiences being black and man Therefore deepened Desdemona schisms are Othello even though one seeks heal itself the expense the other vulnerability lago Greenblatt accounts for Othello narrative referring the guilt that Christian orthodoxy imposes upon forms

, to

is

)

of

a

to

as

.

a

in

by

(

by

?

of

,

).

,

an

emphasis added Why should Christianity adoptive religion for Othello inform his psyche more fundamentally than the blackness which pervades every aspect his history and identity On the contrary Christianity sexual guilt possibly including that conferred rooted and intensified colour consciousness Thus Othello begins subscribe what wemay see Christian patriarchal view woman

-

of ;

As

,

, '

(

all

-

to

' of ll

on

As

-

's 'd

'

it

/ -

' . s

is

of

A

, /

as

as

at

it

)

. ii .6

(V

.

,

of ,

as

)

3

21 -

In

).

-2

iii .

of

'(

III .

'

(

IV .1 .

'a ,

as

as

of

in

of

,

as

deceiver and sinful but because not over and above his blackness Evident the imagery black and white Othello internalisation his own inferiority well the wickedness women his position honorary white erodes Desdemona becomes the honorary black her duplicity makes her subtle whore closet lock and key my own villainous secrets well begrim and black speech face 391 the Desdemona bedside the whiteness her skin makes both necessary and difficult kill her necessary possible that she betray more men because her beauty makes and therefore Othello must act behalf men including

all

of

,

in

to

,

,

is

it

, he or

all

; ' . ,

),

to

a

,

is

of

,

ironically Brabantio thus transcending his colour become his everyman sort difficult because still the signifier that desirable Othello and that cannot have reminding him that he cannot be everyman Desdemona rather what she represents

view

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

,

As

'

'd

he

a

be

of

.

as

his wife

.

have pointed

out

,

the murderer

also

oppos most

:

by

,

to

of

he

ition male female feminist critics clearly articulated Emilia

An

of

its

,

yes but

as

of

,

Lonely figure

is

and white

is

,

as

' us '

a

).

. of

striping

by of

behalf

slashed

of

‘

's

357

. ii .

'

is on

crime was that he beat Venetian and traduc the Thus even last picture the time when could act simply evoked but white society one cannot his position outsider The flimsily put together zebra his mind disintegrates into constituent polarity black

The Turk

(V .

killed state

he

-

,

of

.

,

or

,

to to

of

is

he

),

,

it

of .

;

-

of

(

.

As

's

).

' (V .i .

/,

17 -8

‘

to

his

and what she is made to represent by Iago , thusmakes Othello alternate between two definitions of his own identity – he is a man in relation to her femininity and black in relation to her whiteness . The contradictions necrophiliac fantasy should be kept in mind when we view kill thee And love thee after Alongside the sexual tension the play charts Othello increasing racial precarious integration society isolation his into white vanishes he becomes more obviously the alien critics have often noted the upsurge his non European past his pagan history and more alone and iso lated becomes even more obvious that also the only black around Compare the confident Othello the senate scene the lonely figure the last scene desperately recalling his services the state Antony delivering his own eulogy already and unlike Hamlet noted his last words graphically capture the split his identity into Christian and infidel becomes the circumcised dog that he once

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SEXUALITY

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archal , authoritarian and racist spectacle , nor as a show of female or black superiority . Iago has often been seen as related to the Vice figure in a morality play . Unlike the morality Vice however , he does not simply challenge accepted morality but is also the spokesperson for racist and patriarchal platitudes . His position as a sort of mediator between audi producer ence and action and his commented upon role the play within the play are crucial He undoubtedly articulates many the

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GENDER

,

RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

face of racism , p . 166 ). Orkin places the continuing prescription , for South African students, of the Arden edition of the play , with Ridley s notoriously racist introduction , in the context of the apartheid state (Shakespeare Against Apartheid , p . 107 ). Surely the fact that it is also the standard text in India , as is Kermode's edition of The Tempest (see chapter 6 ) cannot be viewed as an accident . Nor is it inconsequential that African students are the butt of racist jokes in Delhi. In India , the assumption often is that we are outside racist structures , even while our own brands of colour prejudice , which are complexly intertwined with caste , regional and class differences , and which have been deepened by the being intensified Many colonial encounter ,not only flourish but

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the common sense notions that have been identified white racism closely echoed the instance inter caste marriage India Finally the patriarchalism Indian society does not stand outside allowing own history colour consciousness Instead become means confirmation these attitudes Othello must be point from which wemay examine and dismantle the racism seized and the sexism which both our own hegemonic ideologies and years adopt colonial education have persuaded

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contemporary vio Search Answersincludes many accounts analysis lence against women India See also Mies PatriarchyandAccumulationfor how older customs are given modern revival and intersect with modern practices persecution For report women witches Bihar see Hindustan Times October eighteen year old Rajput girl was burnt 1987 Recently her husband pyre Deorala Rajasthan while thousands of people watched Later many more collected temple there Fierce protests for festival the site and money poured build

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organisations were countered women revivalist processions meetings and pub lications Hindu revivalists have been contending that abolition sati amounts rights and therefore also violation individual woman freedom Under the guise sophisticated sociological analysis there has also been the argument that sati being opposed today only by westernised section the Indian intelligentsia who not understand India her customs their spirit Kishwar and Vanita article The a

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essay despite the fact than she concentrates on the neglect whenever she does mention gender relations she relates analysis also indebted Errol Lawrence common sense along with Fanon illuminates several aspects the play archetypal man and Othello black man are premised Ridley black inferiority We might assume that crudity such

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Roop Kanwar simple revival shows how sati not just ancient practice but ties with dominant political and economic interests also discusses promulgation how despite new anti sati legislation the Indian government has dealing with the issue failed and not interested

AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE

SEXUALITY

63

status as the true black . Ridley s arguments , although in other respects very different , similarly oscillate between rescuing Othello from the status of ablack (he maybe African but is he altogether negroid ?) , arguing inherent inferiority somewhat loving instinctual creature and warm reason and intellect though deficient thoroughly ignoring Desdemona evaluates her worth the dignity with which she facesmen who have seen her publicly struck

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interrelate racial and sexual difference and Orkin brings together the my own production contexts and reception both together discuss many concerns here differ from Orkin assessment of the Venetian Senate no evidence emerges suggest that they share hidden racist disappro the detail the language

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only desireth have lycense take much blackamoores here regard transport them into Spaine and Portugall Her Majesty this realme and the charitable affection the suppliant hath showed being stranger worke the delivery great greatmisery and thraldom and our countrymen that were there bring them home their native country and that the same could not done to

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motives Renaissance SelfFashioning 233 251 should noted tht such slips coexist explicit devaluation will discuss race theoretical parameter which with shortly Eagleton discussion the play William Shakespearetakes almost account Othello colour communiqué quoted Cowhig Elizabeth reads

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guard against viewing any are themselves flawed the racial structures we need simple oppositions them racist Iago Even otherwise radical critics have not purged their language the racist moral commonly attached connotations colour Greenblatt for example speaks the Iago human the unfathomable darkness whole enterprise dark essence

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Ramayana This tells the story Ayodhya Rama who the heir apparent the throne was exiled the forest for fourteen years his father the direction the latter fourth wife There Rama wife Sitawas abducted by demon king Ravana The battle victory and his sunsequent return which followed resulted Rama his kingdom The development the story over the centuries bears testimony the grafting various episodes emphasising chastity wifely devotion and obedience demonising of female propensity for evil well idealisation the stereotype of passive wife to an

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originally simple story Uma Chakravarti has suggested that these additions were made the Ramayana accordance with increasing Aryan taboos women and alongside the socio economic development feudal society and later tied with medieval consolidation that the depiction Sita represents the codification the stereotype passive Hindu woman p 68

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But still remains be analysed how this process also reveals deepening racial story differentiation The original geographical parameters North India sub sequently expanded Ravana kingdom became popularly located the South and today Sri Lanka Ravana people are rakshasasthe term became identified with what originally signified lower caste and today taken mean demon Rama originally dark colour has faded near white representation the stage and cinema whereas Ravana becomes ever darker the story current serialisation the national televi depicted through South Indian dance and music forms sion network Ravana court We need locate how racial differentiation crept and how connected the

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GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

The ' infinite variety of patriarchal discourse , mobility

Fragmentation

and women

The theme of racial difference in Othello allows us to locate the heterogeneity of patriarchal power and the oppositions to it . But what of other texts of the period in which such a theme either is , or has been generally construed to be , missing ? Renaissance and Jacobean tragedy repeatedly poses a real difficulty for dominant Anglo - American critical traditions with their emphasis on what Dollimore, following Fekete , has discussed as a preoccupation with a unified metaphysical and experi ential truth , order and stability (Radical Tragedy , chapter 3) . If L . C . Knights finds that Antony and Cleopatra ‘ embodies different and apparently irrecon ciliable evaluations of the central experience (quoted Brown , Antony Cleopatra 172 Clifford Leech feels compelled confer unity text that resistant The Duchess Malfi we are pulled succes sively different directions and the completion our reading are likely constructing whole feel we have the task which Webster has given the separate parts Clifford Leech quoted Brown Duchess English studies texts have not only xlviii Throughout the history interpreted satisfy this demand for been evaluated and written unity but Tony Davies points out even mutilated they are seen

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GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA rather heterogeneously composed , by which I mean it is not presented as having that seamless and inviolate quality which hegemonic ideologies seek to acquire . Instead , we can see the various sources from

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which it is derived , the purposes which it serves and the strategies which it employs . All of these not consistent and their internal conflicts their politics are revealed Secondly patriarchal attitudes are also con

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tested the women themselves and the resultant conflict prob lematises their hegemonic stature Both these disturbances affect the plays structure this chapter want examine the construction disorderly women and the next two chapters will consider the female subject and the form the dramas Especially when viewed from the perspective society which has not gone through the same process consolidation Western Europe patriarchal author these texts foreground the efforts consolidation but not participate closure that ratifies the same have already single artistic truth and valid indicated that the critical emphasis reading worked socially marginalised exclude the reader Not only

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disorderly women the polyphonic foregrounding experience may contemporary but her be seen useful for feminist evaluations The need sixteenth century England absorb massive social and geographic mobility and political well economic upheavals was emphasise almost desperately that the world manifested the effort could not turn upside down that was too solid melt into There multifaceted dialectic between movement and change the one change not hand and fixity and stability the other Although necessarily progressive during this period becomes particularly threatening the dominant order which had face vast and early modern Europe wide ranging changes affecting the society unprecedented social mobility religious and political crisis the face polarisation and hardening there was doctrine Sinfield Literature pro orthodoxy Protestant England reiteration the form misogyny videntialist belief monarchic absolutism and represent society and The dominant ideology the age sought conception nature stable and static the world fixed and unchanging hierarchy was the ideological map the world according particular power elite and not Tillyard influential

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Almightye God hath created and appoynted things heaven earth and Everye degre people waters mooste excellente and perfecte order theyr vocation callying and office hath appointed theyr duety and them hyghe degree ordre Some are some lowe some kynges and prynces some inferiors and subjectes priestes and laymenne Masters and Servauntes Fathers and chyldren husbandes and wives riche and poore and everyone thynges have nede other that lauded and praysed the goodly god wythoute the whiche no house no citie no commonwealth can order

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Assessments women the drama have fluctuated accordance with differences about the status real life women the early modern period Juliet Dusinberre Shakespeare and now much refuted view emergent feminism the Nature Women that there was Renaissance society and consequently the plays has been challenged Lisa in

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mentary and ruptured identities the disorderly Jacobean heroines fully terms recent documentations the heterogeneity and complexity Renaissance society the literary representations

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GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE

DRAMA

emerge as both constructed by and radically disruptive of an authority which was historically simultaneously being consolidated and

women

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in crisis

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increased in the transition from feudalism to capitalism . Increasing urbanisation made spaces available to women hitherto confined to feudal estates : new shops , theatres , streets , each others ' homes . This , at least theoretically , opened up the possibility of new movement for women and under mined effective male supervision over their smallest actions . Bianca 's sexual transgression is mapped out in terms of her literal movement

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her restlessness cannot Based the real life Mary marry and appropriates the Frith Moll dresses like man refuses normally male role keeper social peace Both literally and ideolog ically she strays from her kind 211 The Duchess Malfi pioneer movement conceives her own transgression terms into wilderness Where shall find nor path nor friendly clew Interestingly be my guide 278 Hindi morally loose woman on

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/

, .ii , ‘

one who walks

literally

'.)

chalu

–

is

I.

'(

'

a

of

‘

so

( of far )

a

,

(

’

is

expressed also her quick movements stay she repeats The Roaring Girl 165 184

,

as

of

by

of

is

, , a

(

.

to In

a

,

of

,

,

,

.

in

of

emphasise

,

as

,

their adversaries then although from very physical and conceptual female mobility The repeated comparisons the literature the period woman with gold jewels money and other easily transferable property express among other things notion the unstable nature wealth comparable idea conveyed and women the Indian context The women well different perspectives

wife

that loves

,

a

be ,

,

men

's

from

all

up

‘

cas

'd

be

,

her husband

;

as a

)

keep close

in

.)

.

st

'

.

43 )

he

I.1

of

.

Therefore she must now

170 and taught

.1 .

(I

' To

'(

). is ‘a

162

. , 12 ,

I.1

'(

is

stolen away again eyes

of or

as

girls paraya dhan the reference alien wealth Butmobility and escape For Leantio transference contain the possibility Women purchase and most match Beware Women Bianca most unvalued less jewel But has spirited her away from her parents she the best piece theft and like other property may

PATRIARCHAL

DISCOURSE

To go after the rate of

Not the

my ability ,

swinge of her own will. . . . (1.1.90 -2 )

licentious

of a

).

,

99

11 .

to

-

a

of

of

in

of

.

to of

is

.

of

;

of

-

as

,

III .

The

Thus Monticelso defines whores as 'treasuries by extortion fillid / And emptied by curs ' d riot' and compares Vittoria to a ' guilty counterfeited coin ' ( White Devil 945 Here we see how the mobility compared society cash oriented with land based one reinforces the instability patriarchal gender relations images comparing women property evoke the potential loss both Themedieval notion female changeability and duplicity thus reworked terms the political implications movement

is

be

's

up

in

to

.

,

is

,

.

of

,

is

This not discount the authoritarian consolidation the state and the family and the increasing confinement exclusion and oppress ion women The plays themselves often proceed towards their literal enclosure which now something which cannot taken for granted repeated violently but must be often Middleton Yellowhammer not alone his intention

,

so

)

40 -3

1 .

,

:

,

,

up

'

in

in

,

Beware

a

Tis

Women

Pity Women Penthea The Broken Heart and Annabella are variously confined locked and closed the attempt

'

in

Bianca

III .

Cheapside

to She s

The Changeling

in

Chaste Maid

,

in

Malfi Beatrice

,

The Duchess

of

(A

't.

on

a

,

if

or

.

as

As As

lock this baggage my gold She shall see carefully little sun close room Can keep her from the light

Whore

control

,

as

,

of

).

,

,

to

as

its

to

to

,

as

'

of

.

as

of

of

has shown

accepted

it

Tawney

),

(

firstly

as

'

for ,

limited

–

of

,

as

its

of

,

of

.

to

be

of

–

.

's

of

its

(

,

The

,

,

as

of

of

.

female deviance becomes spatially explicit Economically the productivity Renaissance women was lessened they were eased out brewing spin traditional occupations such ning weaving and midwifery and from skilled retail and provision Working Life Joan Kelly suggests that since patri trades see Clark production archy derives historic forms from the current mode the separation home and workplace during this period intensifies oppression The family becomes increasingly restricted women two essential roles the unit for individual consumption and the means biological reproduction and regulation sexuality and women begin economically spatially and ideologically restricted domain Although Protestantism some extent resisted medieval forms misogyny redefinition woman was consistent with the strengthening patriarchy within the family well the parallel and related tightening monarchic control and state authority The sup posedly democratic implications Protestant thought were certainly the main institu

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

70

tions of commercial civilisation and provided

a creed for the classes who were to dominate the future, and secondly , women were clearly excluded from the individualist ideals of personal fulfilment and were increasingly defined by their relationships to men instead of being invited - even theoretically – to participate in any self -fashioning . Witch

of

an

.

on

);

3

, .p of

.

to

it

to

to

and valuable documentation

of

the literature concerning the nature and status women formal controversy intellectual calisthenics similar arguments have been advanced concerning the four century long querelle femmes see Kelly chapter four and debates

'

as “ a

; of

);

no

(

des

-

,

p

.

'(

Jacobean

'

vast

or

her own

by the Elizabethan and

generated

44 )

sections

:

to

of

,

or

as

.

to

-

is

-

is

to

-

no

I

of

,

of

(

'

‘a

of

,

,

on to

in

its

height overwhelming majority mania reached the 1650s and those brought trial were social deviants Therefore the one hand feminist historiography effectively footing perfect equality with removed Renaissance women from Kelly placed men where earlier historians had them the other evidence and expressions their resistances and the instability light Although the status quo have also increasingly been brought paradox here surely repression likely intensify precisely see challenged many feminist critics have found when authority dif ficult reconcile the two Thus literature ranging from pamphlets plays has often been regarded either unconnected actual female seeking rebellion contain the same Woodbridge dismisses

a

of

if

(

by

(

of

lay –

of

to

an

as

of

as a

-

to

, or

is

.

,

to

in

up

);

68

, p .

(

,

to

)

(

of

').

I

is

it

)

of is

or

in

'

of

-

a

Jardine suggests that the assertive dramatic heroine indication proto feminist impulse society the drama the period Still Harping and The Duchess Malfi background great social Elsewhere have argued that against upheavals and woman oriented discontents not actual feminist purely actions hard read the writings the querelle either conspiracy academic exercise intellectual contain female Firstly although the debate was formally isolated from assertiveness political action there ranging evidence active female resistance from the Beguines late medieval cities who were celibate women living female communities and supporting themselves their collec tive work women within the radical English sects who actively tried liberate themselves from male clerical and familial authority although they did not theorise their rebellion Kelly and from women

to

.

)

p

',

on

',

s

I'

of

a

byto

,

in

,

in

'(

of

of

of

In

.

in

,

,

in

turn

and bread riots

in

rebuking priests and pastors being central actors grain town and country and participating tax revolts top and other rural disturbances Davis Women 176 the significant percentage women seventeenth century English enclo sure riots Calvinist Edinburgh 1637 the resistance Charles imposition the Book Common Prayer was opened crowd

who

PATRIARCHAL

DISCOURSE

71

,

31

In

51 ). in

.

in

.

,

,

(S

to

(

pp

,

at

tax

serving women ' as was the Montpellier revolt 1645 en become increasingly vocal and specific England proletarian women voicing their demands hepherd Amazons becament Parliament

‘ rascally

to

,

to

."

in a

by

to

of

of

is

;

an

of

The querelle remained unaware activistsshed and vice vice versa but their coexistence ver justification not coincidental the former was answer the ideological logical oppression the women which was resisted different way the latter Secondly we need pay attention the powerful ideological con

,

of

a

is

of

;

are

are

on

a

in

is

in

of

.

in

tradictions the dominant discourses about women For example quasi what emerges the writings the humanists kind egalitarianism equality between the sexes which there sense that derives from increasing emphasis individualism but gender in

of

's

A

via

are

in

,

as

of -

to

of to

a

of

.

,

up

.

,

of

of

.

still sharply defined These now expressed both terms governing rules conduct and statements about the essentially different nature men and women which had been the hallmark medieval thought and orthodox Christianity The humanists stress civic virtue and social roles but end with even stricter control over female activity permitted education than traditional Christian culture Women arguments sometimes because their minds are conceded variety Henry Cornelius Agrippa be equal those men Treatise roles

of

is

,

?

to

a

it

.

to

;

in

as

,

of

in

to

at

),

(

as

to

's

,

of

the Nobilitie and Excellencye Woman Kynde 1542 and other times rectify nature defects logic with Thomas More but both kinds Utopia More seems work exclude them from public life be typically patriarchal household and yet generally favour completely typical He writes his daughter and favourite pupil

:

Margaret

up in

to

if

a

',

.(

,

's

to

to

I

,

be

all

by

it

girl

a

.

means

892

Similarly

in

to

of .

p

',

',

see

,

revolt against fathers who society they forbade women enter

'

to

all

in

‘

daughters

on

).

69

.

(p

of

feminist theorists schooled some them

a

early

for as

:

it

a

for

).

,

(

in

for

on

radical view

Christian Woman but

of

a

of

Juan

The Instruction

a

female education pros the same essay goes cribe the role teacher the female sex Kaufman Vives 892 Despite their social prescriptions the very contradictions space humanist arguments allow female learning which rapidly strains the limits prescribed for Joan Kelly has aptly characterised

,

Luis Vives takes

on

)

p

.

little one like his mother girl only she will make zeal imitate her mother virtue and three boys Kaufman Juan Luis Vives safely

of

.

. ..

grant you happily and everything except sex Yet let for the inferiority her sex by her learning Such would prefer

a

May God

to

,

Then too the rationalist attack custom and tradition gave contem porary feminists powerful arguments resist the roles imposed upon

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

women (see Smith , ' Feminism in Seventeenth - Century England and Reason 's Disciples ) . For example , in the debates over cross -dressing Hic Mulier or the mannish woman , neatly demonstrates that change is a

of nature and that every custom and transitory :

part

and social value is both relative

the

,

without

discourse

1620 emphasis

,

Vir

-

censure Haec

.(

contempt

and

slaveindeed

to

become

.. .

Reason

a

,

will

of

To concludecustome is an Idiot, andwhosoever dependethwholly upon

,

him

It is a fashion or custome with us to mourne in Blacke : yet the Agian and Romane Ladies ever mourned in white . . . for you to cut the hayre of your upper lips , familiar heere in England , every where else almost thought unmanly . . . Imight instance in a thousand things that onely customeand not Reason hath approved .

)

added

of of

'.

,

of

'

as

of

).

in

of

on

, ,

as

of

-

'.

of

,

,

as

:'

to

as

.

in

on

as

My point

An

of

is

It

.

,

;

13

of . 2 -

,

of

to

(

it -

as

,

or

of

)

(

'

,

as

for

for

-

's

Many humanists were using similar arguments William Heale example considers law Apologie Women man made and therefore changeable not argues that natural divine lack education that has disabled women mental courage for revenge Heale also reverts the patriarchal stereotype women the patterne beauty the Mistresse innocencie the Queene loue the picture delight pp see also his chapter four Such oscillation between remnants earlier thinking the woman question and newer argu ments reflects the problematic inconsistencies the forgrounding thought women Tudor and Stuart social But Hic Mulier uses the attack custom assert female equality We are free born men have free election and free spirits we are compunded like parts and may with like liberty make benefit our creations

of

)

to

an

as in

'

'

in

to

),

‘

to

.

So

by

to

de

be

by

be

;

in

's

of

by

,

(

-

'

‘

By

,

by ,

on

by

.

of

to

of

's

to

,

to

's

(

on

up

on

on

is

that Protestant and humanist doctrines were more incon traditional misogyny because the one hand they invoked logic and rationalism question many existing orthodoxies and legitimise women the other hand sought subordinate position period clearly which women defences the related custom with out the full authority the crude but powerful natural arguments stressing that women are equal medieval misogynists men and advocating mutual affection marriage and frown still not the same ing advancing holy matrimony passion ideal and yet tight excluding women from the new emphasis ening parental control self fulfilment which itself was apparently paradoxical view state authoritarianism the dominant ideologies tried redefine women status the changing circumstances but actually they opened uneasily yoked irreconciliable contradictions that could only together and could also seized upon women writers Christine Pisan had earlier begun counter misogynist arguments asking women notice how these same philosophers contradict sistent than

PATRIARCHAL

DISCOURSE

73

' ( p . 7).

each other

Moreover , women 's defences and other writings of the querelle went beyond utilising rationalist elements of male discourses – they began to confront and challenge masculine learning . Of course these writings are themselves riddled with contradictions . Woodbridge says that they are not feminist in the twentieth -century meanings of the term . Surely any

expectations would be ahistorical . Christine de against male arguments and logic :

such

had

Pisan

warned women

,

)

256 -7

.(

up

.pp

,

,

,

.

to

of

all

are

-

,

as

,

try

Remember , dear Ladies , how these men call you frail , unserious , easily influ strange and deceptive tricks enced but yet hard using kinds catch you just one lays traps for wild animals Flee flee my ladies and avoid their company under these smiles hidden deadly and painful poisons

is

all

to

:'

to

can

).

,

,

is

on

patriarchal thinking women itself contradictory but duplicitous and changeable identity confer upon them a

to

seeks

changeability

,

:

in

88 -9

).

. ii .

in

,

in

in

European feudal society which saints the Church angels

'

of

is

(

a

IV

or

a

Is

/

as a

treated women

in

of by

up

.

is

to

'

pit and pedestal common curious mixture

between

an

.

are frequently mouthed

In

remarks above indicate Renaissance drama such views patriarchal The splitting feminine identity stereotypes adequately summed Brachiano The White Devil god Woman man either wolf Such oscillation

's

Christine

as it

:

of

White devils the politics Not only

,

.

as

’

(

,

of

is

to

.. .

at

,

In

least some women writers picked

of

this tone passion male institutions and ideas We are contrary men good because they are contrary that which Their unreasonable minds which know not what reason make them nothing better than hardly dis brute beasts Jane Anger Protection Women 1589 We protest miss such academic England

ate opposition

20

in

its

108

is

,

. ..

'

fac d

' -

of

' ,

the white devil the cun fair

the exterior

)

.

-9

The Changeling

of

(

,

,

'

.

's

43 )

, of .

(

'

,

, V . .iii

p

Hence the common theme whose real nature lurks within

(

’

saints

devils

p

'

of , of ' . 37 ). ,

's

of

Brustein

ning

St ).

, .p

'(

in

in

,

the streets devils the kitchen and apes bed Rowbotham Sublimation and malediction had been ingeniously reconciled garments means the Paul view that the purity the body and impurity beauty the soul Russell Women was the instru ment temptation hiding the loathsomeness under within she stinking putrid excremental stuff Chrysostom quoted phlegm full

,

a

no

is

,

.

of

is

is

a

in

Although such splitting appears universal patriarchal thought the stereotype neither simple nor stable but culled from vast variety historically specific inputs For example there precise counter

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

74

, and initially no formal malediction of woman thought as in Christian . The feminine principle was neither subordinate nor weak or inferior but appeared as Shakti or energy , force and power . However , with the consolidation of feudal relations , Shakti worship gradually dwindled into a secret practice and survives today largely as black magic ( see Chattopadhyay ). The power of the goddess figure is now split – into the figure of the benevolent married goddess and that of the malevolent single goddess : ‘ The blood thirsty goddess . . . never appears in a matrimonial context , but rather alone , and surrounded by the paraphernalia of killing . . . But as the consort of any of the gods the goddess seems to undergo a kind of transformation into what is almost ( an ) antithesis . . .' (Babb , p . 141 ) . Thus despite totally different contexts part

to

Eve in Hinduism

Hinduism began to posit a dichotomy of female purity and malignity analogous (but never identical ) to that in Christian thought , and a com parable demonisation of active femininity as witchcraft . The notion of female duplicity and changeability is premised upon such a dichotomy . It reflects the attempt to contain the possibility of female change within a patriarchal stasis - by offering a notion of the

.

-

in

:

of

to

of

,

of

lity

in

the

of

of

is

of

all

eternal changeability of woman , a theory of female instability is employed in support of universal and unchanging female nature and a uniform butnot unified identity is conferred upon women The stasis power pre Copernican any system the oppressed crucial thought the stillness the earth guarantees the movement the sun fixity the Elizabethan world picture each link ensures the stabi

,

/

,

as

:'

is

of in

,

is

the chain colonial discourses the racial other immobilised posited and the stillness women crucial for social familial cosmic harmony Thy firmnessmakes my circle just And makes me end where

').

,

.

no 's

, be

.

is

is

it

.

,

on is

air

it,

in

to

of

(

’

I

, ‘

Donne Valediction Forbidding Mourning Patriarchal thought incorporates the possibility female movement order control investingwomen stability with moral values Thus the wandering woman evil and accident that witches are mobile riding through the broomsticks The good woman still But every began

.

to

in

an

fix

.

its

of

in

of

to

as

to

is

's

all

,

.

is a

so

capacity formovement must women The attempt them relation men and also construct their duplicity eternal Such effort becomes particularly imperative the context Renaissance politics and obsession with change The theme female duplicity runs through the

woman devil within anticipated and curtailed

,

,

,

,

to

changing conditions

.

sources and adapts itself

to

,

us

all

,

,

of

a

of its

variety

,

.

from

or

of

,

:

,

drama Iago Bosola the Cardinal Flamineo Monticelso Alsemero preoccupied with the changeability DeFlores Antony Othello are suppose the repetition women However should not lead uniformity stability the stereotype which actually enriches itself

PATRIARCHAL

DISCOURSE

The language of patriarchy The figure of Cleopatra is the most celebrated stereotype of the goddess and whore and has accommodated and been shaped by centuries of myth -making and fantasy surrounding the historical figure . In Shakes

peare s representation of her , we can identify several different strands of contemporary meaning which intertwine with connotations attach ing to her from earlier stories . My purpose in unravelling these is to suggest that Shakespeare does not simply indicate a stereotype but depicts it as constructed by variousmale perspectives in the play. Later , in chapter 5 , I shall suggest that such a construction is then challenged

'

pp

of . 87 -8

see

of

.

's

can

and dismantled ; here we see how Renaissance politics and stagecraft shape Cleopatra representation

, )

4

)

to 25

'(

IV

. .xii

as

of

(

' :

of

,

.

).

( III .

‘

',

as

as

is

, '

'a

),

or

, of

's

,

of , 's

of

or

Iago

(

like Monticelso characterisation whores below view Desdemona the pronouncements Flamineo Bosola Ferdinand DeFlores and Alsemero see chapter the construc Cleopatra draws upon the medieval notion tion the sexual appetite rampant and potentially criminal women the primordial sexual being she also maledicted immoral the false soul and boggler play xiii 110 Ellen Terry one the first actresses Firstly

-

.

'

as

as

54 )

, .

,

Isis

'( .

13 )

.

xii

'

(

, IV .

is

whore

p

,

Cleopatra believed that through her Shakespeare had told the truth quoted Brown Antony and Cleopatra about the wanton Therefore she simultaneously and goddess well gypsy and triple turned contradictory position social status places her are refracted their operation through the prism not work the same way for men For example Changeling Middleton Beatrice Joanna thinks that she can buy power But DeFlores gives DeFlores her wealth her the illusion although literally her servant beyond the reach man and such her class power Soon has her kneeling feet

.

:

his

at

is

as

, ;

I

.

all things

:

62 )

-

155

.

iv

( III .

.

me

?

'd

its

;

of

all

soon may you weep

,

.

of

-

a

for

in all ;

I

in

go

am

I

rich

Let this silence thee The wealth Valencia shall not buy My pleasure from me purpose Can you weep Fate from determin So

.

,

is

,

he

.

,

all

.

me once make thee master gold and jewels the wealth have poor unto my bed with honour Letme Stay hear

Of

And DeFlores

.

as

in

,

The

's

;

of

Beatrice

,

in

's

do

,

class

,

,

of

in

in a

Cleopatra

Secondly

Status wealth gender and

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE

DRAMA

183 4 to

pp

).

-

in

to

,

, be . a

of

'(

,

The

,

the

Beatrice cannot simultaneously be a woman and have power over a appropriate man . Throughout drama women find the need Subject Tragedy masculine virtue see Belsey Since femin inity and power are increasingly incompatible woman author Isis

.

an

,

,

fill as

Elizabeus

goddess and served dessant

to

as a

her visually by

fixed

I

to

'

is

to

is

'

ity

As of

any sort necessarily occupy uneasy sp space the precious queen Cleopatra deified into the goddess deificesy recalling the attempts depict Elizabeth the Virgin Queen which

the iconographic

vacuum

,

to

,

I

by

(

p

',

of

a

of

of

a

. 55 ). too , '

of

a

,

of

I

I

:

asserts

)

-

18

, 16

vii .

.

First Blast

Renais

the Trumpet

of to

John Knox

of

government

;

of

,

will

and Cleopatra evoke specifically

Elizabeth

female

the

sance fears

man

's

Despite this both

( III .

for a

Appear there

,

i' th '

we bear war my kingdom

president

of

charge

as

A

And

, .ie .

of

'by

as

I

'

similarly

,

Elizabeth

.

Catholicism

;

by

the exit

:'

it

of

needed however rein negating her femininity she could only secure her force her power repudiat transcending the limitations status ruler her sex ing body know have the weak and feeble woman but have king and king England the heart and stomach Heisch Patriarchy Cleopatra Queen Elizabeth and the Persistence created

in

.

,

to

,

- of

)

(

,

it of

,

as

of

,

de

–

,

of

against Monstrous Regiment Women 1558 was directly addressed Mary Tudor but other queens Mary Queen Scots Margaret Parma Catherine Medici and Mary Lorraine contributed the spectre female government which attacks Ironically such fears were heightened even actual female authority several spheres was a

as

,

). a

).

(

in

all

's

as

in

.

of

,

for a

a

,

a

by

a

Margaret Cavendish testified that heroic actions public employ and eloquent pleadings are denied our this age Kelly

,

1656

,

as 86

, .p

71 ;

-

.pp

,

(

,

of

.

is

dismantled Evidence available that women constituted substantial part medieval armies and often occupied leading positions within Kelly them Hacker 643 Moreover during the early royal partner but Middle Ages the queen had reigned the state consolidated into centralised authority her political power dwindled symbol glamour This was into ceremonious role token and emphasised prescriptions also the female behaviour medieval Castiglione The Courtier 1561 By conduct books and books such

of of by

).

86

, . p

'(

in

sex

,

ments powerful governments

,

,

particularly

Renaissance

fears

of

and

)

patriarchal

(

together

is

,

,

:

is

The distinction made between warrior women and Amazons Shepherd Cleopatra enters the realm useful here like Elizabeth androgyny but unlike Elizabeth who remained within the confines female chastity Cleopatra more properly the Amazon who brings female

PATRIARCHAL

DISCOURSE

sexual activity . Since women as lovers function ofmen , their trespass into the public world of politics implies a dual identity , a changeability which also contributes to Cleopatra 's construction as an inconstant and shifting being . Thirdly , the idea of Cleopatra ' s dichotomous identity is elaborated in the images ofher play - acting , dressing up , putting on disguises , planning and stage -managing her encounters with both Antony and Caesar . She is the supreme actress – theatrical , unruly and anarchic , whose ' infinite variety ' also derives from the roles she plays . Not only does she play the queen with theatrical grandeur and self -consciousness , she also government

as

well

as

as the private lives

various other identities and becomes in turn masculine , or , the jealous lover , the angry mistress , the penitent

assumes

ultra - feminine

disguise - once when she recalls wearing Caesar ' s armour ( II .v.22 - 3) again when she conjures up the image of a boy - actor impersonating her in Rome ( V .11.213 -20 ). She is as unpredictable as the theatre , and controls her audience at least partially by surprising them , as she does her lover by her changeability . But this last is misogynist Enobarbus 's concept , and he conjures up the image of her seated in the barge to to

and

glamour to Antony . The negative implications of this link with play -act ing are derived from the precarious social position of popular theatre and the threat it posed to the status quo during this period ( see Weimann , p . 172 ; Montrose , ‘ The purpose of playing ', pp . 51-74 ; Dolli more , 'Shakespeare, cultural materialism , p . 4). Hence the fears inspired by the duplicitous heroine are explicitly analogous to those generated by the theatre itself . Fourthly , Cleopatra 's play acting specifically reverses gender roles ; she not only wears Caesar s military attire but put my tires and mantles on Antony ( II . v .22 ). Although cross - dressing is evident in translations of

'

'

'

classical drama, of Greek romances and medieval stories , and

pp

'

'a

as

its

in texts such as Metamorphoses , Decameron , Orlando Furioso , Arcadia , The Faerie Queene , emergence and much stage comedy , central Renaissance trope

on

as a

,

in

).

,

2

-

.

,

pp

of

-

,

's

(

of

of

of

be

in

–

-

As

-

of

.

to

in

),

79 -

89

.

Vir ,

,

- of

(

-

one which was repeatedly interwoven with the female rebellion the drama and the pamphlets cross Haec Hic Mulier and Mulde Sacke can hardly attributed stage convention alone Jardine points out dress emerges crucial signifier sexual and social identity the prescription and dressing during the reign enforcement elaborate and precise codes both Elizabeth and James Still Harping 141 150 From indicting extravagant against women and lustful natures satire cross dressing became specifically directed against their appropriation male preroga see Staton

themes dressing

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

78

tives .Monticelso identifies ‘ Impudent bawds / That go in men ' s apparell as among ' the notorious offenders / Lurking about the City ' (The White

Devil , IV .1.56 -7 ; 33 - 4). The female

transvestite

is seen

to

transgress

into

.

in

in

:

as

/

a

'd

of

a

as

/

I

a

:

).

to

14

-

by

is

It

.

In

).

-

13

12

ii .

,

I.

of in

I.

'( :' '(

he

's

i.

',

of

of

by

-

of

.

to

,

by

to

)

all

male territory and becomes a hermaphrodite , a monster who threatens sexual (and by implication social distinctions Hence the fear that Cleopatra has the power unman men echoes throughout the play making explicit the threat posed themonstrous visually expressed woman male power and authority the images cross dressing More generally this ties with the usurping any disorderly woman Philo male positions the opening lines Antony the triple pillar talks the world transform Into strum pet fool the next scene Antony sees his great love bondage These strong Egyptian fetters must break Or lose myself dotage 113 Caesar too refers the relationship reversal gender roles

he

Ptolemy

7 )

. (I . iv .4

than

of is

,

More womanly

not more manlike

;

in

of

. . .

fishes drinks and wastes The lamps the night revel Than Cleopatra nor the queen

's

'

,

'

. ,

by

)

).

sexuality

to s

's

70

us

So

',

/

to

is

IV

36

. vii . .ii 69 -

'( : '( III .

as

ment and

of

compromise the masculinity Antony soldiers This reversal seen well Canidius comments our leader led And we are women men and Enobarbus warns Antony Transform not disguise theatre female govern women The fears posed thus flow into one another

Finally Cleopatra

the non European

',

).

26

on

, (

'

,

,

.

,

to

is

to

in

,

). is

),

'(

II .

vi .

,

' s '

is

of

In

.

its

as

18

-

.

III .

is

(

's '

/

a

As

‘

.

is

.

21 )

1

II .

'( .

- : . 2);

11

II .

(

/

', a '

's 's

's by

'

II . .vii -

-E

of

is

'

),

25

. iv .

a

(I

'

, of

in

of

. of

.

all

,

's

, ,

,

-

as

,

In

'.

'

,

is

the outsider the white man ultimate other Othello we have already seen colonialist racist and sexist discourses are mutually dependent Cleopatra embodies femininity and non uropeans common the overlapping stereotypes dangerous and snake like the old the language colonialism She serpent Egypt the Nile the serpent On the mysterious power Antony one hand she has over the other he constantly reminds her that he found her morsel cold upon Dead fragment Of Cneius Pompey Caesar trencher xiii 116 The white man love confers worth upon her and she made whole Antony attentions The recurrent food imagery reinforces her only primitive appeal she makes men hungry she does not cloy their appetite Antony Egyptian dish 240 she 122 she salt Cleopatra She the supreme actress artifice herself and simultaneously primitive and uncultivated Cleopatra with Egypt points The identification more than her queen status colonialist discourse the conquered land often explicitly endowed with feminine characteristics contrast the

PATRIARCHAL

DISCOURSE

.

in

be

'

'

its

as

.

as

as

.

's

as a

,

,

,

–

,

by

All

Egyp masculine attributes of the coloniser ( see Hulme , pp . 17 -32 ). represented symbolised queen tians and their are associated with they are irrational sensuous lazy feminine and primitive attributes place con and superstitious Therefore Cleopatra identification with veys her power ruler and also specifically identifies her alien territ ory The tensions between Rome masculine and imperial and Egypt threatening other will elaborated the next chapter The

207

in

as

,

the

).

51

.

(p

/

of

of

of

).

/

of

In

.

(

, p,

discourse Orientalism another context Carr has described the metamorphosis opposition good wife witch virgin whore into that Cleopatra participates both sets dichotomies she whore

as

:

,

in

images that cluster around Cleopatra are specifically Orientalist nature her waywardness emotionality unreliability and exotic appeal are derived from the stereotypes that Said identifies recurrent that

of

'

is ‘

;

- :

of

-

',

;

-

.

',

pp

are

to ; . of .xii ' all 28 , . ). a '

a

is

')

a

(

‘,

).

47

. xii . 13 ,

'(

'

IV

as

in

well exaggerated witch Witches both the projections patriarchal fears Stallybrass Macbeth 189 209 Garrett Women and witches and also colonial fantasy whereby the non Christian outsider devilry connected The episode with the soothsayer paves the way Egyptians and particularly Cleopatra with magic for connection

in

on

Of

this variety also reveals

of

.

it

-

the politics

is

'

a

of

Consolidation

'

)

)'

.6

(

IV

'(

-

'

.

of a

‘

of

is

22

.11 . . II xii So .

‘

an

)

12

,

.

.

IV

'(

's

a

,

as

of

'

to

IV

10

,

So

'( an I.i ' .

great fairy

enchantress

gypsy

‘

a

is

viii but alien variety Pompey desire that witchcraft join with beauty lust with both Antony into inaction clearly charm Cleopatra unites both patriarchal and racial implications witchcraft emerges the composite deviant mostmonster like other the Roman patriarchal self duplicitous woman The representation the Renaissance stage just stereotype not derived from transhistorical but betrays the finite variety sources from which constructed she

violence

and

point

crisis

in

synthesis

of

point

a

both

a

reveals

of

I

.

women

in

is

:

a

course consolidation diverse authorities seal their pact over the female body and their unified action violent and ruthless Here will discuss the ways which violence against on

,

,

I

.

as

can

be

can

.

by

is

,

,

,

so

a

as

,

to

authorities hostile women The drama will suggest focuses both these aspects that again violence against disorderly women appears social and contested strategy and not authorised the final statement erasing the disruption offered these women loosely Early modern Europe and contemporary India called

,

a

to

do

in

.I

of

in

transitional societies that both we locate tension between different forms social relations not want force the comparison

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

,

of

I

to

all ,

.

of

of

in

of

.

;

by

to

are

which is necessarily qualified - not only by the vast differences between European and Indian feudalism and capitalism and by the fact that in Europe feudalism preceded capitalism whereas in contemporary India both are concurrent and also subject the intervening colonial and imperialist histories but also the enormous range cultural geo graphical and historical differences Above want firmly distance myself from modernisation theories whereby the historical processes Europe are replicated the development the rest the world

at

of

of

.

it

I

all

', a

of

in

.

, ‘I ,

Tis

is

'It

'(

',

:'

as

Princes

of do

/

The

);

-

18

217

, V . vi .

Devil

merciful release Yes says Vittoria some great Ambassadors The White Duchess Malfi knows that some mercy death

As

begging

shall welcome death

, -

for of

by

end

up

-

a

,

the economic processes

.

of

,

patriarchal control even inconsistent with capitalism Women Jacobean tragedy are not simply killed but tortured often elaborately over period time by combination familial judicial and religious authorities Many

'

appears necessary

or

'

for

‘

At

.

it

is a

of

to

'

'

to

,

to

,

of

; ;

to

:

,

for

by

to

approach the apparent contradic The analogies are here employed tions between patriarchal consolidation and female discontents emphasising that violence against women intensifies least three sharpen the expropriation reasons firstly their productive and reproductive labour secondly enforce anew the changing ideologies their subjection and thirdly address the instability these periods when both oppression and the challenges intensify Vio patriarchal societies but suggest part lence against women that escalates during such obviously transitional phases such times violence seems irrational and excessive beyond what

"

:

By

)

).

to

of

on

,

I

'(

, ' II . (IV iii . .1.

present when men kill with speed 109 and Lavinia weeps beg making death Titus Andonicus 173 women demand their punishment are the playwrights seeking incorporate violence com mitted the female body into her own guilt and thus blur the edge

of

.

to

I

?

,

of a

.

is

it

the

to

males

most

see also Liddle

;

and Vanita

–

, , .7p 000 1

females

world Kishwar

to

935

only

(

the

sex ratio

in

ensured that today there negative

are

it

be

.

,

,

of

its

be

a

,

)

of

,

,

a

as

,

,

to

(

I

the sexual confrontation will return this later For the moment suggest through comparison with the confessions want witches they must be against their trials tortures burnings contextualised and hangings that the ideological effect the spectacle female punishment cannot have such simple effect because staged representation and crucial elements must decoded Like the punishment the stage heroine the witch trials are not simple exter minations but elaborate and sometimes apparently inefficient and wasteful procedures The paradox here between what patriarchal ideo juxtaposed logy needs and what actually enforces can violence

PATRIARCHAL

DISCOURSE

81

displaced

occupations

traditional

see Mies

).

from

,

being

-7

.pp

126

they

(

are

and Joshi, pp . 29 , 52, 77 n12 ) . Surely men do not want the extinction of the female of the species . Surely capitalism should ensure cheap labour by increasing female participation in economic activity , instead of easing them out of formal production , as in the Renaissance. In India , too ,

,

a

in

'

'

,

,

is

is

's

of

it

to

.

,

or

a

of

far

,

can

are

.

It

to

,

it

to

,

;

to

,

of

–

,

ignores Two points here are crucial one that crude economism oppression directly ideological the thrust which cannot be and profit and second that ideology even when linear fashion reconciled inextricably although not appears contradict economic relations reductively connected these relations worth stressing that the procedures outlined below more complex that this brief account fully acknowledge and that ideologies are not matter crude intentionality together slowly conspiracy but are gathered heterogeneously and even contradictorily Initial mercantile and capitalist processes find more profitable dislocate women economic activity while the ideology their subjec

'

,

.

in

be

-

in

at

, or

or

,

to

is

so

tion overhauled that later women will either willingly confine unpaid work themselves even when they are economically inde pendent will obey patriarchal rules will broughtback into produc tion lower wages and non decision making jobs But the inter visible pro internalisa

's

's

of

.

is

mittent years their literal confinement and forced exit from necessary Middleton Isabella laments women duction Oh

:

patriarchal ideologies

tion

!

,

,

in

, ,

:

is

's

,

em

'

to

, do

,

in

,

to

to

if a

As To

'd

-

the heart breakings maids where love enforc The best condition but bad enough When women have their choices commonly They but buy their thraldoms and bring great portions keep subjection men fearful prisoner should bribe yet lies The keeper be good him still

Of miserable

,

)

(

-

166

, I. ii .

Women Beware Women

76

.. . 's .

a

a

, .

by r'

,

a

of

good usage good look And glad Lady No misery surmounts Sometimes woman Men buy their slaves but women buy their masters

,

,

-

,

of

is

in

,

painfully evident contemporary India where among recent dowry victims murders are lecturers doctors civil servants graduates women who were economically independent but ideologically con This

.

fined

it

's

in

's

of

of

.

a

's

entry into the Webster The Duchess Malfi provides useful point relationship between the economic and the ideological women oppression Lisa Jardine incisive analysis shows how demonstrates

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

82

the ways

which

in

'female

regularly represents women

sexuality

's

uncontrollable interference with inheritance (Jardine , Still Harping , p . 92 ) . But Jardine is unable to reconcile the apparent disproportion between the ‘actual ' threat the Duchess poses to the patriarchal family and the 'punishment 'meted out to her . On the one hand Jardine herself documents how during the early modern period ' female had come seen destructive estate conservation and great landowners under direct threat from wealthy status seeking burghers tinkered with every such tinkering one wills ensure their estates the heart almost certain find woman On the other hand she sees no actual threat the patriarchal order from the Duchess marriage since pro perty rights women had fact been severely curtailed during this period she complains that the Duchess acts out stage her inheritance power which real life was no power for the individual woman

, is

on

'

all

at

).

16

-

by

?

social relations Surely the paranoid and violent

actual

‘

206

' ”, in .pp

of

Malfi

Duchess

But what

is

('

The

in

‘

;

in

of

's

to

'.

‘

of

;

a

to

at

to

-

,

'

of

as

to

be

kin

'

of

us

,

of

and sexual autonomy indicate that the fears generated the possibility transgression female are real and actual even where such subversion

,

an

as

,

of

its

in

of

a

it

,

it

On

of

.

on

;

of

an

of

's

of

an

.

it

to

an

.

is

only potential Let example the transformation consider courtly love from adulterous sexual relationship the asexual Petrar chan ideal that later becomes Joan Kelly has argued that even expres initial sexually permissive stage courtly love was never simply sion women sexual freedom but rather the social relation integral part vassalage which was feudalism the one hand practice political marriage reinforced the the other was sort

, ,

at

,

-

co

).

,

30

of

in

22 -

pp

.

,

of (

to

,

to

of

.

'

,

to

concession women since given their property rights that point land consolidation required female support But most importantly illegiti adultery could be tolerated because the relative indifference macy that accompanied primogeniture where younger children posed patriarchal lineage Kelly no threat Therefore existent apparent courtly love was her devalu with the idealisation woman to

.

Sir

'

:

D

Le

'

of

a

are

‘

of

's

is

,

to

property ation her subservience the concerns This clear from Malory Morte Arthur King Arthur seems have been aware the longe love between Launcelot and Queen Guine finally discovered vere but takes stand only when the lovers

,

is

's

,

of

up

ageynst

. ,

Allas

.

prowesse

Launcelot shold

be

of

is a

,

,

merueyllous knyghte

that ever

Sir

he

sayd the kynge sayd the kynge

repenteth

,

mercy

me sore

,

Ihesu

:

as

-

of

.

is

together He deeply moved but his tears are neither for the loss infidelity but for the now his honour nor because his Queen imminent break the Round Table which the real basis for his power king

me

DISCOURSE

for

quenes

. I

,

togyders

in

goodknyghtes shalle never

be

a

felaushyp

. And moche company

emphasis added

of

)

;

562

-5

.pp

(

,

myghte have ynowe but such

of

for

the felauship of the Round Table is broken foreuer . . my good knyghtes lossethan my fayre quene the losse

of

more

for

I am sure I am soryer

Now

no

PATRIARCHAL

is

a

to

by

,

of

a

a

,

a

an

.

,

,

of

,

-f

of ,

of . -

a

courtly love into The subsequent transformation chaste ideal counter indication that adultery had begun threaten patriarchal peasant disorders and riots the institutions Against background fleecing economy parasitic court through entire national monopolies tax arming and enclosures and more fundamental trans society taking place throughout Europe the reinforcement formation including female inferiority was imperative This social stratification

of

of

-

as

of

's

of

,

a

is

).

it (

to

its

,

for

's

no

was true both for the old feudal state which had no police force and standing army and therefore not the modern state instruments control and the newly centralising mercantile capitalist one which yet power and develop adequate means had consolidate enfor cing see Schochet Therefore even the family structure and state subjection gradual deepening controls tighten and there women the eighteenth centuries the fears female trans and are foregrounded obsessively Tennenhouse surely right connecting the fears deviant sexuality the new mobil social relations where adultery has serious implications for the power On the one hand Jacobean tragedy makes possible classes enter the aristocratic body Othello Malfi husband Vittoria Corombona and countless others do On the other hand such transgres sion produces disease filth and obscenity which must be purged produce pure community order aristocratic blood The politics misogyny But the point also that women who are the targets to

it

's

,

in

.

is

' ('

of

,

,

.

p

.

',

10 a )

to

of of

,

,

as

,

,

to

:'

in

,

of

ity

in

of

.

increase

is

,

to

the sixteenth

from

gression

,

,

all

by

).

76

-

pp

.

(

-

as

,

to

,

,

-

,

.

,

in

of

patri violence Jacobean drama threaten the class and race limits wayward through sexuality archal societies their The Duchess Desdemona punished whereas Shakes Vittoria Bianca and Beatrice Joanna are pearean comic heroines who are seemingly independent and who appropriate masculine dress movement and speech are finally recon ciled the patriarchy Andreson Thom points out 259 The

;

. 's of

in

to

:

in

incident sati 1987 that the and torturous existence widows

of ,

,

an

'

status soon after

sexual harassment social ostracism attendant upon property fears

is

let

.

of

in

widows

of

a

survey

story here this later and also the Duchess me against the violence widows India One does not have to

return to

I

will

briefly refer

.

,

is

crucial difference between them also that the former are unchaste patriarchal definition whereas the latter are not Thus sexual and social transgression the case women are inextricably connected

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

, the

common thread that unites these widows in a chain ofmisery deprivation of property and economic independence . Even though the law – the Hindu Succession Act - confers equal property and inheri rural or urban

is the forcible

tance rights on women , widows are rarely given their fair share . In rural India , patwaris and tehsildars (customary local administrators ) usually help the conten ders for property left to a widow and transfer it to other names . ( India Today, 15 November

, . 143 )

1987 p

At the same time , many layers of prejudices enfold the property fears and are expressed as taboos against any expression ofa widow s sexuality

'

which is seen to have drastic implications for the health of society in general – hence a Rajasthani proverb warns that kohl in a widow 's eyes predicts destruction for the community . Frank Wadsworth suggests that widow remarriage was not technically forbidden in sixteenth century England (p . 398 ). Yet we can easily see from the drama of the period that it evokes disapproval and even paranoia which is not dissimilar to the situation Ihave been discussing in India : the Cardinal in Middleton 's More Dissemblers Besides Women

pronounces :

Once to marry in woman and her ignorance Stands for a virtue , coming new and fresh But second marriage shows desire in flesh ,

)

80

.

-

grows. (

1

custom

III .

Thence lust, and heat and common

76

Is honourable

of

in

,

or

to

.

,

to

,

of

-

of

,

, .

is

in

to

in

is

a

,

of

in

or

a

in

's

by a

sexuality The violence provoked widow The Duchess Malfi would have specific resonance the Indian situation where whether any position actually threaten challenge male not widows are property the potential threat they pose patriarchal control economic and sexual structures receives very real punishment Often popular representations disguised the brutality widowhood and punishment the sublimated order reinforce normative prescrip tions against widow remarriage Hence one the biggest money spin

To

.

an

to

be

.

,

as

.

can

of

be

is

to a

's

by

.

of

a

in

to

its

the

,

of

Hindi screen Sholay allowed hero fall love with physical But their affair never transgressed the boundaries chastity and the problem was finally resolved the hero death teach The Duchess class fresh from weeping over Sholay exercise performed within the boundaries that cannot traditional English studies But the play made disturb precisely those assumptions that the film underlines the next chapter will substantiate ners widow

to

at

of

is

of

of

,

to

.

to

is

an

So

ideological purpose and more violence against women serves directly connected capital accumulation than usually the process acknowledged For example the persecution witches served once demonise every category deviant woman and establish male

DISCOURSE

PATRIARCHAL hegemony wifery

female -dominated professions

over certain

medicine , says :

and natural

authorities . As Mies

well

as

as to

enrich

,

such as mid

the persecuting

The capital accumulated in the process of the witch -hunt by the old ruling , as well as by the new rising bourgeois class is nowhere mentioned in the estimates and calculations of the economic historians of that epoch . The blood -money of the witch -huntwas used for the private enrichment of bankrupt princes , of lawyers , doctors , judges and professors , but also for such public affairs as financing wars , building up a bureaucracy , infrastructural measures , and finally the new absolute state . This blood money fed the original process of capital accumulation , perhaps not to the same extent as the plunder and robbery of the colonies , but certainly to a much greater extent than is known classes

today . (p. 87 )

If Cornelius Loos called the witch -trials ‘a new alchemy which made gold out of human blood , dowry in India can be seen as a source of

'

'

of ,

,

for

:

,

in

'

,

by

It

).

is

his

,

87

,

.pp

(

and

which is accumulated not by means of the man ' s own work or by investing own capital but extraction blackmail direct violence Mies 162 most prevalent and exorbitant the big cities and among upper and middle classes bureaucrats doctors engineers wealth

is

as

it

'

to

it .

its

.

of

of

is

,

a

is

it

,

of

it is

(

).

,

,

its

in

is

all

to in

, it

–

it

in

spread what demanded and terms permeate communities religions and classes even where was previously unknown see Krishnakumari and Geetha While true that economic determinism can never fully explain the subordination women also fact that women have been India both has begun

terms

of

.

of

-

of

it

to

,

a

as

,

an

.

It

,

businessmen traders and capitalist farmers vital the growth the consumer industry and provides outlet for black money well capital investment for host small entrepreneurs Moreover ideology filters downwards maintains existing class relations since pay even those who cannot afford and incur huge debts This maintains the hold the money lender over their lives and legitimises actually increasing the devaluation female children Hence dowry

:

.

to

,

in

,

of

.

is

–

as a

category from economic analysis excluded even fundamental data regarding their exploitation not fully available For example the European Renaissance and contemporary Indian women the case dominant effort has been make their labour invisible Ashoka Mitra writes

.8

.

is

of are

is

,

of is

a

to

to

in

is

,

.

in

an

,

In

the last thirty years after independence Indian women have increasingly expendable commodity expendable both the demographic and the economic sense Demographically woman more and more reduced expendable her reproductive functions and when these fulfilled she Economically relentlessly pushed out she the productive sphere and consumption which reduced unit then undesired

become

GENDER

, RACE , RENAISSANCE

DRAMA

'

Stressing the interplay of economic and ideological ‘motives allows us to see that violence attaching to both witch hunts and dowry murders

its

’.

others

‘

demonisation

of

its

is neither purely a remnant of feudal ideology or social relations nor indicative of universal misogyny but is also part of the emergence of ‘modern ' society . Violence escalates precisely in response to the crisis in the structures of female oppression : the crisis itself is not to be measured by any simple or obvious collapse of patriarchy , but also by

not

of

,

is

Moreover the persecuted woman

even

necessarily

actually

be is

is

'

A

of

to

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One the myths whereby oppression maintained punished the normal person will that although the deviant will looked after Feudalism promises parental attention the hard working rosy capitalism serf future the industrious worker and patriarchy romanticidyll the obedientwoman recent study Indian women transgressive

,

'

, ,

in

create

)

-

(

110

12

,

custom

.

,

or

I

Any new world

III .ii to .

this

,

I

Why might not marry have not gone about

in ?

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claims that the formally subordinate role Indian women Indian spelled out practice men sacred literature law and Yet there perfec no doubt that the woman who accepts this role and plays tion the ideal Indian wife and mother revered and loved Blumberg operation and Dwaraki The Duchess Malfi this samemyth exposed and The Duchess the much loved and protected sister long she conforms Even she tries seek refuge this belief pointing out that she not really breaking any custom that she technically within the rights patriarchally accorded her

is

is

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to In

subject precisely the most obedient woman who India today themost violent fate the acquiescent daughter who has bought her master dowried marriage and not created any new world not less vulnerable than her defiant sister That monstrous women are also made the punishment accorded them and not only their actual deviancy clear both Jacobean tragedy and contemporary India

at

its

An

of

of

,

is

transitional societies that since their apparatuses control are fluid their coming together and hence the contingency the

more

,

of

.

’,

'

its

in

If

the Venetian Senate Othello demonstrated skill variously con structing others Jacobean drama also reveals the alliances between aspect varied structures within whatwe only loosely term patriarchy

PATRIARCHAL

DISCOURSE

becomes more obvious . Webster s The White Devil ( along with

law

'

The Duchess of Malfi ) is

widely taught

, more

in India . As Dollimore than any other play of the period , it reveals the dependence of individual identity upon social interaction (Radical Tragedy , p . 231) .Wewitness the combined operation of state and church and judiciary against the deviant woman . Although culturally and historically so different , some recent Indian events punishment bare the political thrust Vittoria be

.

's

of

lay

has suggested

in

'd

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for

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to

be

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a

).

.

31

III .

(

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's

:

to

an

a

to

of

's

Vittoria marital situation would familiar Indian readers that young girl unhappily married older husband whose cousin dowry with Monticelso later complains that Camillo had receiv you not one julio 239 The play exposes the double standard whereby the adulterous woman remains whore even her lover patient since husband while Brachiano wife advised faithless

of

Vittoria

's

's

identical with Brachiano

,

although

is

On the other hand

it

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of

him

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to

).

,

II .i .

(

'

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slight wrongʻ and must suppress her killing griefs which only ness dare not speak 240 277 Like the Indian wife who lies even from the death bed where her husband has sent her order fulfil her wifely duty protecting Isabella has internalised the ideology her own oppression

;

Sure shall They are first

I

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to

expound whore

give their perfect character

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Sweetmeats which rot the eater the man nostril perfumes They are coz ning alchemy Poison Shipwracks calmest weather What are whores Cold Russian winters that appear barren that nature had forgot the spring

.

sin

;

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on

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,

They are the true material fire hell Worse than those tributes Low countries paid sleep Extractions upon meat drink garments perdition his even man They are those brittle evidences of law

,

:

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extortion fillid riot They are worse

.

curs

'd

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by

Are only treasuries

by

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,

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Which forfeit wretched man estate For leaving out one syllable What are whores They are those flattering bells have one tune weddings and funerals your rich whores

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private wrong against her husband but not seen public crime that outrages the entire state and church Mon becomes passionate outburst during ticelso pronounces Vittoria whore her trial which makes clear that the unchaste woman moral rather than legal category and since female morality not private matter transgression

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA at

'd

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's

78

in

101

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.

31

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(

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that receive

it

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er

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begg gallows Worse than dead bodies , which surgeons And wrought upon teach man imperfect What Wherein whore She like the guilty counterfeited coin brings Which whosoe first stamps trouble

'

,

,

in

of

.

,

of

,

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's

of

's

language draws upon medieval misogynists arguments Monticelso woman fallen nature Christian doctrines regarding sensual pleasure and Hell but also upon the more recent fears counterfeit money riot and downward mobility and the imagery medical science Similar assumptions have been incorporated the conceptual apparatus The

as

As

.

modern law recently

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law

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Criminality 1950 Otto Pollack influential Women assumed that women are more deceitful than men because biological feigning arousal capable orgasm factors they combination social and biological factors they socialised into concealing menstruation and purely social factors child rearers they have conceal sexual information from children Pollack therefore regarded woman deviant behaviour based her sexuality and claimed emancipation that female would serve increase female criminality temptress reworked Themedieval view woman modern juvenile sexual crime which 1960 Reiss investigated 500 cases had been presided over same judge was found that while boys refused treat any form sexual behaviour the part warranting more than probationary status girls were regarded the boys cause sexual deviation cases coitus involving adoloscent couple and refused hear the complaints the girl and

to

,

us

let

In

'.

an

,

a

,

of

'.

a

,

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:

in

'

;

as a

prostitute family the girl was regarded 1973 Vedder and keep Sommerville cautioned that while studying delinquent girls mind when you train man you train individual when you train girl you train Citing the others Drakopoulou comes family the conclusion that even today rather than involving transgressions the

her

be

,

,

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a

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20

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pp

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legal code female delinquency involves transgressions the moral code patriarchal criminology therefore female crime sexual and female sexuality itself potentially criminal The implication should not patriarchal laws are that same but that they certainly modify alter and codify previous bias For example the emphasis Vedder and Som temper merville place the female link with the family Protestant sexuality against but retains the older Catholic bias female Sometime during the first two centuries AD legal code India Manu compiled laying which formalised the low status women down that woman

PATRIARCHAL

DISCOURSE all

89

,

in

65 ).

,

as

.

it

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governed by men her life her father childhood then regarded women and her husband and finally her son Significantly equally contemptible with slavery inborn the lower castes them

must be

)

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Liddle and Joshi The codification modern Indian law was completed Lord Macaulay theMinute Indian Education fame Spear 1861 according introduced English procedures and the assumptions behind them into Indian courts 127 With unin tended irony Panniker comments the genius this man English great narrow his Europeanism self satisfied his sense

's

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law

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life

modern India we know He was India new modern incarnate Moorhouse 256 The prejudices both Manus and echoes Monticelso are evident cur rent Indian legal practice the infamous Mathura rape case fifteen year landless labourer was raped two policemen the Chan drapur police station where she had gone inquire after her illegally eightyears the accused detained brother The prosecution went were acquitted the lower court convicted the High Court and that gives

ness

Manu the spirit

the Supreme Court The assumptions the last judge ment are not far from Monticelso was assessed that Mathura was not virgin the time her rape and therefore assumed that she had willingly submitted the drunken policemen although the doctor report testified her being beaten black and blue the judges declared that the alleged intercourse was peaceful affair and that her cries freed

not

, of

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concoction

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73 , .

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the conclusion was that she was loose moral character Forum Against Rape leaflet February 1980 Like Vittoria Mathura crime sexuality was her worthy applauded White Devil Monticelso Francisco member the state The Indian state hardly the relatively functioning aspects nascent stage Renaissance authority but the relationship between religion and civil authority revealed starkly contingent and fluid The recent Shah Bano case indicates com eddling religion and policy with woman the centre the alliance year old Shah 1985 the Supreme court India granted alimony years earlier Muslims are Bano whose husband had divorced her governed the highly patriarchal Islamic personal the Shariat than the civil code that otherwise applies Among other blatant differentials under Shariat law women cannot receive alimony Feminists including Muslim women hailed the Supreme Court judge step towards their demand for ment uniform civil code India religi Islamic fundamentalists bitterly opposed this under the banner Interestingly Hindu revivalists have recently defended ous freedom

of

,

.

a

,

(

.

in

,

as a

,

.

,

.

rather

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

90

of

immolation on the grounds of personal freedom Under pressure , Shah Bano withdrew her claim . The Indian

widow

'

choice ) .

state bowed

.

,

of

on

of

a

it

its

of

‘unprecedented Islamic resurgence or rather to a quick survey of support the future elections , and withdrew the judgement Instead special bill placed before parliament the rights Muslim women

to

to

,

,

,

, of

on

ate

which violates the principle the Indian constitution not discrimin among citizens religion race sex caste and place the grounds a

.

of is

To

of to

is

man

efface

us

.

)

of

'

p

, .

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a

of

the text and

's '

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'( of

by

(

the

defeat the futility Ellis Fermor 152 the readers own existence

marked sense spiritual uncertainity

, .p . of . 3) .a ,

Ornstein achievement politics

‘

on

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as

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in

25

,

to of

India

be

to

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Times aim

of

February 1986 government whose Thus pact with usher the computer age India made what appears medieval misogyny The point course that the power woman repeatedly becomes site for the shifting alliances From this perspective the punishment Vittoria stands out clearly misogynist coalition between religion and policy read The White typical suggested by institutionalised Devil the Jacobean pessimism emphasis criticism with the hectic portraits vice and depravity birth

declared

as a

to to

be

to

for

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of

'

:

F

. L .

's

to

Lucas introduction the text invites view the play real moral problem How were we made care what became these beings who felt no shame and knew no pity and kept no faith

.p

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37

us

How was Milton like case make care the Devil himself the play was show only the punishment Vittoria and not political purpose we might enter into her own sharp dismantling problem such Instead shall later demonstrate she sharply under contemporary pamphlet The Lawes Resolution lines the point made

to

in

or

,

in

,

them

.

belonging

to

principally

,

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maner

,

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in

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Statutes

as

to

;

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at

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to

constituting Lawes hearing Women onely women have nothing charges and yet they stand strictly tyed them interpreted lectures leets nothing excused by ignorance me thinkes were mens establishments little pitty and impiety any longer hold from them such customes Lawes and

of

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.ii . 73 ). IV

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clearly

in

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difference between the placement Shah Bano and their respective trials Ofcourse both women are inconsistent Shah Bano retracts her petition under pressure Vittoria defies stately and the patriarchal court but submits lover who calls her advanced whore But although she divided subject who only see her own assertiveness impersonating men can terms insistently present Vittoria the play Shah Bano the other hand disappears from the controversy she sparks she becomes the object protection various legal political and feminist discourses but her speak see Pathak and Sunder own subjectivity effaced she ceases There

Vittoria subjects

PATRIARCHAL DISCOURSE

91

Rajan ) . Vittoria , confused as she is , refuses to be represented by others ;

,

, as

Tragedy The title

.

of

The Subject up

;

,

Women Belsey

Nature

book TheWorld TurnedUpsideDown picks ,

's

Hill

the

, Shakespeareand

1 Dusinberre Christopher

of

Notes

(see

in society

of

her contradictions are an indication of her placement Belsey , The Subject of Tragedy ) and also of her resistance .

not only the representa

35 ).

air ' ( in .p

to

to

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all

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topsy urvy world which legitimise tions Natalie Davis suggests actually serve the normative hierarchy but also refers the widespread threats the status quo which the book documents Marx and Engels Manifesto the CommunistParty refers period the slow dissolution feudal economy which that solid melts into

, of ,

,

,

,

;

of

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in

.

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and

in

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Theory focuses especially their implications for women For ideological aspects playing Sinfield the change see Dollimore Radical TragedyMontrose The purpose Literature ProtestantEngland and Tawney Religion Rise Capitalism Dollimore RadicalTragedydiscusses discontinuous identity Renaissance drama the foregrounding context of the decentring of man during the period and the social

's

2

'.

'

;

,

of

,

;

,

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For discussions the changes affecting early modern Europe see Aston Europe; Stone TheFamily, SexandMarriage Lever The Tragedy State Hill Societyand Puritanism Hobsbawm The Crisis the seventeenth century Kelly Women History

Crisis

of

of ,

to

as 'a

of

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England Kelly Women History Theory The Women my Disorderly Women Jacobean Tragedy See

.

.

as -

or

-

by

'

is

,

, or

'

be

-

in

',

in

chapter two Both Jardine and Woodbridge advance the unhelpful argument that we cannot identify emergent feminism sixteenth century texts because what they and real life women during that time were demanding would trivial twentieth century standards Surely feminism materialism any other ideology not static uniform there are

'

5 4

's

of

as

's

of

.I

to

am

of

of

in

its

I

liberalism 197 Keith Thomas has said that Protestantism stress direct relation with God had political matters which proved powerful solvent democratic implications the established order and whose impact was also felt the family 320 For documen tation of the anti woman implications Protestantism see Stone The Family Kanner

'

3

's

;

of

construction the self Catherine Belsey The Subject Tragedyplaces women discon tinuities the context the contradictory construction the liberal humanist subject and denial unified subjectivity women indebted both analyses although perfect fable emergent differ from Belsey reading texts such TheDuchess

to

of

far is to

.

to

,

of

a

; to

's

at

as

many differences between varieties contemporary feminisms between least reality Renaissance and modern women demands Surely too demands correspond lapse into idealistic pre and set single transhistorical yardstick for feminism mises secondly writings the querelleare occasionally clearer than somemodern day feminists for the former begin emphasise that gender relations are socially con .

to

is

,

;

-

for

by

,

.

, of

I

6

of

,

to

structed and changeable rather than natural whereas the latter revert transcendental masculinity and femininity and universalist definitions suggest that materialist thought conducive feminist premises since both emphasise identity and relationships and the potential for change Hence the social construction early Indian materialism Vedanta and Chinese Taoismare proto feminist conversely

, by

Still Harping Travitsky

')

The

,

',

see Montrose

;

,

Fashioning Jardine

;

,

Renaissance

Self -

'

-d

Greenblatt

';

playing

.

-

(

of . It

as

purpose

of

my Disorderly Women Attitudesand chapter one The issue cross ressing has generated much recent discussion of of

7

to

, is

of

,

splitting mind and matter fostering transcendental idealism the perfect ground binary oppositions male and female positing also seeks contain changeability goddess and whore see also Eva Figes Patriarchal static binary oppositions such that

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

women are notmerely displaced from economic sectors but‘ reintegrated into capitalist development in awhole range of informal , non - organised , non -protected production

their apparent

invisibility

of

,

,

As in

.

126 -7 )

'

.

by

,

made viable

is

status

do

relations , ranging from part -time work , though contractual work , to houseworking, to unpaid neighbourhood Europe they are not really reduced work (pp . consumers they not really become unproductive but the ideology their inferior

to

8

' The lady doth protest ' ; Rose , 'Women in men ' s clothing ' ; Clark , 'Hic Mulier ' ; Dollimore , 'Subjectivity , sexuality and transgression '. Ashoka Mitra , ' The status of women ', Frontier, 18 June , 1977. Mies writes that in India ,

Women ' s division

of experience

The us

The

Credulity

to

's

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all all

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in

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The greatest fault that remains women that we are too credulous Anger wrotegreatest Jane Anger her passionate protest against women inferior status written 1589 The point remains central feminism today Catherine Belsey asks why since since women experience the patriarchal practices are not effects women feminist Construct feminist ing the subject The functioning dominant ideologies hinges subject their internalisation the oppressed subject Patriarchal discourses Isation heterogenous necessarily experienced which have identified opgenous are not dichotomy upon the latter such women although they confer which not always stable the contrary we saw the case the Elizabethan world picture they seek efface contradictions and appear In

'.

‘

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as

',

,

at

:

of

of

.

by as

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at

‘

'

as

plain common sense natural and obvious the texts we have been looking women internalise the values conferred upon them did that early feminist Christine de Pisan Shewas first overwhelmed the force male disdain women

finally decided that God had made vile creature when He made woman my heart for detested myself great unhappiness and sadness welled though we were monstrosities and the entire feminine sex nature Alas my folly God why did You not let me be born the world man and considered myself most unfortunate because God had made me inhabit female body this world in

. ..

in

,

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,

'(

.5p ).

in

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a

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as a

,

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in ' O –

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)2004 that ;

her , , of of -3 IVIV . or ). 1 .the

ut

.

ii

). to

or

Much Ado About Nothing Nothing

III .

man

,

be

,

In

Renaissance drama women repeatedly express similar desires possess what Vittoria calls masculine virtue either men White Devil 135 Beatrice cannot express her solidarity with Hero for womanhood Tobs robs her the power act God that were

in to

is

of

'

In

109

).

Changeling

, .II .ii

The

-

);

(

freedom

"

of

the soul

/th To To

to to

/The

in

,had

‘I

, -7 I. ). iii .

Othello

(

man

woma

Desdemona wishes that heaven 163 Beatrice Joanna reiterates

236

.ii .

' V,

a

man

'

a

be

to

,

this

for

.. .

had made her

Cleopatra

is

Antony

(

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me

and

,

i.

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I

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.

a

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: ' ‘O (

304 Isabella The White Devil echoes Isabella that were man that had power execute my execu apprehended wishes Conversely 242 assert this power assert deny femininity and Cleopatra declares have nothing Ofwoman

her

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

94

the comedies , such wishes take physical shape as women

As

to

,

:

of

).

.

p

, of a

of

as

of

,

in

,

-

so

to

to

' , (

:'

,

.

a

)

The

step out of gender -roles and costumes ; Moll Cutpurse ( in Roaring Girl single status permanently adopts both male clothing and Belsey comments predictably these creatures who speak with voices which personate masculine are not their own are unfixed inconstant unable Tragedy virtue through the end The Subject 183 Their very attempts transgress their limitations rob them unified subjectivity typical and express their self negation the psyche the colonised with their female skins and male masks they approximate the splitting oscillating between black colonial subject whom Fanon describes

both

the

.

skin and white mask

as

of

to

of

“

I;

,

,

in

on

by is

of

In )a

a

,

to

a

,

as

,

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To

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to

an

is

be

,

,

a

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in

.

of

,

on

.

in

is

's

as

As

.

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in

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,

to

at

it is

a

,

in

As

a

,

.

of

,

is

).

,

of

( for

to

by

.

,

.

be

').

(

its

'

an

,

(

its

its

is

of

;

on

”

).

of

(

it

,

its

on

by

.

is

,

in

,

ideological effect The point however assess this split represented the drama Recent Renaissance criticism has pointed out that while the one hand contradictions are the very means which power achieves aims the other these also set motion the process which undermines see for example Goldberg James Brown This thing darkness Homi Bhabha has analysed the complexity the terrain which colonial authority and the colonised subject interact he has suggested that the effectiveness colonialist discourse under mined not only by internal fissures but by mis ppropriation patri native recipient see Signs taken for wonders the case analogous process may archal authority traced The similarity neither accidental nor fanciful given the historical parallels and overlaps between patriarchal and colonial authority Patriarchal discourse invites women inhabit spaces split series oppositions example between man and woman goddess and whore public and private But we saw earlier such discourse itself heterogenously composed unevenly imposed and subject conflicts with the lived reality the oppressed subject the case the colonial subject the divisions involve constant shifting torturous impossible but dynamic movement between two positions which occupy the same time the extent that women have internalised patriarchal ideology they live the divisions and contradictions imposed upon them and also the myth long their duplicity this ideology not crisis the inherent opposition between women lived experi kept ideological ence and taught roles check But when there crisis the various contradictions imposed women serve destabilise patriarchal notions No longer reconciled within the supposed fixity change alienation fixed and static whole these contradictions result

or

.

to

of is

of

,

is

it

of

on

.

and finally resistance What needs examined whether women duplicity exactly live the myth the terms the oppressors whether altered used against the intentions the patriarchy

'S

WOMEN

DIVISION OF EXPERIENCE

are

by

by

It is important to remember , however , that we are speaking of female protagonists of male authors , not of living women . Neither are they psychologically 'whole ' or real entities with the subjectivities we may assign to real women , nor are they even the products of a self- con sciously feminist imagination . Time and again feminist critics have asked whether we are not simply investing the plays with our own concerns , expecting the male authors to rise above the limitations of their sex and time, in reading an emergent feminism in the plays . The answer will be discussed over the next two chapters . As I have previously mentioned , on

a

,

So as

,

,

,

as

.

at a

of

,

as

.

,

scripted both women characters male author and men within the plays But Alan Sinfield suggests these texts repeatedly focus gender relations and institutions such marriage that issues such point were crisis during the early modern period the represen

:'

in

or

;

or

So

's

of

).

26

-

.

14

as

pp

',

‘, as

To

'(

of

be

.. .

a

,

of

a

of

women repeatedly produces disruption these scripts we scripting upon activity should observe and reflect the the plays rather than simply helping the text into convenient plausibility Shakes pinpointed pearean texts need not either conservative radical they are stories through which analysis and discussion can disclose the power Sinfield Othello workings straightforward documents read these plays either women tation

is

.

‘

a

in

of

of

,

of

of

,

on

elaborate

to

patriarchal devices for containment erase complexities the conflicts and the Renaissance politics discourses playwrights women the position the popular theatre and that Shakespeare suggests sadly Sinfield says that the scripting women

liberation

be

',

of

'

',

no

of

.

a

;

as

be

;

can

).

24

.

(p

us

by

although these stories can conservative body stories contested But we should consider why the drama becomes increas ingly preoccupied with the disorderly woman why woman longer presented stable entity and why the stories themselves become deeply contradictory and contestable The individual author may not be feminist but the ideological effects his fragmented

of

its

,

,

:

,

, , by

of

a

of

of

in

is

, ,

,

-

on

. If

on

is

as a

presented female protagonist are radical precisely because she discontinous being the one hand she the product mobile and fast changing society the other she becomes the means the interrogation this drama the series boundaries induced dominant paradigms between male and female private and public emotional and political natural and artificial Europe and others

.

as

in

as

of

,

as

at

of

by

are

the

be

concurrently pro which are not only interrelated but can seen duced and emphasised from Renaissance onwards These boundaries intensified both patriarchal and colonial dis they are apparently erased courses the same time was seen

'

its

by

.

the case Othello Institutionalised readings Jacobean drama have legitimised such manoeuvres emphasising either supposed quest

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

96

for moral order ' (see Ribner ; Ornstein ) or to

. S .

as T

be

–

of

's

to

,

as a

a

to

as

of

-

; of

the disturbing implications and cross dressing negated invoking timeless

transvestism

by

from

is

thus detached

the Jacobean controversy over female gender boundaries her questioning

a

‘

of ',

,

.

is

.

by'

an

by

Moll

).

'(

p

Girl

169 –

its

,

is

to

's

order Thus even The Roaring Girl may be

its

spiritual chaos measured Eliot concedes that Middleton and Dekker seen illustrate the transition from government government city aristocracy landed aristocracy dispassionate picture he anxious add that literature comedy deserves human nature Middleton remembered chiefly by perpetually real real and human figure Moll the Roaring against such

of

a

-

is

to

to

of

's :

is

of

of

an

,

.

of at

,

:

a

is

ity

.

as

.

in

to

us

.

femininity and humanity Let return the question internalisation and the resultant taught schisms female subjectivity Beatrice Joanna think her self both sublime and degraded Her name indicates dual personal Beatrice Petrarchan namemeaning purity and recalling Dante passion chaste and Joanna was apparently one the commonest names among servant girls goddess the time Her initial role that tragically unaware her sexual vulnerability arrogantly sheltering behind her spoilt and privileged upbringing that nourishes illusion

of

all

's

of

:

a

is

as

.

by

,

of

power and callous with the innocence her own distance from violence Both naïvety and arrogance are stripped from her DeFlores displaced from the privileges reminder that woman she her own class

)

40

134

as

far

as

).

-2

.

iv

'(

So

/

?

III .

:

'

to

'd

its

are

The Changeling

money function beyond the reach women approximate concerned and thus Fate itself Can you weep Fate purpose determin soon may you weep me 161

Men appear

from

me

.(

And made you one with

-

'd

, , .III of iv .

I

,

.

: no

to

'

,

y

,

,

;

act to

's

!

'

by

In

Y

your birth but settle you Fly not what the has made you are more now You must forget your parentage me are the deed creature that name You lose your first condition and challenge you As peace and innocency has turn you out Push

of

to

in

be

as

of

an

as

's 's

in

for

's

to

of

.

.

.

;

at can

.'

,

In

in

in

of

class and gender The Changeling were indicated the previous chapter Women Beware Women they tear apart Livia whose only wealth and power derive from and used the interests autonomy strips her ordinary her male patrons the briefest attempt and vulnerable femininity Such contradictions also problematise our critical practice Newton combining gender and class and Rosenfelt indicate the difficulty Terry Eagleton analytical parameters when they refer dismissal Lucy Snow desire self fulfilment Charlotte Bronté Villette These conflicts

'S

WOMEN

DIVISION OF EXPERIENCE

overriding need to celebrate bourgeois security . This reading , they say , ignores the potential radicalism of even a middle - class woman 's desire for autonomy (p . xxv ). This is surely correct , but it is then necessary to go beyond such polarisation to grasp the ways in which a middle - class woman 's desire for autonomy may be experienced and expressed as a need for bourgeois security ; on the other hand , a woman 's economic independence spills over into a gesture for autonomy . Similarly , dif ferent interpretations are possible of the assertion of Webster 's heroine - 'I am the Duchess of Malfi still ' (IV . ii .142 ). Is she here affirming her identity as a member of the aristocracy which she has threatened by marrying her steward and which , in turn , has tried to punish her, or is she asserting her feminine self who has rebelled against patriarchal con trol ? Are the two incompatible , or mutually reinforcing ? As we saw in relation to Othello , patriarchy is transformed and modified by racial or class tensions . Here I want to emphasise that these complexities are not

'

by

'

as a

's

.

sex internalised and includes her various be For example her initial faith romantic love was contrary but coexistent with the new individualist ethic which had taught her that even love marriages are not made heaven but cruelly and coolly

' to

by

manipulated

,

in

'.

,

liefs

in

'

'

class

is

but the inferior

of

as

are

occupy in just reflective of the conflicting positions women necessarily patriarchal societies , but painful confusions also experienced the women themselves Beatrice split member the superior

-

of

is

till

As

',

!

;

to

)

-31 5

,

falls

. (V ' . d .iii

,

oh

er

of ne '

:

it

It

a

It

a

it

What horrid sound hath deformity blasts beauty Upon what face soever that breath ugly you have ruin strikes repair again What you can

of It

/

is

its :

,

I

or

a

,

.

by

at

be

;

,

of

,

to

is

to

is

This

am

to

lie

';

in

so

she alienated from Alsemero the same time she also repulsed the domestic ideal and continues DeFlores suggest not course that Middleton has some strange

by ,

victim

lives

, sir ,

:'

for

).

is

as

).

82

iii .

’

of .

(V

is

'(

V

. iii .

77 8

'

reiterate her

'

of

patriarchal myths and the victim their judgement love Alsemero Forget not protect the dream for your sake was done She can illusory Remember domestic bliss which she knows true unto your bed This not just simple duplicity deceit for Beatrice conceives herself both innocent goddess and degraded whore she participates her relationship with DeFlores and not just she continues

to

the product

'

therefore innocent

:

is

loving husband and

to

a

as

.

.

as

goddess any She not treated the men even potential whore whose virginity must be clin Alsemero treats her ically proved Yet the end she cannot relate the word whore for

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA intuitive understanding of female psychology . Beatrice 's relationship with DeFlores at one level conveys shades of Miss Julie , Lady Chatterley s Lover , A Streetcar Named Desire and of The Paradine Case . As Hitchcock remarks particular thrill in relation to that for male audience there seeing immaculately dressed upper class woman messed the end the scenario especially manure melling stablehand man -s

a

in

, up by

a

is

-

, aby , . ‘

,

of

an

a

,

film

'

a

a

),

p

'(

. of

fantasy manure Truffaut 210 thrill deriving from Equally for women audiences there may be pleasure deriving from the idea this situation double transgression play exploits the first maybe the second but Middleton and Rowley allowing the contradictions position develop posits Beatrice

who reeked

a

.

;

,

,

to

an s

aberrant sinner

.

split self not

as

'

, of

's

heterogeneous

,

as a

by

her

a

of

,

in

of

male power

Women beware women

.

in

;

92

, p .

of

of

in

).

'(

p

, .

is

of

-

to

a

led

a

,

of

‘a

at

.

a

of

in

of

(

).

is

69

, .

p

of

to

of

's

to

.

is

by

in

of

The experience dichotomous existence results also women becoming their own enemies This graphically portrayed Middle ton Women Beware Women but not limited that play Both Dusinberre and Jardine have referred the loneliness the female tragic hero period Shakespeare the texts the and the Nature Women Still Harping Isolation not simply the result their confinement male world but indicates also the impossibility these split beings realising female solidarity and companionship On the one hand the attempts female friendship constitute secret space the midst subjection are cancel male society haven where the normal modes traditionally male substantiality and where version annexed whatwemight now hope call human intimacy Whigham 172

of

,

's

in

this idea also crops Fatima Mernissi analysis Muslim female quarters Certainly women folk songs even marriage

's

zenana

.

, , or ;

purpose

up

a

,

In

of

the context Indian culture Sudhir Kakar has suggested that the family can serve female companionship within the extended similar

,

,

's

as

of

-

's

.

as

's

,

,

to

of

as

be

,

to

I

.?

in

,

in

;

on

's

a

at

men notion perspective

a

ship affords

of

their own power and female companion their own subordination potentially even subversive space On the other hand think that both Indian society and the plays these spaces are unable realised female havens because they are subject not only the contradictions class patri and race but also the power relations resulting from women they manifest women archal positioning internal schizophrenia opposed well Germaine Greer idealisation the extended family

lyrics jeer

a

as

be

it

;

's

- of

‘

to

in

is

to

the nuclear one perhaps possible from the perspective women may isolation the Western family seen well intended response those who argue that such families are more developed

' S DIVISION

WOMEN

OF EXPERIENCE

or

to

in

of

be

.

of ,

.

to

,

or

law

no

than other kinds of households . However , it ignores the tortuous reality of provide support situations where mothers and sisters in the young bride mother and instead connive hermurder for dowry contribute her daily harrassment Communities women are not inherently free and may reproduce patriarchal power relations For it

in

, ,

in

:

the secret space

of

Beatrice and

)

Changeling

, . .

.(

IV 1 97 -8

The

,

,

of a

female jury

destroyed

is

Finally Diaphanta

their

in

's

in

on

:

to

as

's

to

is

of

.

-

violated

in

patriarchal class the rules that govern women society That the recurrent mistress maid friendships Renaissance drama desperate loneliness are acts evident Beatrice rather pathetic response question Deflores how she could ever trust her maid

is

fellowship

me will

search

forewoman

by

Like

by

the

will not

She

she

's

of

.

is

,

example Beatrice and Diaphanta may partners conspiracy but the relationship essentially exploitative Beatrice plays the male testing Diaphanta virginity and reproducing the structures male legality

to

of a

).

is

as

).

to

,

's

so

as

(

'

:

on

, of

be

's

(

'

all

ties

of

(

'I

V , .1. 15 ;

emphasis added They are also based must trust somebody the concept feudal loyalty which now exposed the tensions world including those between servants and their superiors where natural are fast eroding see Whigham for the Duchess relation Cariola Women often operate from what may crudely defined male pos procuress itions Livia acts behalf men that Bianca last words are that like our own sex we have no enemy Women Beware Women

,

Hippolito

;

behalf either the Duke her own desire for Leantio

or

of

,

gence betrays other women

of on

.

,

as

do

.

,

's

),

,

as a

is

in

(

of

).

. .

V ü

Whereas Shakespearean drama female solidarity undermined power Beatrice cannot defend Hero woman Emilia defends Desdemona but both die anyway Middleton female changelings cannot even establish contact with each other Their loneliness isolation and warnings against their depraved fissured relationships not emerge natures but indicate the contradictions imposed upon them within the patriarchal and class confine Livia who claims both power and intelli 215

by lack

of

in

By

of

.

,

is

.

,

in

but the one time she acts out and reverses gender positions the sexual market she signals her own end Beatrice hopelessly trapped Joanna may betray Diaphanta but she herself disallowing independent female agency between several men con

, , is

,

.

a

a

of

a

is

of

a

in

,

in

.

,

idealising ditions their subordination the plays refuse the possibility the oppressed subject Read situation where female participation willing and unwilling painful reality the oppression other women these texts foreground the fissures the honorary male who potential rebel nevertheless both victim and

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

100

‘ giddy

A

turning

for

's

).

of ,

in

or

a

,

is

-

, .p

it

, if

(

'

,

. ..

to

a

;

of

to

its

is

a

is

: ‘

its

of

it

),

160

The discontinuity of Jacobean heroines has long presented a critical puzzle , as Belsey indicates ( The Subject of Tragedy , p . but had been ingeniously reconciled the concept fixed human nature example Middleton seems have grasped the principle that the more generously nature endowed especially perhaps woman corruption the more bitter thwarted maimed the full development course Ellis Fermor 142 Nathaniel Richards

'(

).

's

'

/

,

;

of

,

of

of a

, .p

of

/

;

's

,

Middleton first critic observed that he knew the rage Madness women crossed and for the stage fitted their humours see Gill edition Despite their underly Women Beware Women 379 emphasis added ing assumptions unifying concept female nature even traditional readings acknowledge this repeated crossing and thwarting female Renaissance drama

.

in

One significant movement

is

.

do

or

as

part

in

.

to -

, ,

or

of

of

,

of

increasingly

Despite their their assertion approach the the Duchess

or

a

of

of by

in

is

the plays that restriction accompanied identity fundamental dislocation appropriation male clothing even roles and despite female independence Rosalind Portia not dichotomy disorderly women later drama such Beatrice Joanna Vittoria Bianca The difference may

,

desires

be attri as

:

,

of

-

's

9

).

-

.pp

he

is

is

by

),

.

'(

.

,

'

iv

III .

Y

:'

by .

by

defined not her birth but something that con 137 change resisted the changed has Alsemero replies

her actions are the deeds creature stantly being made However recognition

of

DeFlores reminds Beatrice that she

is

.

as

is

in

(

,

to

of

.

an

in

It

as

no

;

of

is

of

a

of

. In

of

to

it

is

a

is

genre but even within tragedy there buted such movement no longer possible posit the unified subject liberal humanism the experience survival becomes discontinuous one short there no pure opposition idealised subject and oppressive structures despite the increasing violence their contact the violence reaches out and slashes the psyche and self conception the woman and ber longer remains simply act committed upon her has been pointed out that the title The Changeling could apply nearly every character play the see Randall 348 The heroine near schizophrenia therefore latent those who regard themselves changeable stable Repeatedly human relationships too emerge

:

).

34 5

' . / (I. .i

to

is

it

as

be

-

am

to

IV

in

of

',

,

'

. iii .

I

/

).

11 of ).

, if

:

's ' All 's

.

(

IV .č

is

'(

'

,

No

I

Jasperino asks Alsemero keep the same church same devotion friend Shakes peare Parolles affirms Simply the thing Shall make me live Well That Ends Well 310 The Duchess asserts that she spite the Duchess Malfi still what has been done her Antony repeatedly affirms his identity even constantly 139 characters

' S DIVISION

WOMEN

OF EXPERIENCE

101

in

the

).

5

;

92 3

.

to

an

to

I

).

of

,

,

be .

of

of

in

of

,

;

(

,

.

' in

'

are

III .

being eroded : ' I am / Antony yet' ( xiii see also chapter desperate eroding beliefs attempts These sustain the essential selves which are being increasingly battered Discontinuous identity the drama has been previously analysed see Dollimore Radi suggest that such Tragedy cal Tragedy Belsey The Subject want interplay stability and change texts that foreground disorderly qualifying indeed questioning received women has the effect identity notions feminine The plays move towards increasing female as a

'

as

.

by

, .

of

to

successful version Romeo and Juliet their runaway marriage Matri

of

a

initially

and are flushed with the excitement

mony

be

).

are

Leantio and Bianca

,

The

In

. of 1.

(I

'

by

,

-

to

in

to

.

fluidity Desdemona may actually divided her various positions relation the status quo but she perceives herself unified person when compared Beatrice Joanna who acknowledges the giddy turn ing inside her Changeling 152 both Women Beware Women and swiftly undermined the conventions romantic love are evoked

movement

.

of

of

It

,

a

is a

it

my

country

-2 )

..1

(I

I

in

I

't. ,

have foresook friends fortune rejoice And hourly 131

and

:

.

his

in

end

to

an

both

of

for

is

stability marks promise Leantio the end his restlessness and the eternal pleasure willing effacement newly acquired treasure For Bianca her previous identity evoked

to

's '

;

of

as

-

are

.

's

as

to a

of

in

is

.

'

.

as

of

's

in a

relationship opens temple with reverb Alsemero and Beatrice mystical everlasting erations love and Alsemero inclinations travels have now paused The lovers are transformed by their love initially this transformation evoked themanner typical romantic love conventions where passion leads new stability self concep tion Romeo and Juliet new identities are firm and unchanging

to

'.

', '

sir .

:

is

of ,

,

', ' all

' ', '

–

,

'd

better advis

eyes are sentinels unto

our judgements

,

Our

's

To

Be

.

a

all

:

to a

is

on

.

,

their love But with Alsemero and Beatrice discordant notes struck there constant play verbal and conceptual change and seeing This makes eyes terms related these will judgement perception relationships subject for sense that flawed change replies Alsemero first declarations love Beatrice early

static category

73 )

68 -

. (I .1. ,

's

to

Shakespeare tragedy precisely because there too love There are not one butmany ways

160

of

(

Ornstein

)

‘

a

mocking parallel , p . .

unified

love

'

-

not

a

is

star crossed

or

of

Women Beware Women

is

,

can

,

,

us

;

And should give certain judgement what they see But they are rash sometimes and tell wonders Of common things which when our judgements find They then check our eyes and call them blind

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE

102

loving,

DRAMA

's

actually does

,

do

is

to

.

of ;

is

.

,

to

.

all of

and them are fluid Bianca mobility has brought her from parents her Leantio but the movement will not cease with marriage Othello racked with the contradictions attendant upon female mobility similarly Leantio demands from Bianca that she both defy the stability her initial positioning and guarantee her subsequent stillness only imagined transgress further Bianca But whereas Desdemona

in a

:

.

to

.

on

is

,

to

so

body now

female

,

on

and the difference has with the effect that violence has the female mind Desdemona sense inviolate and violence also remains external Lavinia But Bianca graphically internalises the crime committed upon her

the

,

of

41 )

,

,

?

I

. ..

on

at .. a . ; 's ( sin ' s II ! . . ' ii . .. d I I - 'm 'm , to !I

I

all

blasting Now bless me from saw that now eye Fearful for any woman look leprous why should Yet since my honour Preserve that fair that caus the leprosy Come poison once made bold now acquainted thank thy treachery and No couple greater 420

,

sin

its

,

at

is

,

an

.

The

of

or

,

by

all

(

of

or

;

it

, of ,

an

,

(s

a

not the focal point

of is

a

and

is

.

rape

's

with

)

female dichotomy

the climax the play intersects dialogue between Guardiano and Livia episode with the Ward upposedly the guardian chess game between the Mother

Bianca

is

notion

of

, . .ii

IV

Changeling

46

'

the giddy turning experienced This changeable stuff not containable within the dominantly defined

'

:ity

, or

no

is

no

.

-

it

its

, of

to

to

It

is

's

,

or

The

,

as

in s

.

of

'

a

,

as

as

,

,

In

a

,

:

is

sin

for

.

of

as

be

;

is

.

as a

sin

,

is

to

,

In

patriarchal thought the slide woman from goddess whore premised simultaneously upon her potential for sexual activity and upon her passivity receptacle for Even when passive the woman irrevocably polluted by illegitimate sexual contact therfore can regarded both outside the female self and the same time most definitive constituent Renaissance tragedy however female propensity socially induced rather than restructured firstly secondly longer moral attribute and no static but constituting dynamic interaction between women subjectivity and the social con plays such Changeling ditions their existence Therefore imposed upon the subject Women Beware Women female immorality longer but also incorporated into the individual self perception longer able unam either alien intrinsic women therefore bigously patriarchal usage The contradic carry the connotations tions imposed upon women are internalised but then they catalyse psychic stabil alienation which radically disrupts notions social

,

).

.

in

as

(

,

)

's

of the

virtue

is

and Livia the agent her seduction After the rape game chess continues until dinner served usual Thus instead being sensationalised sexual violence placed firmly the context

Bianca

WOMEN

' S DIVISION

OF EXPERIENCE

103

of the play s concern with enforced marriage , state power , family relationships , and the contact between women . Patriarchy and class power constitute the warp and the weft of violence against women in these plays . If Middleton focuses on the grey area between seduction and rape , on the nebulous zone where Bianca is both victim and participant , both shocked and adaptive, it is because Bianca herself occupies several intersecting positions - she is simultane ously the young runaway bride who wants to believe in romantic love , the glamour - struck girl obsessed by the splendour of the 'noble state ' ( I.ii . 103 ), the bored wife beginning to chafe at the bondage ofmarriage , the daughter of parents great in wealth ' who desires to be the virtuous wife rich in her husband s love but who is already tired of squalor .

'

'

'

Leantio wooed her as a romantic lover but the Duke s language is explicitly commercial , playing on her own desires for wealth : ' Come, play the wise wench and provide for ever ' ( II. ii.383 ) . The rape becomes part seduction because it plays on her dissatisfaction ; yet it remains a rape because of her continuing participation in the illusions of romance and fidelity . Therefore Bianca moves away in sexual as well as class terms and yet perceives both transgressions as wrong . Finally of course , she moves from one bondage to another , as indeed does Isabella , and the question is raised whether anything else is possible for women in such societies.

The rape comes to mark Bianca 's alienation from the ideology of faithfulness and honour by which she has been expected to live ; this alienation is not translated into any supreme and penultimate moment of ‘ recognition but rather into a deepening discontinuity of perception and behaviour . Like Bianca , Beatrice - Joanna is ‘ forced into submission . And like Bianca, the process of coercion is never outside her . If Bianca's seduction depends on an awareness of what is denied her in terms of wealth , glamour and freedom , Beatrice 's transgression depends on an illusory perception of what is possible , by the combination of arrogance and naïvety that her class position confers on her . The effect of events upon character is reiterated . Beatrice changes twice – first she begins to love Alsemero , then DeFlores . She had declared both undying love for

'

'

-47 8

)

'd

;

,

no

at

,

.

to

by

lov

a

's

negate the previous state

scarce

is

).

.i .

(I

'

there

is

being Alsem thing but both and loath simultaneously attracted and repelled 122 Beatrice DeFlores and both alienated from and attached Alsemero However Each change does

ero notes that

not simply

my honour

,

'd of

'

then

. (V .i .

'

forc ' d to love thee now , Cause thou provid st so carefully

I' m

of DeFlores ; but for

Alsemero and her eternal hatred

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

104

point does she stand neatly outside patriarchal ideology ; she needs and

exploits Diaphanta , she desperately lies to Alsemero , she is truly wretched at being called whore . Sigrid Weigel, in an interesting essay called Double focus ,has argued that the latent schizophrenia of woman consists in the fact that those elements of the model of femininity which earn her moral respect (for example motherliness , understanding , socia bility ) are also the basis for her social subordination (p . 80 ) . This is certainly true of women in the plays who necessarily experience them selves through male eyes, but even so their 'giddy turning ' puzzles the they are longer the stable female subjects desired men in the play by dominant thought

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The unstable divide drama female transgression no longer simply spectre protesting themale imagination Lisa Jardine correct against the attempt critics exonerate the female heroes these plays from the sexual slur The progression towards dichotomous longer able identity accompanies women active sexuality which expressed within patriarchal norms Rosalind Like

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' S DIVISION

on

Malfi female sexuality hovers the borders limits widow remarriage licentious but technically per clearly unchaste but she The White Devil Vittoria desire plays female sex Cleopatra her lover Middleton is

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OF EXPERIENCE

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final break from confines romanticism Bianca and Ford sexual nd Beatrice Joanna oscillate between different men Beatrice already evident transgression can only incest which only expressed Women Beware Women Therefore the general distinction between etherefore Elizabethan and Jacobean drama that the latter the assertive woman latter does sexually transgress and not only imagined Woodbridge comments significant The shift relation The Duchess Malfi Any defender women could show widow remaining

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tragic But turn widow who does not remain chaste into was revolutionary 260 But precisely because this the ideological implications female disobedience the drama still chaste

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under debate the criticism The Duchess Malfi reveals Lisa Jardine argues that play male assessment fraught Webster the Duchess with explicitly sexual innuendoes that this controls the audience judgement her that the Duchess secret marriage would be regarded by them much by her brothers typically female act cunning duplicity and sexual waywardness and that her punishment serves exorcise the spectre female rebellion Still Harping The Duchess reading telescopes the ideological effect Malfi Such the play into an

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the attitudes the male adversaries the Duchess There obvious emotional weightage accorded the Duchess but this only compounds assessing her which Shepherd effectively sums the problems we indict her lechery we side with the vicious brothers we want chaste heroine weshare the credulous ignorance Antonio 117 simple equation Catherine Belsey avoids male positions within Tragedy the play with the ideology the text The Subject She points the positive portrayal the Duchess relationship with Antonio and

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Duchess cannot be taken themoral tone the play itself Jardine seems But precisely such contrast between the Duchess and Belsey her brothers located liberal humanist oppositions marking the public political private between and and domestic glowingly place woman within the latter the affective ideal which history defined The Duchess Malfi collapses into the collabora tion between liberalism and sexism which defines the western family from the seventeenth century the present The play concludes perfect fable emergent liberalism Belsey Tragedy The Subject

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

106

pp .

197 -200 ). I would like

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to suggest firstly , that the Duchess 's duplicity is handled very differently than in a medieval sterotype of female hypocrisy ; and secondly , that the play does not subscribe to but questions division exposes the ideological and political between private and public thrust such division Whereas other defences the period such Anger pamphlet Middleton More Dissemblers Besides Women argue that men not women are duplicitous The Duchess and White Devil Women Beware Women and Antony and Cleopatra offer examination female duplicity which begins by acknowledging denying instead Painter Palace Pleasure 1567 which contained original story translation from Matteo Bandello the Duchess she fine and subtile dame who lusts for Antonio order make hir way pleasure which she lusted more than marriage and her marriage itself Maske and coverture hide her follies and shameless lusts 184 Webster does not deny either the Duchess duplicity her active sexuality but female pleasure no longer dirty word the –

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text liberal connotations are questionable the very grounds that point Belsey uses them true that the Duchess remains firmly within the domestic arena Vittoria Bianca Beatrice Joanna usurp Desdemona Annabella and Isabella none them overtly seeks male authority they remain within the spaces that have been patri archally defined personal and assigned women have already early modern society indicated themassive effort confine women ideologically and physically into domestic areas we also have seen that not coincidental that the issue absolutism arose the same time increased restrictions women see Shepherd 119 The Duchess literally enclosed the male dominated castle Denied individual identity and even name she merely the Duchess Not only are most Jacobean heroines banished the domestic sphere Cleopatra

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merely within the

' S DIVISION

WOMEN

OF EXPERIENCE

107

, the impossibility of the first isolating itself is underlined . Feminists have not invented the connection between the personal and the political ; patriarchal thought recognises it and attempts to disguise it . Thus a dowry murder in India is officially referred to as a ' dowry death , which lifts it from the category of an ordinary murder and seeks implicitly to exclude it from the realm of common criminality and justice . It becomes a ' family problem ', but of course the effort to hush it up is not merely familial , but requires the complicity of police, public public

the

the

opinion and legal structures . Themost passive and confined of female lives works as a crucial link in the political and public hierarchies . Although the Duchess is a good wife and mother she violates some of the notions of ideal femininity , as indeed she must , for such notions are total only within a stereotype . Precisely because she is so compliant , she cannot be demonised as a totally deviant woman . Yet she is destroyed even as a witch would be. It is this combination of the normal a

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implica radical the domestic and the political that makes deeply disturbing p articularly story tions the situation where subject the most everyday normal woman the most violent fate and

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highlight the violentunderpin play like The Duchess The effect nings the domestic Active female sexuality notmerely breach flagrant breach decorum but also the public and political order patriarchy knows and seeks feminists know and seek reveal and hide Precisely because most these women do not conceive political the violent and public reaction articulate their demands aspirations their serves not subscribe but bare the division between domestic and political personal and public emotional and rational Again the sister tragedy The White Devil the term Brown The Duchess Malfi xxxi Vittoria publicly confronts the judiciary well the Church but only because her adultery like the Duchess remarriage private issue Vittoria recognises and not treated exposes the attempt calling divide the personal and the public rape by claiming that the State and Church have ravish her trial justice 271 273 Patriarchal legality conceives female sexuality employing criminal she seizes own analogy and inverts sexuality legal procedure thus she the language describe the employ the connection between sexuality and power first favour

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society where the nuclear family and ideals are evolving still India the effect Jacobean tragedy can read interrogation instead reading closure the same time such believe not contrary the sexual politics the Renaissance where political control patriarchy vocabulary the language also the woman

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

108

a

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private and public ; the Vittoria articulates the connections between Duchess does not . But the politics of these texts cannot be collapsed into the consciousness of the individual heroine : to search consciously political protagonist carry the burden anti patri replicate archal text would the terms idealist criticism search ing the perfect and unified female revolutionary feminists may them underlining the terms guilty selves heroic liberal drama

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which denied Jacobean tragedy The Duchess Malfi not elabor ate patriarchal device contain female rebellion the contrary misogynist delight duplicitous sexually takes woman who

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defending her along the lines active defiant and then proceeds not that misogynists are familiar with and know how counter but asking questions which are hard patriarchy answer the language

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patriarchally imposed upon The fissures the female changeling expose the politics her and yet serve her subordination can rupturing the linkage suggested that heroism and morality these plays achieve for female identity what Faustus Macbeth had for the acknowledge notion man But such rupture becomes harder the case woman hence the dominant critical silence about implications these plays

Restriction and resistance of

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uncontrollable female sexuality because she remains chaste related those the genre generally speaking comedy foregrounds physical movement while Renaissance conceptual implications tragedy increasingly concerns itself with resulting duplicity and schizophrenia the women The tragic heroine located within the estate castle home Juliet cannot even consider running away with Romeo Mantua but must await him the tomb her forefathers and her attempts external

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meaning from physical and spatial discussed the slide mobility ideological sexual and Renaissance texts But the corres pondence between them necessarily straightforward for example not ideolohem the most physically mobileneemale female roles those Rosalind Viola dependent upon disguise and Portia but here the mobility have upon ideological fixity shown involves female behaviour Moll Cutpurse more mobile more obviously defiant than the physically enclosed finally locked cupboard Duchess Beatrice Joanna who reformatory Vittoria who confined but she not necessarily patriarchy city more resistant Moll roams the resists the confine marriage but also keeper the law and above doesn raise the chapter

WOMEN ’ S DIVISION OF EXPERIENCE

109

internal movement result in her violent end ; her comic counterpart travels around , either into fictitious worlds like Arden or actual spaces of streets and shops of London , but is finally reinstated within the social order .

If Moll

questions the spaces allotted to women by straying out of , appropriating masculine dress that allows for more physically them spatial freedom and refusing the confine of home and marriage , the Duchess interrogates social and sexualboundaries from within tradition

is

is a

to

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the

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ally alloted female spaces and thus threatens their very separation from the masculine , the public , and the political arenas . Women 's speech spans both physical and conceptual movement, but not speech disruptive example Taming for The Shrew involves not Kate silen cing but her schooling that her longest speech tribute her husband shrew she actually spoke less but disobedience conferred

(

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149

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the illusion excess upon her words But other times female speech epitomises rebellion Cleopatra Shakespeare the most verbose obey women hence the injunction women silence see Belsey to

of

;

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their usual sphere becomes evident that the one hand slightest evidence female resistance and the other political repercussions female movement magnified position We are now consider the correlation between physical conceptual mobility approach and and coercion more fully order duplicity aspects further recurrent female the texts Men have private public existence whereas women are taught well func private lives only They lack public tion within men their own they are denied participation producers and controllers wealth authority But correspondingly they are denied dimension com parable men private lives since aspects their lives controlled significant that although private domin and that sense public publicly structured antly refers sexuality the sexual woman there

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away from

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society where stability was invoked maintain monarchism and attendant hierarchies the interrogation both physical and ideolo gical boundaries subversive the seventeenth century both sorts movement threatened status quo which had accommodate the potential for literal movement urban culture the ideology privacy had accomplish what the castle wall had hitherto done Since posit the division between private the texts we have been looking public and inner and outer emotional and political constructed and ideological function unstable such divide unable serve keeping women their place and instead catalyses their movement

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

110

ideologically , woman has had to retreat further into her inner being in order to find spaces that are not publicly controlled . Wemay identify the act ofwriting by women as an attempt to replace privacy with literary

'

'

,

As

are

space . Such attempts may exist alongside the effort to find actual spaces

to is

;

of

be

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prioritised precisely when the former are not available but such they are contradictory enterprises doomed failure because there are free inner spaces the absence outer ones creative writing possible only when some realms privacy are physically granted upper class women Creativity see Thorne Women the same protect strategies time secrecy and withdrawal can be seen

.

in

to

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placed Duchess and her sisters should Let return briefly the example Elizabeth who repeatedly attempted appropriate masculine identity order consolidate authority this she was not unique for latter day female authority like Indira Gandhi also felt compelled claim that she had been brought compliment boy and felt different from man she thought

'

'(

as

to

be

,

,

as

).

, .p

,

as

'

are

to

when referred the only man the cabinet and said that certain qualities associated with men such decision making see Kishwar comparison and Vanita 254 No doubt the can extended Margaret Thatcher who rule include other women such what Heisch has called honorary men and extend patriarchal rather than is

it

,

on

to

it

.

, ,

significant female power Of course such assertions are strategic but that Elizabeth simultaneously evoked her femininity sheltering behind procrastinate marriage which her Parliament was pressuring in

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to

).

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at

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her towards The weight and greatness this matter might cawse being wantinge me woman both witt and memory some feare my sex speake and bashfulness besides thing appropriat parliamentary rhetoric Heisch Queen Elizabeth Therefore honorary male and weak female she oscillated between her status while this may indicate one level the internalisation female inferior

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ity

appropriate the public was brilliant strategy both women and repudiate the private realm allocated them Similar strategic employment both masculine virtue and femin inity will Cleopatra noted the case oscillation between another

spaces denied

'

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my kingdom and more but woman xiv These movements allow consider the subversive aspects option but female hypocrisy Isabella Women Beware Women has marriage only enter into forced with the foolish Ward Her choice that the attitude with which she will Now when she begins love Guardiano she finds her marriage can accommodate her secret president

'S

WOMEN

DIVISION OF EXPERIENCE

111

affair . Since the former involves emotional hypocrisy anyway

, she

finds

not require , or even consider thewhole of her being , therefore it initiates the split between appearance and reality . Whereas men can be legitimately two - faced ( the public and

it easier

to dissemble . The marriage does

the private man ) , in the case of women , the colonisation of the dark continent of interiority must be protected by duplicity . For the men in The Duchess of Malfi , the Duchess is typed as duplicitous even before they know of her marriage . In the very first scene she is actions will come to light ; the Cardinal ' s fears anticipate , and perhaps contribute to the formulation of, her plans :

told

that

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her

You may flatter yourself And take your own choice : privately

Under the

be married

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eaves

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Beatrice - Joanna is assumed to be duplicitous by Alsemero even as he appropriat goddess and the goal thinks of her as existence ing his virginity test substituting Diaphanta for herself Beatrice attempting protect herself but also exposing the premises which any marriage would founded The Duchess Vittoria Beatrice Joanna merely adopt the dichotomy that patriarchal thought has conferred upon them anyway The difference that whereas women anticipated duplicity patriarchal attempt sexual activity demonise and

.

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exorcise them actual transgression subversive this control The increasing secrecy rebellion also indicates the extent which women are divided subjects whose public and private lives are forced apart and who under male public gaze The fact that they are forced experience themselves only relation men works like knife any sense and experience the that they can never unified subjects virgin whore dichotomies intellect body reproductive vessel decorative object Male objectification not only placement women

,

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born woman has been born within allotted and confined space into the keeping men The social presence women has developed living under result their ingenuity such tutelage within such limited space But this has been the cost woman self being split two her being appreciated own sense herself by another Men andwomen appear

-

.

the combination

of

ences herself precisely

.

:

the surveyed female

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p

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47 is

male

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women herself object Berger

criteria for self appraisal are male Beatrice Joanna thus

as

's

Women

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Thus she turns herself into

an

themselves

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to

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at

Men look women Women watch themselves being looked This determines not only the relations between men and women but also the relation women

experi

goddess and whore

that

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA are

112

for all

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powerful goddess she had been told women she once the whom men desire and whose will and the whore whom men hate and who begs father and husband not come near her fear she will taint them Secondly male and female differences are seen the product symbolic structures encoded the language the pre existing culture argued that into which one born can women have suffered trying speech impediment some degree communicate female experience with phallocentric tongue Ardener 206 WhatKristeva according calls the hysteric voice Juliet Mitchell women mas culine language talking feminine experience Thus concludes Ecker speak from within the who quotes the others Women are seen patriarchal discourse rather than from phallocentric source exterior symbolic forms

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strategy both born and flawed the dichotomies women own experience raises the question false conscious ness which has also been asked connection with women cross dressing Here has been argued that women dressing men only confirm male mposed criteria freedom and that their rebellion Subjectivity sexuality and therefore not the real thing see Dollimore right back into the debates around transgression The question takes ideology Lenin who needed theorise the basis the growing revolutionary consciousness beyond Marx Russia needed ideology just false consciousness ideology definition neces oppressive then where sarily rooted material reality and this reality revolutionary consciousness Lenin extended the are the sources concept ideology consciousness which various and includes different oppositional versions such the bourgeois the socialist a

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general What Done Althusser further distinction between ideology whose function ensure social cohesion and specific ideologies deriving from various class positions extremely useful ressing here for allows see that cross women dichotomies the drama are neither pure revolutionary consciousness nor merely false but rather are representative the powerful clash ideas played subjectivity out the arena her notes feminist theory Joan Kelly concluded that oppositional consciousness arises out the discrepancy between the real and the ideal experienced those who stand the boundary the dominant culture like Hegel slave unhappy consciousness woman experiences form alienation participant that makes her once the culture that oppresses her unhappiness informs the duplicitous and stranger xxv such changeling the drama

WOMEN ’ S DIVISION OF EXPERIENCE

113

Receiving the disorderly woman Dominant readings of Renaissance

its

of

In

).

to

to

of

of

.

on

are

to

in

,

by

an

of

(

,

to

its

tragedy have moved towards a authority and hence closure, a sealing off of disturbances potential Tragedy radical see Dollimore Radical the colonial context effacing this has implied the various contradictions experienced the readers both relation their own culture and the colonial analogous text The binary oppositions imposed women and

, is

let

to

5

to

).

-

no a

to

-

in

; .

pp

',

,

of

-

as a

or as

as

,

by

.

of

,

or

,

,

, ,

, .'

'(

for

as

/

-

of a

of ).

, .p

(

/

, I ,

To

.

far

,

/

,

by

It

.

I

in

a

as

of

,

of

to

of

;

in

reinforce those colonial discourse thus the case Indian women the erasure extends both powerfully interlinking sets contradic tions each vantage point for grasping which may otherwise serve the interrogation various boundaries that have traced the texts and vice versa has been suggested that Indian women experience social space along the binary oppositions imposed patriarchal thought private public danger safety pure polluted Sharma 227 Instead static dichotomy however suggest that the experience Indian women begin with Indian religions and culture contain more volatile powerfulmatriarchal myths myths female power Such myths repeatedly m ay only we are warned confirm male superiority either working demonising female strength safety valve out anti patriarchal steam However Natalie Davis suggests the image the disorderly woman evenwhen contained and demonised opens outbehavioral options women 154 Female strength and female disorder interchangeable images glorify Indian are not the sometimes cited proto feminist traditions fact function underline male concep in

. ..

is

.

on

's

her

,

to to

.

of

to

.

of

in

is

's

is

'.?

in

so

in

is

-

of

,

for

,

at

all

'

:

of

tion female energy The feminist movement has relevance India none because ourwhole background different Take typically strong women She instance Savitri she the line challenged even death and persevered doing because she was exercising her natural feminine quality Savitri power derived from and the service her husband She had married Satyavan despite the knowledge that he was fated die within one year When the god death Yama came claim him came accompanying her husband simha Savitri insisted since his wife place was

's

.

67 )

so

of

in

to

's

all

.

.

to

him

accept Yama assurances that with her S he refpanying She refused husband death her wifely obligations had expired Finally Satyavan acknowledgement was returned Savitri her devotion that the always with him

a

.

;

, . p

'(

of

a

of

prowess and capable perpetuating our race Kakar Here we powerful legitimisation have the ideologies that inform sati and

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE

114

tion

's

a reproducer of the patriarchal story . Even in the evocation of the to assert an indigeneous tradi of female power ( cited above ), there is not only a rejection of

woman family

DRAMA

strength

is

as a

wife and as

as

' of

'

a

of

-

of a

by

, or

be

by , ,

as

be

can

of

to

.

,

,

an

of

of

via

wifely power but, the affirmation natural attribute powerful implicit negation women whole counter tradition precisely those norms upheld and disturbing femininity subversive by Savitri This tradition has slowly begun uncovered although large areas feminism

assimilated

into

,

'

(

,

'

.

'

,

of

so

a

,

is

.

,

's

;

by

or

,

by

a

be

.

-

of as

;

to of

,

In

,

is

-

of as

(p

in

is

it

,

in

be is

of

).

as

of

‘a

,

it

by

,

's of

it

in

55

of

,

,

of

').

in

of

,

';

,

and

;

it

demonised clouded over Marriage and cultures see Babb Chattopadhyay Lokayata Ideology and the malevolence Ponniah status women Hindu society Liddle and Joshi suggest that this tradition including worship the mother goddess constitutes matri preserves the value archal culture the sense that women life represents the acknow givers and sources activating energy and power ledgement women women and men the culture Although this concept somewhat vague and doubtful whether any sense Indian culture today can called matriarchal the term powerful and the presence this counter tradition makes available potentially radical ambivalence and dichotomy which easily con not may popular suggest tained dominant culture culture the early powerful figure goddess the malevolent unmarried woven into images everyday life female disobedience and vice versa both are powerful behavioral sought be ritually exorcised but survive options These may contemporary images bolstered wide array for example those provided the growing women movement seen

dominant histories myths

,

,

is

of ,

.

is

,

to

for

of

an

,

,

a

In

of '

' . in

of

,

conversely feminist movements education may strategically seize upon the latent dichotomy popular culture example the folk festival Bandamma Panduga Andhra may interrogation one find disturbance desired female designed behaviour through theatrical representation The festival propitiate the goddess Bandamma who single powerful and there in

in

is

is

is

on

,

,

of

,

to

.

.

as in

to

fore evil Her active sexuality linked fears female authority general and widows disobedient wives and promiscous women particular During the first four days worshipped the festival she powerful malignant day represented aspect her and and the final

of

of

to

.

, ,

is

;

are

the

in

the

,

,

of

of

:

,

.

,

propitiated tamed and domesticated Two different kinds theatrical performances are therefore held the first are skits which revolve around the theme the world turned upside down and reversals social particularly sexual hierarchy the second formal drama emphasising female loyalty male protectiveness and social stability As Tapper notes disorderly closely linked reversals skits actual fears

WOMEN ' S DIVISION OF EXPERIENCE

115

women :

one

from

of

.

,

,

of

to

)

.( .p

quote briefly

such skit

Do

will

marital breakdown

:

I

other aspects

about female character dominance Among the heirs the role female husbands adultery and

24

of

,

for

in

of

for

These skits are also interesting guides to the suspicions which are a part of the ideological rationale male issues raised them are the problem the lack male respect their economic activity the need wives

all

a

)

off

.

be

,

on to

as

(

‘

'

righted

the reversals and these are finally

by )

-24 5

Tapper

!(

)

, pp .

I

.

to

so

) .( .

Aside Except Penta Rao

of

by

.

at

I

The audience laughs the drama

?

on

Ah

'

am ll

, on I I,

?

on

never desired any other man

born

on

,

it

I

, if

as a

.

to

!

't

:

,

:

I

go

.)

to

to

of

.

off

,

on

( As

)

a

to

(

.

a

.. .

,

a

)

?

to

(

:

(

,

brags

is

gossiping with another woman you have husband who Long pause Well perhaps our husbands are similar after has crooked mouth and mine has crooked arse Enters the help her take heavy basket house and begins ordering her husband her my head Do slowly help me take this basket head Come careful step he helps her she uses the opportunity his bending over his my devotion loyal wife putmy foot your head you head Due straight will heaven my head Husband Hey Are you putting your foot every wife Hold Wife Yes doesn take my leg down said she steps loyal you From the day was him even more emphatically Wife

equal mine Your husband

of

,

of

,

of

.

an

.

,

's

for of

of

,

by

,

as

of

.

If

of

;

as

is

with the instances disorder analysed Davis their contain oppression not complete both the daily experience linkage power single goddess women and the with the the makes such images desired rather than totally negative Indira Gandhi encour aged representations herself Kali the goddess destruction she image During was playing upon the ambivalence allowed such the independence struggle women resistance was glorified and chan neled into patriarchally accepted images active women For example But

ment

or

to

189

).

.p

',

Ravana

',

Vanita

'(

world

to

to a

to

a

it;

'a

is

on

,

;

at

of

is

as

, ,

the legendary Rani Jhansi celebrated her resistance the British Raj during the 1857 uprising popularly represented mardani man nish the other end the spectrum the Gandhian movement enlisted giver mass female participation but the premise that woman whose giving extends beyond the family but does not exclude mother and sister not few individuals but the country and the

of

My point simply firstly that the ambivalence such amplified be Wemust deny the supposed homogeneity

of

of

for

,

is

in

,

of

,

–

is

.

as

of

,

.

is

histories must culture and position the Indian female readers occupying diverse and contradic tory heritages Secondly course the radical potential such heterogeneity conjunction with sub not inherent but catalysed sequent developments example growing articulation female

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE

116

DRAMA

discontent and the women 's movement. So one may suggest that the images of female disorder in Renaissance drama and in , say, Indian , contemporary reality culture and can be made to become mutually illuminating , can be made to interact in specific classroom situations . We have spoken of the various contradictions which operate in the

/

is

a

is

's

as

disguised

('

to

actors playing women resist transcend

to

argument Catherine Belsey that male men produced subject that able usual gender divisions Disrupting sexual differ the latter

?

the handicaps

of

all

are

case of the Jacobean heroine . The final one is of course between the male author and the female creation . Whose voice do we hear ? The woman protagonist or the male author ? Do the heroines experience greater interiorisation of male behaviour than is usual because they are they able the products of the masculine pen ? Or resist male domin precisely ation more than real life women because they do not suffer

-

is

,

-

to

is

a

of

as

are

').

,

to to

suggest that because male writers speak Can we extend this trying appropriate male prerogatives there women who greater disruption even the purely uni gendered standpoint such subject occupy the area between the real life that the female able ence

to ?

as

,

woman and the conventional heroine between the stereotypical woman and the monstrous one WOUS one why male writers should foreground The question still remains a

of

,

's

An

/

of of

as

to

be

of

as

;

to

is to

.

of

.

I

of

the issue female transgression have suggested that the idea patriarchal conspiracy reduces the complexities the ideologies that inform the plays and and also ignores their political thrust author gender relations part attitude be seen his her other politics not simply coexisting with them use the sex the author uncritically as

the

On

.

to

.

of

,

far

is in

far

–

a

an

of

as

or

/

to

a

as

an

patriarchalism great indicator his her feminism would accept the class background mistake individual sufficient although wemay grant that for determining their politics feminist perspective principle more readily available women other hand the plays are more contradictory and complicated than just simple defences women

of

a

are

of

on

to

As

a

,

its

of

single and stable meaning

on

insist

;

serve only

on a

may

to

a

,

to

.

's

of

I

for

.

in

shall suggest the next chapter women also become exploration the theatre own complicated relationship quo the status Finally constant harking back the question authorial intention

relations vehicle to

a

of

a

be

'.

it

in

'

its

)

(

in

Instead gender becomes also the metaphor though not merely crudely representative sense relationships between for series authority and others Such metaphors are not limited for the use power and can suggested that they those crucial for drama power which has increasingly been seen focus the complexity

the contrary

'S

WOMEN

DIVISION

OF EXPERIENCE

117

its its

,

to

on

in

to

.

of

of

it

;

in

of

,

be

.

via

its

by

,

to

of

to explore the different effects of the play is not only to uncover meanings within specific situations but also amplify aspects inception which have been historically clouded dominantdeploy interrogation possible duplicitous ment The radical the woman then may only one meaning which attaches Renaissance drama contemporary English from the perspective the situation obtaining studies India nevertheless serves focus both Renaissance sexual politics and some the subsequent histories these texts

he

of

to

is

.

of in

).

'(

of .p

to

of

,

,

-

;

is

of

. .

's

'

Ornstein finds that DeFlores was her fate because realised the potentialities her nature Like Middleton other heroines Beatrice must be betrayed order know family and duty herself for only he can free her from the chains convention and He her Petrarchan love his single minded reckless consuming sexual hunger the closest approximation she will find the literary dream absolute passion 187

, .

1

Notes

, of

of

(

'

,

a

's

of

Middleton

Women Beware Women see my

the

to a

;

is in

by

,

is to

,

to

:

; ,

if

or

of a

'.

,

'O

.

to

;

to

'

to

Lal , s

to .

,

;

,

Punjabi See Kakar The InnerWorld Mernissi Beyond Veil One such folk song woman narrates her experiences after marriage her friends whenever she goes plate next she finds her husband Girdhari hers when she goes bathe sleep his bed and she goes his underclothes when she goes the toilet his wash bowl appears next her own The song becomes bawdier and punctuated the friends chanting wonderful Girdhari Lal The tone flavour are untranslatable but since Girdhari

of

,

or

of

.

to

of

'

,

,

or

,

, of

of

in

to

is

in ).

, I

of

.

as

to

)

or

as

i(. e

's

he

.

In

of

to

wrong

is

technically permisible religion and law the eyes think Wadsworth assume that remarriage was tolerated because the widow substance was desirable economic proposition fact himself notes that the King widows long remarry those women who inherited property held by him were allowed

a is

remarriage

.

'

(p

to

,

's

rather irritating proximity the song hilariously supposed sexual prowess the bride even downright abusive Agrippa Stephen Guazzo and William argues that the evidence suggests that when Webster decided dramatise the story of the Duchess Malfi he would not have had assume that his audience would immediately and automatically condemn suggest that widow the Duchess for remarrying 398 While there evidence achievement consists

marriage undercuts the romance even the groom Some other songs are more unkind Citing the pronouncements Vives Cornelius remarriage Frank Wadsworth Heale favour .

3

?

'

of '. T is . is S a .

an

,

).

recent adaptation chapter six

eat ,

2

'

analysis For Disorderly Women

.

an

', of ( a p .

of

.

!)

‘

in

'

in

of

,

'

,

is

Butdoes Beatrice ever know herself and she ever freed Here the terms heroic drama are reproduced and romanticised and there no analysis the interlinkage class and gender this consuming sexual hunger Eliot claimed that Middleton tragedy better than any understood woman the Elizabethans excluding understanding patronising almost intuitive course Shakespeare For Eliot such genius because there are permanent human feelings and act possible by the man universal femininity 166

.

a

rather than

confirmed

and unequivocal

indictment from

all of

tension

a

.

,

a

remarriage

it

is

of

by

to

, : it

a

is

of

it .

they did not claim this property paid the necessary fee for Wadsworth concludes that the attitude towards widow remarriage was economic instead moral However crude separation of the two not possible hence while may be suggested that the richer the widow the more the disapproval also true that the disapproval would religion and misogynist prejudice and filter down bolster itself the moral tones wards all widows On the other hand this suggests debate over the question

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

118

,

to

's

's

on

's

.

woman loneliness and dissertation women

';

,

';

in

of

's

.

-

to in

:

,

a

:

's

“

:

of

of

.

on

creativity and architectural space brings together similar issues with useful documenta tion medieval and Renaissance housing For analysis the patriarchal basis various apparently feminist myths see Joan Bam why men rule berger The myth matriarchy primitive society Mandy Merck The city achievements the patriotic Amazonomachy and ancient Athens William Blake Tyrell Amazons study Athenianmyth making Marina Warner MonumentsandMaidens

'

.

, so

am

to a

of

is

in

in

.

)

of

.

(

-

of

of

in

's

a

, , as

in

.

-p

is

's a

in

I

as a

,

indicating the duality urban readers the texts but here interested what has been dominantly claimed closed and static tradition Such disturbance urban areas may be provided by the militancy the growing women movement or by agit rop theatre Interestingly women result the mass scale involvement political but not necessarily feminist during the independence struggle women many Western European contexts activity India than more acceptable to

8

,

,

,

an

-

of

.

is a of

;

of ,

of in

's

.

,

of

of

iconography the meaning the female form Times India Chattopadhyay veteran freedom fighter and author Indian Women Battle Freedom she typifies the post colonial dilemma Beyondthe Veil where third world women indigenous which Mernissi talks heritage and mode struggle becomes imperative and yet leads into the pitfalls indi cated by Fanon of asserting some of the most retrogressive elements of tradition specific particular region This festival the precise disturbance does not apply also useful with respect Kamladevi Chattopadhyay

for of

6

of

an

.

of

analysis Genre and gender for novel TheBrokenNest Anne Thorne

's ’s‘

in

5

See Rashmi Bhatnagar literary space Tagore

is 7

's

to

an

.

in

for

sections of society . I am deeply indebted to Judith Blair ' s brilliant essay ‘ Private parts in public places ' my analysis duplicity This article and others Ardener collection Women andSpace provided spatial analysis generally and directed my attention introduction the social and sexual placement women

of

4

thoughts ':

‘ Travelling

theatre and the space of the other Negative capability reconsidered The assumption of dominant Anglo - American criticism , that tragedy arrive at ‘ some comprehensive vision of the relation of human suffering to human joy (Ribner , p . 1) and must lead catharsis moral certainity was central both bringing the privileged text texte institutionalising this by framing hieravileged closure and hierarchical canon sraming drama great art The exalted stature Shakespearean affirmation to

,

in

a

,

of

ofShake order and

its

a

in

.

'

'

of

to

via

'

of a

must

‘

as

).

, .p

a

its

an

of

‘r

at

do

)

-t

).

xiv

its

as “

'

of

to

as

an

:

of

of of

early tragedy

-

,

.

,

pp

'

in a

on

' '

(

of

'

of

est

(

,

(

to

)

(i

a

.e

moral conservative movement towards final and unquestionable truth are interdependent claims which are invoked confirm one another see also Heinemann 203 On the other hand Middletonian drama for example was dismissed not the high tragedy protagonists kind because not arrive any ecog elling nition truth Muir xiii Truth was attribute the Godlike and detached artist and yet this criterion was selectively applied negative slanted principle precisely what was celebrated capability ironically Shakespeare was dismissed the case detached unheroic view life not attuned the heroic passions

,

of

re -

,

of

'

, a

a

' ,

to

.'

'

in

the case Middleton Bertolt Brecht has increasingly been used read the plays the period because he found complex shifting largely impersonal never soluble conflict disconnectedness both structure and perspective in

'

'

for

apex

,

for Brecht observed Shakespeare contem

's

twenty

of

at

Shakespearean

least

analysis was important also

for focusing

new and self

con of

an

to

in

,

of

an

by

as

form

of

and

,

;

.

on

textual meaning and The blurring distinctions between comedy and tragedy had often been disparagingly noted critics relation the plays Middleton Women Beware Women for example has been called unsuc structure

aspect

-

's

Brecht

scious way perspective

in a

.

similar characteristics poraries

in

,

its

the Renaissance canon with

)

, , . .p

on

of

,

for

a

as

(

to

that approximated his own Brecht Theatre 161 what had been regarded omniscient authorial detachment This has radical impli democratising cations not only the reading the plays but

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

120

create tragedy

‘

a

to

).

in

;

.

-

of

,

-

its

of of

'

in

of

'(

, .p

‘

its

to

',

of

of

out the materials and conventions central theme more appropriate broadside balladeer than the tragic poet Ornstein 140 Brecht read such im purities the context the various ways which Renaissance drama resisted artistic isolation into the world make believe He noted that language incorporated the speech the beer hall audiences that daylight performances and open stages prevented hypnotic illusion cessful attempt satiric comedy

.

-

by

practised not only Shakespeare the period see Heinemann 209 ).

, .p

of

‘

a

',

(

also

,

self

a

a

naive surreas surrealism

other naive dramatists by other

of

but

to

,

Brecht

byled

of

as

-

a

;

and of

to

that the dramatisation material familiar the audience encouraged critical approach that the collective nature the theatre companies and their life style encouraged montage and epic construction which opposes the idea drama self stage sufficient microcosm All this says

's

him

to

of

-

of

is

in

.

(

of

-7 ),

is

of

'

of

in

,

‘

;

art

”

'

's

'

in

,

-

,

in

,

”

"

is

'

Shakespeare Robert Weimann has demonstrated that the basis Robem capability itself socio historical located partly the free by dom the detachment and the imagination made available popular partly the tradition the theater and the fact that while capitalism older feudal values could already be questioned those were not yet their necessary alternative the myriad mindedness Shakespeare contextualised by Weimann terms the position ing both artist and the playhouse pp 176 and interwoven with negative

of

',

(

;

its

of

its

,

of

‘

'

's

on to

of

by

.

,

the structural looseness the plays More recently Jonathan Dollimore implications drawing has elaborated the the Brechtian connection upon Brecht approach identify critical and dramatic the materialist discontinuity emphasis realism Renaissance drama form and character and radical questioning the philosophical and political status quo Radical Tragedy see also Heinemann How Brecht

to

an

.

of

's

. ..

Brecht

'(

of

has to

:'

One has life develop

be to

in

,

-

.

on

-

a

true realism

the stage

of a

of

).

, .p

An

vaccuum

see the laws that decide how the processes

Theatre

-

,

,

things

27

able

to

do

suggests

not connote free wheeling more than just make reality visible

sense does

on

Brecht claimed the open endedness could happen one way they could also Open endedness totally different manner this

if it

: a

in

–

have happened

that

as

-t

,

a

of for

resisting closure situation

to

, of

to

at

is

-

is

').

read Shakespeare My own purpose here gender more fully insert the dimension suggest that into such proto Brechtian multiplicity and montage and partly epic closely the structure least derived from and related gender roles and patriarchal authority Con the drama interrogation versely the non eleological form itself becomes important vehicle

.

of

invocation the sanctity linear and teleological structure was crucial for the colonial deployment the Western canon On the one

THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER

121

hand , it ensured that questions of form and structure flooded ( and still do ) the examination papers , inviting the reader yet again to squeeze the text into a strait- jacket and to erase the possible fractures of experience in reading it . On the other , it imposed Western aesthetics ( for example , the Aristotelian demarcation of tragedy from comedy ) upon traditions , drama (both classical and folk ) , which had the intermingling of moods and genres . Westernised theatre groups , and imported British troupes (often playingmelodrama Shakespeare versions see chapter ensured the hegemony performance generations such ideas actual and actors were taught forget the proto Brechtian epic traditions the Indian theatre as that of Indian

such

of

.

of

-

to

,

of

)

1

;

in

tic

of

acknowledged

to

, , ,

of

,

;

it

,

,

in

's

's

,

to

the West and those who have

,

,

to

movement cannot be explained simply by analogies Western linearity such those Miller Beckett for refers it

)

or

of

as

(

rejections specifically experience

of

a

such

,

.

,

It

,

of ,

its

gaze like Rushdie Márquez and recently Ghosh step out from the model linear time and space and transgress may be said however that literary the dominant Western model

,

become current objects

of

writers unknown

both

to

is

in

's.

to

on

to

,

modern

,

a

.

it

of

it

by

to

Today there have been some efforts heritage and revive such infusing with contemporary relevance This has included adaptations Western drama and when Habib Tanvir for example has performed Brecht plays the style folk theatre from Chattisgarh using the latter actors andmusic among other things has illustrated assumptions the extent which much Indian drama had worked and techniques analogous Brecht There not the space here consider the ways which third world literatures both traditional and enrich

;

for

-

a

of

to

is

of

'

'

as

.

to

is

of it by

a

to

or

do

to ).

,

see

of

it

,

(

to

of

the disjunctures and complexities non Western Datta for example simply However will not demarcate the two either the comply with the structural ideological refusal Western text equally useful for ques unity demanded dominant criticisms tioning the preferred textual model Hence seize upon what Brecht saw the disconnectedness Renaissance drama one way con

,

English

.

Indian departments

of

of

as it

,

,

to

or

of

,

as a

by

,

At

as

.

by

it

on

to

-

is

,

,

.

its

to

on

a

as

its

test institutionalised usage the barricade around series privileged positions Finally since the patriarchal gaze women and the colonial one others one dimensional because aimsboth deny their potential for mobility wemay obscure their depth and usefully consider how montage structural and thematic perspective challenge portrayals can the dominant women and other colonised peoples identifying these perspectives and the same time techniques not exclusive the hitherto privileged author text and by bringing excluded ones into related focus we may question the sanctity the Western syllabus has been inherited and preserved

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE

122

DRAMA

Montage Middleton 's frequent collaborations with other writers possibly contri buted to the loose and episodic structure of his plays . For example , the comic scenes in The Changeling , supposedly the work of Rowley , are interspersed with Middleton 's tragic scenes . Many readings have been at pains to establish the harmony between the two. But the two plots also serve to puncture and comment upon each other . In that sense, they do not merely blend ' into one another , but create a collage which serves to demystify certain issues . Both the main plot and the sub -plot reinforce the different ways in which people change . In both the heroine is tempted to be unfaithful :

whereas Beatrice actually succumbs and changes , Isabella remains faith ful. But this does not serve to condemn Beatrice ; rather the almost surrealistic treatment of madness in the sub - plot serves to alienate us in the Brechtian sense from the ‘madness ' of Beatrice 's story . Bradbrook notes that the masque ofmadmen reinforces the idea of love as madness , as something that confounds discretion and darkens reason . On the contrary , themadhouse splices themain story to create amontage which prevents us from reacting hypnotically to a romantic and mystical con ception of love, which even within themain plot is not a fixed category ,

but expands , erodes and changes as people do : it is both socially created and affects events, but is never absolute . The point here is that montage expresses what I have previously con sidered against

as the unresolved tensions

of Beatrice ’ s ‘ giddy

the contingency of character

tivity which the plays emphasise

turning '. Measured

and social construction of subjec

, the 'spectacular

catastrophe(s )’ of Jaco

bean tragedy noted by critics (Gibbons, p . xviii ) do not constitute the ‘ revelation ' which is considered the proper end of drama, for they only

the

life

confirm what the almost cool depiction of violence in the earlier acts has relentlessly underlined . Hence to Muir 's complaint that Beatrice does not attain knowledge we may reply that this is precisely the point: neither the protagonists nor the plays arrive at that famous finalmoment of closure . Examining this in relation to The White Devil , Dollimore cites a passage from Brecht which is worth re - quoting at this point:

,

a

,

in

a

)

, .

p

(

.

to

,

of

,

to

is

is

.. .

.. .

It

be

a

.. .

in

The tragedy of Mother Courage and of her consisted fact that here terrible contradiction existed which destroyed human being contradiction long terrible struggles which could resolved but only by society itself and not the business the playwright endow Mother Courage with final insight his concern make the spectator see Radical Tragedy 246

THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER

I have

123

the rape scene in Women Beware Women where Bianca internalises the violence committed upon her and , at the same time, is alienated from the beliefs by which guilt is measured . The rape is inserted into a long scene , framed by the chess game and broken up by clusters of smaller scenes of courtly life . The chess game has been example used elsewhere in the drama as a political metaphor , as especially important Middleton own Game Chess what the employs case Women Beware Women that de sensationalise courtly the rape Violence the female body has become sort game which those outside the royal circle are pawns What lifts the earlier commented

in

in

a

of

-

to

it

he

is

;

.

in

.

on

is

of

's

A

at

for

on

power

as on

scene from being just cynical comment unexpectedness Bianca reaction even

to

,

of

,

,

.

,

,

,

of

of

or

's

to

.

of

-

,

in

,

as

lar

as

of

-

in

,

in

‘

–

's

.

-

is

law

in -

be

;

– is

)

,

- .

is

to

's .

of

-

in a

of

.

As

's

V .4

(

'

is

:

's

of

in

a

,

of

a

the violence and she adapts her status victim she retains sense her own agency Bianca one the three women involved the rape scene Livia machinations and the Mother helplessness place women series different relationships power patriarchal with the three interact with each other we glimpse the relativity and contigency each relationship the Mother seeks confine her daughter but herself ensnared the chess game Livia will shortly out manoeuvred Again none the three attain any final insights Bianca dying belief Like our own sex we have no enemy pitifully inadequate explaining her fate 215 episodic The non linear non climactic structure and montage usually disclose the construction identity and social relations For exam ple downstage position serves we saw Othello Iago hoist popu misogyny onto the stage itself where they notions racism become particular and contested perspectives instead confirmed

,

at

so

.

,

', .

-

is

.

a

of a

'

as

,

a

of

,

.

's

In

truths Webster The White Devil characters repeatedly overhear watch and secretly observe each other that most points we watch the through eyes just action series not our own Such successive fram ings have been often regarded stock devices stereotypical versions play within play But their effect far from stereotypical Consider

,

’

'

is

.

,

what name for you )

?

Embraces her

.

close

My

Sinking

-8

202

)

. (I . ii . :

ruin

I

!

oh

,

’n

my heart upon me fears are fall son the pander now find our house )

My

.

aside

to

Most happy union (

. . .

merciful

See now they

Zanche

Flamineo

so

That are

Cornelia

creature

call the cruel

(

. We

fair

Excellent

Brachiano

:

by

's

,

.

,

is

by

's

,

for example Vittoria first private interchange with Brachiano which watched Zanche Flamineo and Cornelia Whereas Romeo and Juliet balcony scene fills the entire arena this affair interrupted and interpreted for the audience different comments

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

124

's

,

his

noto

's

-5 ). of

is

is

,

act

it

it .

of

's

in

's

.

,

,

pp

a

as

be

'

is

he

,

to

(

,

his is

iii ).

Zanche invests the liaison with her own desire for romance , which com Flamineo is ridiculed by others because she is black (see V . hardly concerned with the lovers happiness and ment ironic for poverty consequence yet seen own viciousness can Tragedy C ornelia marginalisation 322 see Dollimore Radical and remark serves swerve the gaze away from Vittoria transgression Montage here insists that the relationship her brother part something spontaneity privatised ideal and instant attraction

Lawyer

My

of

;

is

,

of

's

for in

.

public

.

very

.

'

;

tis

ass

are 19 ) a

-

1 .

(

III .

.

lord Duke and she have been very private dull threatned they have been 17

You

Flamineo

the play

:

theme

.

the main

of

us

'

'

of

.

,

planned and manipulated and always public The watching con privacy and individual agency the resul stantly punctures the illusion public trial and punishment tant broken focus ties with Vittoria prepares interplay private and public which and thus the

on

by

Spatial politics

,

's

of

‘

its

on

of

;

,

;

in

,

of

,

its

on

of

:

of

,

a

is

of

of

,

.

to

to

is

us

of

montage more closely focusing examine the effects supposed tragic harmony that achieve the kind seen elude The Changeling Three centuries critical opinion from Samuel overcoming Johnson onwards has been preoccupied with the heterogeneous nature Shakespeare both the form and the content disjointed struc Antony and Cleopatra the focus has variously been tragic and comic flux ture mingling character divisions between private and public male and female high and low life what Danby Let

text that

, in

its

of

.

to

,

a

to

.

:

a

of

as

as

(

'

of

,

of

. ‘

,

of

of

of

its

,

a

–

in

,

);

p

.

, .p . or . 26 . )

of

a

J.

of E.

to

,

of

to

(

2

, '

'

An

of

–

,

.

'

has called the dialectic the text However correlation these various binaries the thematic oppositions the broken structure treatment fluid gender and racial identity has yet be attempted epic effect has been noted but the classical sense the word see Mark Rose we might more usefully employ the term analyse these various schisms The continual hurry Brechtian sense the action the variety incidents and the quick succession one personage another the frequent changes scene Johnson contradicting the classical quoted emerge Brown then teleological progression towards catharsis elevation character achieving posit radical inter Brechtian alienation from character imperial rogation the and sexual drama The geographical turbulence the first three acts involves re femininity and definition female space patriarchal Rome contests

THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER

125

of a

in

of

.

of ,

an

ar

of

of

at

as

to

.

non -E

,

of

,

e

-

is

.

Cleopatra for her geographical and sexual territory Into the imperial domination Dominant notions contest woven the theme about female identity gender relations and imperial power are unsettled through the identity disorderly non uropean woman These ideas appear Europescene are abandoned be reinstated the quick shifts favour scene apparent resolution more orthodox climax the end the play Egyptian

the

of . :

as

,

of as

of

a

in

is

,

of

.

in

the dilemma Whereas the first three acts the play there are twenty changes three scene and shifts location within each well play proceeds there change the quality and quantity movement all

.

,

to

,

to

,

IV

's

V

in

of

alone there are fifteen changes locale but within Egypt contains only two scenes and both are confined the area Cleopatra monument Alongside this different characters strive rise Act

Act

.

of

of

of

its

an

;

but

eroded

the play

.

critics are not subscribed

by

noted

to

by

a

,

of is

’

'

being How above their earlier turbulence and assert inner unity precarious the manner ever this harmony achievement conveys oppositions the very opposite resolution and the various sets

to

,

'

as

–

)

.

'

an

,

.

, ,

in

, .

-4 us .)

is

to

of

he

, .

,

to

is

to

it

so

to

in a

it

in

.

'

;

,

of

'

it

to

'

(I

,

:'

is

,

In

.

I, , to

of

to

. .iii

is

of of

, /

in is a

,

,

,

relatively abstract emotions ideology and sexuality Theatrical space not just inert arena but interacts with the texts treatment social and psychological space Not only does the locale constantly shift but each setting we are Egypt Rome reminded another evoked and vice versa While leaving for Rome Antony tells Cleopatra thou residing here goes yet with me And hence fleeting here remain with thee 103 This common enough lovers platitude but serves remind that addition the purely geographical shifts terrain there are conceptual settings the lovers private world constantly also those contrasted the political space Antony identifies the former with Egypt and preferring privatise love Rome trying locate relationship Cleopatra his with domestic arena But also attempts expand this space that excludes the other threatening world –

something

,

.

of

on

of

'(

, .p

–

.

of

as

,

,

of

imperial expansion political power and sexual domina tion are dramatically compressed into spatial and geographical shifts panning tracking and metaphors The almost cinematic movements Danby and playing with the camera 197 are designed reveal the complexity the terrain which men and women move well power their inner spaces They penetrate into different aspects The issues

: they seek ever

17 )

16

earth

.( I. 1 .

new

, as

also trying

heaven

do

lovers

are

what Donne

’d .

belov

must thou needs find out new

to

be

bourn how

far to

set

Then

's

This

is

.

Antony

a

. I'

Cleopatra

ll

,

masculine politics and crowds out other concerns

more

126

,

RENAISSANCE DRAMA

for

,

GENDER RACE

are

in

44 )

or

political

emotional con

..

: /.

of

.

he

shall call

;

, of

Egypt made her

-

Lydia

)

. , ( III .vi .8 ,

Absolute queen

will

gifts

11

Cyprus

Syria

the

;

).

45 -7

(I

'

.v .

/

Unto her gave the establishment

Of Lower

all

too

: '

a

be

is a

it

,

as

,

as

courts Cleopatra with territorial and political Her opulent throne with kingdoms East her mistress Caesar complains precisely this

'

,

at

if

. ( , II . .ii . 39 , -

in

on

is

always invested with

piece

He

's as

;

as

:

to

its

Egypt Caesar

place from which subversion Caesar indicates Egypt merely practised and such can never lovers retreat

;

be

);

its

).

a

to

't

to

be

.

Objective space notations can

imperial Rome

you What was No more than my residing here Rome Might Egypt Yet you there you my state your being Egypt Did practice Might be my question

Caesar

Antony

challenge

,

.

? in

My being

as

it )

by

of

a

of

is a

is

( (

European nature only intensifies Antony

73 ).

.p :'

'

by

'(

an

l';

no

(

is

,

all

their relationship and for each other She everywhere States and Princes their room becomes patriarchy Cleopatra defining Roman demonises her world longer serious general entering private Antony female Egypt robs Antony and his soldiers their manhood and barbaric Antony gypsies now slave But both Antony and Caesar private space and that aware that Egypt not merely female non all

expansive metaphors

',

is

,

(

is

'

by

far

,

,

of

as

Passionate the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra the transcending the power relations which language desire from wholly informed structure this society them Dollimore Radical as

Egypt

,

make this marriage for my peace

He

lies

41 )

. foras ( II . . his iii

my pleasure

39 -

I

l' th '

East

:

‘

'

illicit relationship

and

;

I

will

And though

,

,

sexually passionate to

through

a

by

;

in

of

.

These relations are both sexual and racial is

).

, p .

203

In

the begin control what he regards the opposition between politics and pleasure therefore he assumes that he can simul taneously possess the Roman matron Octavia through the legal bonding permitted imperial patriarchy and the oriental seductress Cleopatra Tragedy

ning Antony thinks he

a

.

:

a

As

In

.

,

of

in

no

he is

's

's,

to

bid

alternately views Egypt retreat from Roman politics and place power consolidate his short he oscillates between Cleopatra territory and Caesar both literally and otherwise the longer play proceeds command such divide his position

THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER

127

23

7

'

he

me

of ).

.III ', I . he am 90 , - his / 3) . ,

.

x 3 -4

, ,

III .

in both Rome and Egypt becomes unstable and manifests itself as a dislocation of personality : ' I / Have lost my way for ever ', 'I have fled myself , 'I have lost command ' ( Authority melts from

,

, ), on

/

?

no

,

'

:

'

I , am

but like Faustus the Duchess Malfi and Parolles Antony yet lost essential self Have you ears Antony complains that Caesar keeps harping Even

cries

invokes

;

-3

,

'

' s '

'

to

of

:

at

‘

's

.

,

in

,

I

' , . (

III

‘

as

'

as a

'

It

is

is

of

(

xiii emphasis added what Not what he knew was xiii 142 he aware the change himself Without power without space without Rome and without Cleopatra Antony disintegrates important that Cleopatra transformation into the whore and witch occurs precisely this point the language what Antony per betrayal reduces Cleopatra ceives infinite variety both patri

of

of

of a

's

as

to

,

is

'

'

'

is

,

of

a

is

,

do

so

to

,

in

,

in

.

-

a

as

fear

by

,

woman

of

a

,

threatened by the

her

,

as

of

.

of

of

:

Egypt her space constructed the ruler expansionist designs the Roman empire and contradictions heterosexual love Her insecurity

as is

,

to

is

,

ously

of

it

's

's

. If

a

is

on

.

's

,

's

,

his

of

his

.

's

,

of

's

a

of

all

of

at on

-

of

.

for

for

or

,

.

.

,

,

:

' d '

As

.

of

an

be is

,

in

,

.

is

in

it

I ' s

,

as

-

' '

as

,

at

of as

”

“

at

).

of

'(

.p

(

,

a

”

"

of

.

archal and racist stereotypes Helen Carr has pointed out that although the substitution witch for whore the primary image the signifies greater degree deviant woman horror the possibility consciously female sexuality the same time represses the idea sexual woman the witch fantasies are alien and evil intruders her aspect mind 51 Cleopatra have argued both her sexuality her blackness and such can only erased later when she herself adopts token Roman ness Whereas falling from Othello favour morally begrim Desdemona became and black and false her true self Cleopatra the foul Egyptian only realises her true position Antony perceives that he only nominally the complete outsider actually between Cleopatra and Caesar the site the conflict which power between him and Cleopatra escalates The the latent struggle metaphors this three way struggle become those the land and the sea Whether the fight should take place the Roman element the Cleopatra medium the water military land once matter Antony emotional and political affiliations strategy and measure increasing The erosion the absolute space love stems from perception own marginality and Cleopatra refusal share her space With worlds being lost Antony vacillations cease and the structural shifts Such movement also dependent the play treatment Cleopatra political being threatens patriarchy Cleopatra also catalyses the contradictions within her which are inherent the posi sexually active non European tion she occupies female ruler Although she unique among the independent women Renaissance drama for she appears command her own spaces these are precari the

invasion

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

128

- not just as a ruler , but also as a woman who is threatened even (or especially ) by her lover - is evident in her physical stasis , her reluctance

'

.

to

:

.

a

As '

as a

.

vis

it

is

,

.

In

a

,

or vis -à -

of

to move from her territory . However slippery , inconstant and variable Cleopatra may be , however she may threaten the boundaries between male and female , political and private worlds , she remains geographic ally stationary . She resents the intrusions of Roman messengers who remind her not only of Antony 's wives , first Fulvia and then Octavia , but also of the imperial threat . Cleopatra fluctuates between establishing her emotional and her polit ical spaces : a vacillation without end for she cannot simultaneously occupy both . She finds it much harder to locate her own territory in relation to Antony than Caesar She can either function within honorary man and chaste the private life man enter politics any woman like Elizabeth case double bind foul Egyptian always Antony society she will stand outside Roman can never fully trust her and will marry safe and obedient Roman women like Octavia ensure his stability within that society Her gender renders her polit

,

her political status problematises her femininity doubly both power and sexuality perfectly comprehensible the extent that she acts ruler she concealing praises Caesar he even her for her treasure from him nay blush not Cleopatra approve Your wisdom the deed 148 But whereas he will not haggle over things that merchants

,

ically unacceptable

.

,

;

is

'

in

/

of

of

her

;

of

'

changes from montage and mingling appears that Cleopatra classical tragedy

the to

:‘

as

). to

what noble

.. .

's

,

brave

/

's

no an

to

;

is

73 -5

. xv .

IV

(

'

;

'

do

what

after the

).

-

86 7

xv .

'(

as

goddess Egypt tries high Roman fashion

IV to .

‘

is

/

/

By

all

of

is

,

the

It

,

en a

'

e

to s

'

.

a

comic and tragic that tamed the wanton stripped gypsy becomes Antony queen wife essential femininity that attaches women irrespective class more but woman and commanded such poor passion the maid that milks And does the meanest chares The variable woman now marble constant the witch gives way the penitent of

style now

respect

the play

the various tensions

resolve

to

The last act appears

grant her autonomy even

in

'

refuses

to

he

),

. ii .

'

. (V

sold death

83

.

(

9 )

I

,

;

:

,

. ii .

V

‘

,

a

to To

as

,

and her racial otherness troubles

of

a

in

's

.

of

in

to

.

fill

's

, or

,

no

its

of to

to

to

is

,

,

.

of

apparent impli Several aspects this resolution serve contradict capitulate cations Firstly Cleopatra able Roman matrimony only after Antony has died and when one aspect her conflict has dissolved sharing power with Antony rather than being resolved The prospect longer exists and she begins approximate the lovers Donne poems Antony own earlier expressions absolute emotion After way that Antony alive could his death Antony can her world

THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER never be allowed

to do

129

:

Crested the world

arm

'd

83 ) his

. (V . 41 .

79 -

His face was as the heav'ns, and therein stuck A sun and moon , which kept their course and lighted The little O , the earth . . . His legs bestrid the ocean ; rear

an

's

a

without the for

.

)

V

. ii .

285

'(

'

now comfortably called husband that actual matrimony implies

.

a

of

,

its

of

be

can

freedom

to

risk

,

of .

als

Antony

,

of

in

to

.

as

The poetry has been seen sublime Cleopatra words display effort cloak personal and political loss the language transcendental eternal romance Given the conditions utterance the poetry reve politics the politics sublimation rather than transcendence

,

's

up

:

a

.

,

of

Cleopatra also lets her own fierce identification with Egypt slip the first time Literally course she still does not accept Caesar Rome which remains threat

can

)

. ii .

! (V

gentle grave unto me

55 8

a

?

Be

in

to

,

Shall they hoist me And show me the shouting varletry Egypt Of censuring Rome Rather ditch

is

it

);

.ii .2

(V

'

to

.

is

.

of

a

to

of

‘

it

,

s

.

be '

's

,

'.

, if

'

's

as

adopt the space and But Rome was also Antony his wife she Roman fashion Secondly these moves reflect Cleopatra contradictions they are also strategic and constitute the unruly woman last performances Hav ing lost power paltry now becomes Caesar now things other than power Her suicide clouds her political time speak autonomy Her own body defeat with mystic glamour and show of

.

of

.

be

to

'

'

of

,

'

).

. of ii .

(V

'

this vile

world

?

o

I

'

stay

).

311

12

- ).

Without power What should

–

'

It is

. . As ii. 11 .

( ( V V

279

/ ‘ ' th In '

sir

as

as

,

to

.

to

.

.

of

a

,

at

'

in

'

the last space wrested from Roman control The asp will bring her liberty the absence real territory The maternal image the snake her breast tamesher own earlier identification with the serpent replacing the deadly Eastern inscrutibility with comprehensible ver patriarchal sion the Madonna Of course both are constructions women The first demonises the alien woman while the second seeks domesticise her power Till the end Cleopatra attempts maintain some vestiges even she acknowledges Caesar the sole world 119 only when every effort has failed that she has immortal longings

so

,

Cleopatra achieves these false resolutions the play also abandons adequately expressed the discontinuity the cinematic montage that

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

130

of character , the

dialectic between inner and outer , political and per and female spaces . The shifts of scene which conveyed both the vacillations of Antony and the unruly theatricality of Cleopatra give way to the elevation of the 'Roman ' suicides ; to the conventional climax ' and the stock devices of formal drama, as patriarchal roles and divisions are apparently reinstated . If Cleopatra 's fluid identity and play -acting demanded one kind of theatrical form , her new role as Antony ' smarble constant wife employs themore classical technique . The Roman theatre takes over from the volatile Egyptian one . The closed space of the monu sonal, male

all

ment , the measured actions and tones , the slow , drawn -out scenes and the elevated language tone down the fiery and unpredictable per of

,

's

imperialism

,

.

of

masculinity and the earlier Cleopatra The narrative regains control but Cleopatra final performance which certainly exposes her own vulnerability not only cheats Caesar but formances

Another purpose

of

.

denies any final and authoritative textual closure

playing

of

an

be

;

of

,

the

of

on

of

.

,

In

on

in

of

an

Robert Weimann has suggested several reasons for perceiving approximation increasing the Brechtian epic Renaissance drama focus discontinuous identity and female changeability may disorderly woman another the play just discussed elements are identified with those the popular stage and therefore the foregrounding such women also interrogates the controls and

authoritarian

an

's

,

the

.

in

If

limitations theatrical space there are two styles and forms the popular drama own position within play they also explore

of

.

state

'

,

's

.

Montrose

. in

,

of

a

on

the

see

;

of

;

of

or

:

in

to

as

a

suggests

A

important essay playing The purpose relationship between authority and Renaissance theatre which analogous we can trace that between authority and women The public theatre and the professional player resisted the drive towards fixity duplicity several ways their profession was based kind temporary donning identity players were upwardly mobile real life their costumes were often the discarded clothes the nobility and Louis

in

-2 );

, .p

,

, –

of

, p . by

63 ).

to

'

,

by

are

(

'

–

I;

of

of

,

of

of

,

a

(

plays defied the dress code Jardine Still Harping 141 and themselves reveal pervasive concern with fictional situations which change within the self the family human characters are confronted body politic the the cosmos Montrose The protean nature placed and concerns the theatre Montrose against the background the desperate attempt the authorities contain ideologically economically and spatially the enormous and varied mobility society various sections have suggested that this scenario

THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER

of

for

131

the ideological and political backdrop the foregrounding d uplicity m obility changeability female the drama The drive limit and contain theatre space was concurrent with and similar the effort limit and contain women both cases transience mobility alteration subverting disguise and changeability seen dominant need for stability Contemporary tracts explicitly connect actors with other unruly social groups conversely theatre becomes acknowledged disruptive force Jean Howard has shown women prominently figure the antitheatrical narrative social disruption they constructed these texts the duplicitous inherently

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Renaissance antitheatricality 168 Both Howard sexuality quote The history Philip Stubbes from whose writings this comparison becomes very clear his suspicion the painted sepulchres the stage employs the language common the theme the white devil Conversely theatrical sex

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GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

132

her name sour name play controversy finally culminates

the ironies

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on

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fically an interchange of gender roles , both literally by boy -actors and thematically by the further exchange of male - female roles . At the same time, female cross - dressing functions as a version of theatricality that extends disguise from the playhouse to social space . Again , parallel to the theatre 's growing concern with women , the public controversy on gender - roles becomes increasingly theatricalised : the authors of the pamphlets speak from within adopted roles such as that of themasculine woman , Haec -Vir, or the effeminate man , Hic Mulier. The pamphlets are also a self - consciously dramatic public dialogue between the authors whose pseudonyms confer a particular identity upon them : thus Esther replies in 1617 to Joseph Swetnam 's Arraignment of Lewde , Idle , Sowernam letting Unconstant Froward Women published two years earlier also

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the Jacobean stage Women Sharp Revenge During James reign there was drive towards formalising theatre attempt precisely which can seen contain and define the audience theatre relationship James himself had likened the king stage whose smallest actions and gestures one set the people gazingly behold Dollimore Shakespeare cultural materialism part The effort make theatre well architecture James statecraft implicitly acknowledged not only the power theatre but power Wotton testified that the Banqueting House the theatricality Inigo Jones James chief architect place Whitehall planned royal masques performed where were and where ambassadors and place where Art became piece guests were received was State Goldberg James Jones created elaborate masques and imported European Pal perspective scenes ladianism and the Italian proscenium stage with to

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typical and magnificience were typical such usage They such stages that were constructed contrasted the Elizabeth izabeth separation earlier entrances Bergeron the arch effected between the royal actor and his audiences also served the purpose distancing the events the stage Formal theatre enacted the picture frame stage sought exalt the power state much the public theatre was seen threaten Later the arch was repeatedly imperial might Hence used colonial architecture emblematic significant that Antony repudiates Rome Cleopatra favour symbol he uses the arch the Roman empire

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THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER

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The arch here becomes one the various spatial signifiers the conflict between the Egyptian theatre and the Roman one more way establishing the dimensions Cleopatra theatricality suggesting that Egypt and Rome are invested with implications deriving from theatrical practice James anti woman bias was also picked the new architecture and theatre Inigo Jones conceived own architecture and theatre design solid proportional masculine and unaffected Thorne emphasis added masculinity connotes order and power then the variety and disorder again the popular theatre connected the unruly femininity disturbance offered Elizabeth

no

The volatile stage preface The White Devil confesses that this true dramatic open and black stage which lacked that was written full and understanding auditory and whose audience resembling ignorant asses observing the most sententious tragedy the is

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wasted 491 Jonson note the readers writing similar excuse true poem Nor needful almost possible these our times and such auditors observe the state and splendour dramatic poems with preserva any popular delight While formally 247 emphasis added tion deferring the superior status classical and deprecating the very justify their own departures from both these audiences they invoke

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GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

134

the liberating influence of the same

notes indicate

terrified

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Elizabeth

suggested

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open stage that had interactive audience . Montrose has

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the actual process of theatrical performance ,marked from normal flow performers imaginative social activity offers audience and course experience which temporarily removes them from their normal places this play voluntarily undergo sense the playhouse take part marginal experience cross the interstices the Elizabethan social and cognitive order playing The purpose

on

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If

any theatre depends the subversive potential some degree conversely such removal also requires intersection with social reality The dynamics audience participation Brecht dramaturgy

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stage where the spectator

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demonstrated generates certain power itself For example the involvement the entire population town may elicited tradi tional theatre performances India Anuradha Kapur describes the staged annual Ramlila dramatisation the epic Ramayana the Ramnagar Here the city becomes the stage and town the audience who await the return the hero god Rama from exile become actors Rama return endowed with enormous emotional powerby the mass participation which renders the stage volatile and there then the hope great happenings The opposite suggests Kapur the effect

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spectator Short transgression

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the auditorium and especially the picture frame stage creates series calculable relationships the enclosed space the static set and the imprisoned

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by

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ability employ strate theatre therefore derives from privileged removal from and extension gically both social space Such play responsible duality also for the dialectic own position wrights and players may transgress the social order but are also constituted

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question and confirm normative Thus drama may simultaneously may both challenge and reinforce the prescriptions for order behaviour see Montrose Renaissance literary studies pp The three ay inter sections theatrical social and female spaces during the Renaissance allow simultaneous examination three

THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER

135

'

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of the Western canon , especially as it operates in colonial situation was discussed the first chapter Reverence the bard has led devaluation other dramatists the period Marlowe leads Shakespeare and Webster and Jonson down from but almost no one else admitted the charmed circle relation the Romantic poets Marilyn Butler proposes that poets we have installed canonical look more interesting individually and more understandable groups when we restore some their lost peers 1349 will therefore turn somewhat later and almost totally neglected suggest that some writer Richard Brome order the issues just discussed are brilliantly focused his play The Antipodes could well be key text alternative curriculum But Brome play useful beyond providing gloss Shakespeare Walter Cohen points out Shakespeare one serious limitation current political approaches The rigidity

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Pragmatic their almost exclusive emphasis that dramatist eading what we are concerns even those which have with my made read the classroom inevitably lead such bias one purposes interlacing key issues raised Shakespeare plays with prioritisation Of those others has been precisely disallow such perspective post course from the colonial education the validity replacing one master text with another questioned problem which requires full discussion but outside the scope my argument

,

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to

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).

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at

this point see chapter More self consciously than the texts previously considered here Antipodes looks forward Brechtian theatre politics not only preferring

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fragmentation and multiplicity the definitive statement employing various alienation devices combining the didactic and the comic but identity and the function also explicitly positing the formation truly theatre related issues advance time contribution criticism and aesthetics albeit somewhat disguised form Davis Richard Brome neglected contribution 527 Even more signific antly the play considers the interrelation social and psychic space locating the production male and female fantasies the different spaces occupied men and women Although focusing neither the disorderly woman nor any actual black person brings together the showing geographical expansion and the issues race and gender profoundly gendered attendant production travel mythology

)

,

, ' s

at

(

to

to

,

of

Criticism the play least prior Martin Butler Theatre and Crisis has been like the label generally attached Brome conservative and

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

136

of the method as well as the subject of the play . The plot is fairly simple , and revolves around the cure of Peregrine Joyless , a young man so obsessed with travelling thoughts (1.31.27),with the wonderful lands , strange peoples , and other strangest doings ' (I . ü . 10) portrayed in travel books, that he has lost contact has largely ignored the radical thrust

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with his actual existence and most crucially with his wife Martha who marriage virgin after three years still Peregrine name also used Volpone Jonson derived from the Latin peregrinus meaning foreign and means also outlandish alien pilgrim foreign country Chambers 20th Century resident traveller

I of

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as

,

.

.

The

of .

's

1555 there appeared Richard Eden accounts the first two voyages Africa which combine actual description with Travayle and

of in

History

of

to The

1577 Richard Willes Navigations contributed

's

.

fantastic stories

Hakluyt

,

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English

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Dictionary His sickness this play dramatises the hold the enormous during range travel literature the early years colonial expansion upon the public imagination Such literature have remarked relation Othello combined myth and facts entertainment and enquiry and was filtered through cultural political and religious prejudice The ideological effects strange lands and peoples were not the images necessarily expansive but often strengthened existing chauvinism The implications Antipodes racist this have been considered demonstrates the psychological effects such literature

1589

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the growing fund travel account fantasies Peregrine visions monsters Pigmies and giants apes and elephants Griffins and crocodiles men upon women And upon women men the strangest doings are however more specifically drawn from The Travels John Mandeville and especially from the notion antipodal land therein Brome reality especially For Peregrine fantasy results alienation from from Martha mind soars beyond the colonialhorizons hers with preoccupation with her bodily fertility draws and shrinks what Principal

.

of

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on

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on

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amounts classic case womb hysteria Both husband and wife are neurotic but the disorder their minds derived from typically defined gender roles his based themale colonial fantasy travel power and excitement hers domesticity and chil the female one dren Earlier have considered how the spatial and ideological ghetto isation women indicates their subordination and conditions their

's

,

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-

's

,

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.

all

co

.

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at

no

's

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of

colonial expansionism Once again imperialism and sexism reinforce the prescribed spaces the female mind Also typically whereas fantasy dependent upon Peregrine operation his has Martha ironically Martha room for her Christian allegory name

,

the play we witness her inabilty even

to

137

it .

;

symbolises the active fantasise about

in

life

THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER

,

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embrace Martha because he has been led formed into Princess the Antipodes a

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refer usefully modern studies the spatial the sexes which have documented how boys play ob sessed with movement and exterior landscapes whereas girls tend concentrate still objects and interior spaces Erikson Inner and tendency biological differences space explain this outer There referring girls awareness alone the inner spaces their bodies seeing how gender differentials spatial perception are instead socially induced see Ardener Women and Space passim Brome play allows locate female hysteria relation the gradual expulsion woman from outer arenas until only her womb remains for her act her fantasies upon Even more importantly addresses the usually glamourised male sense hysteria Peregrine adventure form disorders the predecessors Gulliver alienation and Kurtz mad ness Significantly his relationship with wife emerges measure his cure real knowledge woman will indicate his readiness adjust Peregrine consents English society the end Avt to

One may here

behaviour

fantasy

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52 3

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psychiatric therapy dramatization Corax Ford The Lover Melancholy Doctor Hughball Peregrine father Joyless brings whom the first practicing psychiatrist appear the English stage Kaufmann Hughball lives with Letoy Phantastic Lord whose house amphitheater substance exercise and pleasure The two form sort director roducer partnership whereby theatre has been

The Antipodes

Shaw

in

a

the

is

to

–

',

of

’s ‘

in

is

to

his

.

of

psychotherapy They stage becomes the medium show which Peregrine fantasy made live out made believe that he people Antipodes where actually Mandeville world

,

,

a

or

turned upside down which was recurrent

a

, . p

(

things Shaw long tradition the world Utopian literature satiric

of

the expected order

generally drawing upon

become prove

of

'

to

-

reversal

of

a

'

,

also

act the antipodes had

in

).

Brome

is

rbial expression 127

107

time the phrase for

Brome

's

By

.( I. vi .

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13 of )

,

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to

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In

outward feature language and religion Resemble those whom they are supposite They under Spain appear like Spaniards Under French Frenchmen under England English To the exterior show but their manners Their carriage and condition life

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

138

(see Morton ,

The English Utopia ). There are Shakespearean echoes too in finding the theme of one's ' true ' self after a temporary sojourn into the madness of the inverted world . The Antipodes in fact draws together vari ous common Saturnalian strands - madness , dislocation , eventual cure, flouting of hierarchy and social criticism . Reversal can be used for a variety of political ends and can serve either as a safety -valve to maintain the status quo or as a radical critique of society , as in More ' s Utopia . In Brome's text , as Martin Butler argues , inversion operates as a brilliant structural and analytical tool for a specifically political critique of Charles ' s government (pp . 215 , 220 ) and also for a more general indict

.

all

ment of hierarchical societies First Hughball describes the Antipodes

- of

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in

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31 -2

repeated ques

;

's

beggar Diana

reality only serve

a

. .

IV v

(

of

a

see courtier who comments that such things are the opposite

,

169

. vi . /

(I

'

each sex

?

so

contrary

is

At another point we

:

/

proper

to

all

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wehold

be

by

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of

sexual inversion

Can men and women that

as

,

is

in

In

on

a

,

a

of

.

to

of

.

shocked

to

such

gentlemen

to

those where old men school merchants ask cuckold them But the second are more disturbing firstly existing social because they offer deeper and more political critique and gender relations and secondly because they reveal that large part what goes the Antipodes actually exists surreptitiously Lon don other words reversal here not pure fantastical inversion but part actual suppressed subversion for example when servants rule Beyond seas while their masters women hunt and deale abroad Peregrine husbands cuckold them home most –

beliefs

go

.

,

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on

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rule

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principle and reversal The Magistrates the women over rule the parents here and masters men and Command there they obey the child and servant 119 The doctor tells Diana Joyless young wife that nature not art that enables Antipodian women they are rule over men Diana comment Then above nature under not only holds art responsible for male domination her own world but opens the play consideration another sort therapy correctively theatre and which can work The ability private fantasy art intervene both and social existence mould Joyless fears the possible effects identity repeatedly emphasised play The theatre upon Diana and adamant that she shall not see you can hope for any cure Doctor insists that she must 201 Art has effect nature ideas can shape reality Butler has pointed out there are two categories reversal the Antipodean world The first are simply amusing and confirm our social

which the people

THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER it

while

'

Charles

is

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others depict what

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217

)

(

Martin Butler

, .p

see

some illusions here point England

removed from the truth and churchmen are usurers the upside down quality

of

are a

tion whether they really are so variety beggars courtiers

139

that

.

society

.

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or

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of

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.

J.

see

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contradictions

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of

There are several aspects Brome handling reversal which lifts above the common play within the play device One that unlike escapes from reality neither the Antipodes nor the usual reversals maligned Of course the didactic pur real world are simply idealised Letoy and Hughball cure their patients pose obvious just Brome the doctor playwright hopes cure his audience through what has been called comic catharsis Brome probably drew upon Burton Anatomy Melancholy which explained that perturbations the mind may strange news witty device artificial rectified some feigned invention and particularly recommended the utility mirth regard Davis 524 Brome refuses allow the spectator reader Utopian fantasy social criticism reality the Antipodean critique not dependent upon idealisation but made part more complex wry and pluralist approach such we encounter more self con scious and polemical way Brecht Swinburne was not from always and truth when he commented that the play reveals that life

existing criticism the reversals that has been ignored England themanner which the relation between and the Antipodes imperial power subjected and hence and others examination Peregrine construct The scholarly discourses pursued land monsters more but the Antipodes fact from the fantasy land European and Christian civilisation the grotesque that alien uncomfortably like England the theatrical enactment visualises Moreover both similarities and differences are determined by the participants actors the the imperial drama constructed and not actual world created by the imagination the white traveller Peregrine the Doctor anyone else who cares participate myth making apprehending the process Thus the play comes close whereby cultural racial and geographical differences are transposed

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into that curious blend fact and fiction fantasy and fears that one finds not just the travel literature the period but most Orientalist writings The free interplay the actors and spectators The Antipodes also important Actually there not one but three plays the first the the second

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE

140

DRAMA

- of ;

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.

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Letoy pretends to court Diana, the young wife of Peregrine 's intensely jealous father Joyless and by witnessing her refusal , the man cured finally there the masque the last scene celebrating the triumph harmony over discord None the plays presented naturalistically forget we are never allowed that they are staged that spectators and participants mingle and interchange positions Consider the first show

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primarily put which cure Peregrine Besides being the principal spectator he also the most crucial actor for the effect the drama depends upon his participation Letoy the same time the presence Joyless Diana Martha and Barbara constant reminder that this play An alienation effect but achieved not only through the spec in

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tators but also through the Doctor who both director and actor Peregrine mind Letoy the Antipodean theatre and also the stage similarly punctures the illusion by stepping and out the drama the actors are his men and he plays director them The audience are his guests and he plays host them the same time initiates the beginning second play while the first still flirt with Diana The two plays interwoven preventing any total absorption totalising effect either them The audience made aware the significance participation epic theatre they are the manner step invited and comment the action fragmen There no tight story either that the total effect one

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socially defined for them and the desires and fantasies entire mobility they are organised stasis other words

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Antipodes

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could said return like Brecht own plays are simplest elements instead trying the theatre foster f inally claiming reality quite illusion Ridless for art fact less than Brecht himself ideological practices and theatre particularly have definite and material effect reality and are agents change One might argue that this not special Brome that the comedy notion criticism dates back ancient Greek drama But Brome goes further than that that art corrective practice only the dian diagnosis the participation accepts audience accepts the patient essen minority entertainment and again tial The Theatre then lifted fom tial anticipating Brecht derives power from audience involvement Finally the play takes dig own practice for the world has brought Peregrine back not much better than his illusory one retrogressive way Fantasy also has the power distort perception Peregrine case But most importantly neither kind imagination arbitrary but based what available denied human beings The Antipodes then suggests that the basis for male and female spatial fantasies expansive and contractive respectively the gender roles that tation

seen

THEATRE AND THE SPACE OF THE OTHER

141

its

examining the formation of subjectivity , including most through powerfully imposed ideologies elusive and private aspects and more self conscious alternative fantasies that deliberately engage

Brome

with and subvert

them

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TheMoral Vision Some thirty years earlier Eliothad found thatMiddleton has view neither sentimental nor cynical neither resigned nor disil lusioned nor romantic he has no message 162 Una Ellis Fermor detected him belittling pitiless abstemi those human figures which his contemporaries exalt ousness 152 had been generally concluded Eliot did that Middleton merely Ornstein

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and theatricality during the Renaissance which has been richly focused for example Greenblatt RenaissanceSelf Fashioning Goldberg James Montrose The purpose playing Tennenhouse Strategies Display State and Power spatial structures has The ideological loading with the contexts which they

in

3

found Jacobean drama Ornstein Knights comments any doubt Macbethwe are never our moral bearings Antonyand Cleopatra the other hand embodies different and apparently irreconciliable quoted Cleopatra evaluations the central experience Brown Antony Belsey Subject TragedyJardine Adelman Still Harping Holloway Mack Markels emphasise different aspects Mark Rose Rozett Simmons and Stella Smith the heterogeneity foregrounded by the play Architecture and stage design are only one aspect the interrelation between power

4

2 L . to C . be

to

tie in

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to

a

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of

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a

great recorder merely name which associates with seven great plays 162 whereas Shakespeare detachment was seen stem from positive morality neatly that others was made with the hectic portraits vice and depravity

.

,

for

a

it

-

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of

as

as

so

that they could never build another such monument

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despotism the well the glamour pleasure carries Orientalist connotations shape like that east may be conjectured that the arch codes for power because of the dome required careful planning and meticulous execution Richard Brome described the title page the 1658version his comedy TheWeeding Ingenious Servant and Imitator the CoventGarden master that famously 1637 renowned poet Ben Jonson wrote mainly comedy TheAntipodeswas composed the Salisbury Court and was first acted Queen Henreitta for new company playhouse 1638 Martin Butler has argued that Caroline drama did not break with of

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are created with associations that gather around them with their settings and usages symbol perfection under the Mughals the Taj Mahal example was The dome multiple associations confered upon love was built by Shah Jahan his wife might Mumtaz Mahal took twenty years much wealth and vast army labour construct and ruthless power themaster craftsmen who executed had their

in

to

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.

Comedy

of

's

in

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to

The

three completely distinct

.

as

) -

to

to

,

Jacobean and Caroline dramas are often treated

theatre Shakespeare John Drakakis has suggested me Pinch Hughball considered another predecessor as

6

types

of

Elizabethan

be As

.

(

of

(p . )1

of

' of

debating the political the concerns earlier drama and did persistently engage rigidly demarcate literature issues the day Institutionalised criticism tends classify these according different periods and the prevailing monarch hence

Errorsmight

Seizing the book The contaminated text whose varied stage and critical history has explicitly foregrounded the question of appropriations of dominant culture . This history reveals a struggle over textual truth and value , but also alerts us to the problems of seizing the book ’; hence the following discussion is not a conclusion speculation at but more the nature some these dif

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ficulties Shakespeare quotes Eagleton writing McLuskie writing ideo logy The aesthetic too valuable surrendered without struggle the bourgeois aestheticians and too contaminated that ideology appropriated Feminist deconstruction this contamination which makes appropriation rather than just another interpretation the text necessary demarcation between the two terms one sense false for they spill into one another and yet marks the distinction between criticism that explicitly acknowledges partisanship claiming that own and another that defends itself objective and not devoted special purposes which how the Oxford Illustrated Dictionary defines appropriation to

as

is

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).

.

p

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exposé Western criticism and productions the play have those Othello their earlier and more explicit acknow the play involvement with the colonial theme One

differed from ledgement

of

an

an

by

be

'If

:

to

such

to

to

–

of

of

So

special purposes expose often the first step our devotion appropriations those others treat institutionalised readings appropriated Shakespeare too can these conservative oppositional standpoints there scope for intervention also for politics Sinfield Reproductions Tempest 132 lends itself easily

of

–

to

's

-

of

no

–

to

.

in

as

')

's

or

'

a

of

as

savage and deformed slave does not threaten common personae sense notions about black people slaves the same way does emphasised nobility and heroism Othello While much critical effort prove both Othello was expended non negroid lineage and his moral whiteness despite abundant references his blackness there parallel concern about the precise shade colouring has been

SEIZING THE BOOK

143

colour and

Not until

race

is

more ambigu was he represented

Tempest

1934

.

's

ous about Caliban

The

's ' thing of darkness '; even though

Prospero

of

,

as a

-

,

, a

's

of

).

-9

.

,

(

,

political colour

clearly black

.

as

-

's

Caliban

pp

he

. '

on

-

,

an

of

so

in

,

of

-

as

1859

, , ,

the

Species

,

as

animalistic and after the publication Darwin Origin ape hideously deformed and grotesque sort half monkey half coco nut representing the missing link half seal Simultaneously half man fishlike and was projected varying descriptions see Griffiths colonised native 163 Such explicitly social Darwinist racist and imperialist productions indicated sented him

to

, of ,

in

(

'

'

,

)

as

to

as

's

is

It

true that the play connection with the New World acknow ledged early 1808 was until fairly recently Western criticism background material and not allowed relegated become part

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's

Such

's

all is

as

The

('

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,

,

;

at

to

.

in

a

).

.p

195

'(

ideological and historical con texts see Barker and Hulme closure negatively acknowledged and actively utilised material which was formally marginalised Hence Kermode intro duction the play for example sources are painstakingly logged but kept bay we are told that the play primarily concerned with opposition between Nature and Art serious pastoral poetry always the play

its

to

by

'

what Barker and dispelled what

are

:

'

from

are

close the text contextual contamination

efforts

Hulme have called follows

off

such

to

innocence

in

is

).

of

.

'

(p

'

of is ” )

nothing Tempest fundamental and that there structure ideas which could not have existed had America remained undis Any illusions we might have about the political covered xxv

is

it

to

as

the learned Prospero

a

,

or

. (p .

xlii

)

of

Caliban

no

and deformed

,

. .

of

'.

,

. by . .

‘

.. .

to

be to be

is

in

as If

arguing that men Aristotle was right who much inferior others advantageous for the body the soul are slaves nature and always under government them then the black and mutilated cannibal must the natural slave the European gentleman and fortiori the salvage

a

of

,

it

of

–

is

.

or

of

or

as

in

is

's

,

in

all

an

of

is

its

is

,

in

It

widely used accident that Kermode text India that obvious bias inserted into notions the play romance almost mystic piece enchantment Although appropria only every reading staging tions occur the time the text authenticity when they become subversive that questions historical that context

.

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it

of

a

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a

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,

to

a

.

's

In

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it

a

to as

to

an

,

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thematic correctness surface sharply example generations For white Othellos are permitted while single black Antony provokes outrage letter the Guardian Brigid Larmour refers the paper disparaging review her casting Antony How authenticity being infringed Would black man Antony and boy Cleopatra be authentic have Italian toga Does strain authenticity have blonde Cleopatra like Helen Mirren

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

144

or

tall one like Vanessa Redgrave ? (30 May 1987 ) . From an editorial in and Players entitled 'Multi - racial humbug ' it is obvious that authenticity way theatrical is a of holding on to a lost empire : a

Plays

taking pride in one of the most complex , consistent and individual cultures in Europe , apologetic Brits are welcoming the ( in many cases artificial ) grafting of new elements of varying suitability or relevance on to the indigenous growth . Politics , we suspect , have more to do with this than art ; quotas rather Far from

than

quality

.

Referring to Hugh Quarshie , a black actor who speaks of Enobarbus being played by a Caribbean actor as `a real coup ', the editor continues : " Too true , Hugh . It will also be coup when played by a Chinese midget ,

rollerskates , and just as relevant. Of course, there could be a production ( any day now , to judge by the RSC s slavish addiction to updating for dumb dumbs ) in which this would be valid ' (July 1986 , p . 2 ). It is not entirely accidental that I found this review , which ends by referring to alternative theatre practices as 'the new colonialism ', in the

nude

on

'

of the

library

British

minent professor of

Council English

at

Delhi, nor

literature

at

that a few

days later a

Delhi introduced

pro

a talk

on

Shakespeare by declaring that she was ‘a diehard conservative ' whose love for Shakespeare had distanced her from ‘new - fangled theories and writers' in whom her students seemed unfortunately very interested . To return to The Tempest ; while social-Darwinist depictions of Caliban ape as -man were greeted with exclamations of wonder at Shakespeare s prophetic anticipation of Darwin 's scientific analysis , the Financial Times complained after Jonathan Miller ' s anti - imperialist production that ' colonialism , the dominion of one race (as opposed to one nation ) over another , is something that Shakespeare had never heard of (Griffiths ,

'

p

.

178 )

.

Caliban

stands

more

clearly and self -consciously in opposition

way

of

Tempest

as a

The

to dominant culture than does Othello . For this reason , it was an easier text to appropriate for anti - imperial purposes ; since the early fifties African and Caribbean intellectuals ' chose to utilise (it ) . . . as a strategy for ( in George Lamming 's words ) getting “ out from under this ancient mausoleum of (Western ) historic achievement ”. They seized upon

amplifying their calls for decolonization within the

’

its

-

,

as

.

,

a

on

to

it

at

;

's

as a

of

/

on

's

to

in

),

-9

of

. .

(

IV 1

an

'

'

of

as

Whereas Western readings had acknowledged Caliban the core reading the play only order concur with Prospero him inherently inferior being whose nature Nurture can never stick 188 this other history seized upon Caliban articulate own bondage and rebellion the same time also initiated debate the psyche during the years the colonised subject Significantly following Britain forced retreat from Empire such anti imperialist

SEIZING THE BOOK

145

a

,

of

-

to

).

', by

's

of

a

is

,

with

Prospero

Kurtz Prospero

.

coer

into

's ,

by

so

is

wemight identify

clearly revealed

a

.

,

of

by

is

,

‘

',

which

is

,

in

to

'

in

in

to

to

,

in

's

'o ' of s

A

on

of

imperialist idealism cive brutality which

,

a , of a . p

as

,

,

? A

by

it

'

(

,

all

on

of

;

of

of

.

of

as

of

,

,

The

appropriations became frequent , there were very few productions of the play on the British stage (Griffiths , p . 176 ). clearly reveals Tempest therefore The history of contest over textual truth and value and exposes dominant Shakespearian criticism part that struggle rather than the guardian some irrefutable core meaning That both racist and anti colonialist appropriations and interpretations the play exist does not argue for the simultaneous validity contradictory meanings pluralism seeks deflect the fact that different readings struggle with each other the site text and knowledge that can count however provisionally text achieved through this discursive conflict Barker and Hulme 194 possible for The Tempest But whatmakes be read these different ways recent article Thomas Cartelli entitled Prospero Africa suggests that the reasons why particular readings arise relation specific text are not entirely extraneous the text itself Centring his Ngugi Wa Thiong argument Grain Wheat Cartelli argues that Prospero with Conrad the Kenyan writer association Kurtz combining them his central character Thompson not misreading historically justified the play but the inevitable collapse rhetoric

a

of

.

as

by

of

noble intentions combined with his coercive actions was the strategy employed later colonialists well historically Recent criticism the play has been concerned with

's

's

).

its

to

‘

it as is it a

'

it

is

far

of

100

to

of

in

ive readings

so

,

certain privileged status

'.

of

in

responsible party success and rewritings hasmade seminal contributions the development the colonial ideology through which read a

Prospero

a

as

‘

's

in

.

'(

p

'

an

–

a

of

of as

in

be

a

'

of

);

68

.

'(

p

, a

for

's

;

the text

serves

as

ambivalence

cludes that The Tempest

in

Paul Brown incisive analysis con limit text which the characteristic operations colonial discourse may discerned instrument exploitation register beleaguerment and site radical ambiva play and lence Barker and Hulme have shown that Prospero The Tempest are not necessarily the same thing 199 Cartelli article establishing The Tem suggests that this ambivalence has been central privileged text history pest the colonialist discourse He determined

,

at

,

.

its

,

is

of

is

.

If

of

of

of

,

,

,

a

of

It

to

of

).

-1

.

(p

The text thus becomes least partly the source the ideological contamination which Eagleton speaks seems me however that Cartelli emphasises only half the impli cations this position and recent criticism The Tempest there play connection between the ambivalence the and usefulness for the construction later paternalistic colonialism there also not

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

146

of

its

to

it

,

, ,

at

.. .

of

its

as cas

Thout

).

'(

.p

of

as

at

'

:

its

's

to

's

in

?

-

one between the same ambivalence and anti colonialist appropriations Cartelli article suggests that alternative readings are only possible relation the The Tempest original contexts but that later history the play has unfolded latent imperialist elements the position which production may not The Tempest occupied moment have been decidedly colonialist Thompson and Ngugi consider be point reception 106 But here surely we are talking about only -

.

of

Po

by

I

as

or

For Ngugi

:

of

,

on

an

.

its

of

,

,

.

reception There have one dominant and institutionalised hered point recounting been others have indicated the already well known features African and Carribean appropriations Because he ignores posit too drastic opposition between the these Cartelli goes original and subsequent contexts the play an

of

'

in

'

of

,

,

on

to

its

,

on

,

as a

by

)

107

it

made

of

to a

.( .p of

's

on

.

of

no

on

'

an

,

at

its

of

, a

historically critically correct reading The Tempest that isolates originating moment production would serve merely anti alleged intervention quarian interest documenting colonialist discourse discernibly positive impact that made the subsequent development historicity would colonial practices His own variety the other hand focus historically determined literary artifact now open less the text status interpretations than variety subordination what history has the play

a

of

be

-

'

a

of

,

in all .

?

,

'.

,

all

of

'

its

of

at

be

of

-

its

is

,

't

a

is isn

'

at it :

of

'

a

',

of

If

we consider the issues raised anti colonialist appropriations alongside those that emerge when we assess the originating moment historically correct reading the play then text need not pitted against locating what history has made radical readings are not about investing text with what there Can we suggest instead that the struggle over meaning intensified the case text which itself polyphonic and that the contradictions within the text and the struggle between different appropriations are inter related appropriating the play should This would mean that the difficulties alongside the limits looked radical ambivalence Moreover oppositional readings even one cannot read the political interests at

by

so

.

in

in

I

do

.

,

of ,

be

its

for

in

to

at

as

those that emerge the same time identical These two propositions together looking need examined and shall the ways gender which the representation The Tempest marks the limits appropriation the Third World context today

A

as a

.

at

The

production

us

against reading the encounter India alerts with the white text uniform one recent excluding Tempest the Delhi stage worked hard

on

history

World readers of

Third

in

's

The play

of

'

“

The imperishable empire

SEIZING THE BOOK

147

's

urb

to a

to

,

to

in

,

-

as

.

larg

is

of

in

be

'

by

so

by

of .

It

to

attempted the imperial theme make the spectators identify with Prospero instead elaborating the magical effects desired Caliban Prospero hypnotised that the Calibans the audience would part into complicity with the colonial closure which the play colonial closureshave contradictory enterprise Such productions have been largely ignored been relatively small urban semi amateur incompetent theatre playing elite but they serve uncover ways which different colonised peoples bring varying histories bear upon their contact with Western

/

'

'

I

,

as

In

.

to to

.

,

,

to

of

.

of

of

by

up

in

,

,

,

's

,

,

to

as

,

of

, ,

of

1

,

in

by

it

,

. If

literature identification with Caliban came strongly for African and Caribbean audiences was because their own blackness and racial dif argued ference were overtly emphasised colonial rule India chapter disguise the specifically the Aryan myth was invoked Empire and can be seen persuade the readers racist aspects holding strong spectators The Tempest already colour prejudices that permeate caste and communal politics within India and unfortunately perceiving themselves somehow less black than Africans that fact they are closer noble white Prospero than monstrous black Caliban Moreover Shakespeare last plays and particularly The Tempest had Shakespeare been the focus Orientalist comparisons Kalidasa the most famous ancient Sanskrit playwrights This analogy was picked

)

value order suffering and

)

great

,

art

implication

all

.

of

( or

in

,

by

and

(

and Kalidasa

,

,

criticism

art

of of a

of

Shakespeare which invoked both the spiritual India and dominant assumptions about the fixed Indian literary achievement the distant past present relevance excluded the question irrelevance and lifted both dramas from their respective historical contexts Both Shakespeare

Indian stereotype universality

:

passivity

.

(

, ,

.. .

all

an

of

, by

art

of

of

)

xiii

-

xii

An .pp

at

all

In

is

.

,

of

,

,

is

or

The theme more less the same destruction domestic happiness separation suffering and finally reconciliation and reunion these plays regeneration achieved through patient suffering and repentance there poetic experience the highest level barriers that divide peoples disappear revealing the essential unity poetic experience itself Acharya and unity

,

A

.

of

its

an

.. .

of

(

),

30

.

p

('

',

of

in

,

of

.

is

of

's

of

,

to

, H 'a .H .

to

of

on

'

.

,

W

,

an

,

earlier book written jointly Indian Anniah Gowda and Englishman Henry Wells claims be monument hearts comparisons between and hands across the seas the basis comprehen Shakespeare last plays and some classical plays India my critique tempting beyond scope here sive these books but ways they Notable however are the which combine Orientalist conception Egypt India with the possible exception the sup patriarchal identification myth rememother female with instinct and male with reason both Shakuntala and Miranda represent

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

148

instinctive harmony with nature ; their lovers the King Dushyanta and Ferdinand , merely add understanding to intuition ', pp . 122 - 3 ) , and an essentialist idealism ( these plays deal with the basic and outstanding realities in the human condition ', p . 65 ). It might be argued that such writings are extreme examples , but their assumptions are certainly normative in the Indian classroom . The com plex histories behind books such as Wells and Gowda' s also work accept The Tempest when Indian audience 1987 told drama forgiveness patience and magic research students DelhiUniver at

as a

to

'

,

'

of

as

to

sity are asked study the play part The Romance Tradition English literature with connections with Daphnus and Chloe prioritised

to in

at

is

,

or

,

of

in

an

are

an

One

,

to

of

:

'

, .vp ).

Narasimhaiah

rapist contemporary

for

as

's

of

the reasons for the play declining pertinence third world politics has been identified

to

The black

is

,

.

with

(

always

us '

be

,

of

,

of

’

‘

erase the imperial theme The point however that with varying degrees sophistication these histories and pedagogic traditions under line the colonial history the play they work ensure what one critic Shakespeare will had frankly admitted that the imperishable Empire

in a

or

.

an

of ,

of

,

his

in

Nixon

577

)

(

, .p

should have been men

.

their

lot

it

all

of

a

is

is

it

of

wresting from leadership any role the difficulty female defiance period when protest coming increasingly from that quarter Given that Caliban oppression and rebellion and given the without female counterpart largely autobiographical cast African and Caribbean appropriations the play expression follows that the writers who quarried from The Tempest

of ,

or

of a

.

a

'

an a

,

a

by

'

-

of

, if

a

is

It

true that the play poses problem for feminist and especially appropriation we mean nonwestern feminist appropriation amplification the anti colonial voices within the text But such dif strong female presence ficulty does not arise simply from the lack

's

,

on

-

of

I,

offence

,

an

the rape

‘

speaks

as

which later became what Griffiths

of

,

1892

Caliban

'

defence

in

An article written

standard

of

a

.

the play calls

,

a

or

,

is

).

is

.

62

p

'(

.

of

's of

is

of

's

of

.

in

,

black white the play but also from the play representation black male sexuality Caliban contests Prospero account his arrival the island but attempted rape not the accusation Miranda Identifying the political Prospero effects accusation Paul Brown comments that the issue actually rapist here not whether Caliban not since Caliban contrary accepts the charge suggest that this acceptance On the important for assessing both colonial and anti colonial readings

SEIZING THE BOOK

166

, ;

commit

.

was fated

(p

that

to

he

one

,

,

as

's

a

,

'.

,

is

violence

to

on

)

all

like

'

but

but

offence

added and goes see Caliban unfortunate oppressed peoples easily these lower misled This implies that sexual part the black man inferior nature view that amal

emphasis

of

an

unpardonable

149

racist common sense notions about black sexuality and and sexist assumptions about rape inevitable expression frustrated male desire These notions were complexly employed the influential Psychologie colonisation 1948 by Octave Mannoni who seriously reassessed the propound play order controversial view the psychology the colonised subject Mannoni advocated the notion the Caliban for

48

in

-

on

's

.

As

he

‘

to

to complains

being exploited

not

,

)

.

theby

is

II,

he

for

(

.

of

as

dependency analysed which the desire the part the native Caliban and the Madagascans whose uprising 1947 1942 provided the impetus against slavery but the work revolts not againsing Prospero A Analysing speech nalis because abandoned Caliban Act Mannoni came the contospero conclusion that Caliban does not complain

'

complex

of ' of

of

a

of

of

,

)

he

.

in

to

(

la

de

in

.

of

,

as

an

-

gamates

animalism

an

,

).

-5

pp

.

,

to

of

'

on 's

, or

as

's

of

a

,

-

guilt

.

sexual

as a

of

‘

.

on

on

.

to

of

(

in

,

as

'.

of

:

of

being betrayed other Caribbean and African intellectuals pointed out Mannoni posited Caliban eager partner Crucially Man his own colonisation Nixon 562 noni traces the roots racism sexual guilt The antagonism between presence Caliban and Prospero hinged Miranda the sole woman psyche the island Accordingly definition the coloniser whatMannoni called the Prospero complex was based the notion pseudo rational construct used racism rationalise feelings

's of

to

in a

)

's

and

on

for

:

's

of

.

's

in

,

,

,

by

).

-5

's

.pp

,

see

(

in

of

to

.

by

.

of

(

to

as

as

,

of

by

politics Both dependency and racism this account are connected way that preserves the patriarchal exclusion sexual desire but sexuality from economics well the racist assumption that Caliban subordinate status will naturally lead him desire and hence rape Miranda The supposed desire the native for European care has been nearly every imperialist regime That Mannoni advanced theories legitimise colonisation was demonstrated by the pub could be used Philip Mason Magic Some Thoughts Prospero lication Class Race 1962 Nixon 564 Mannoni was severely criticised his psychological reductionism among others Frantz Fanon who pointed out that economic motivations for plunder were omitted the former account

,

,

a

by

is

in

.

his

of

to

,

in

in

's

Fanon own explanation the sexual encounter between the black man and white woman Black Skins White Masks which has already been cited connection with Othello attributes both sexual insecurity antagonised and racist hatred the white father who the black daughter Fanon also describes the ways lover which black

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA the

150

(

I

to

's

. to

is

',

an

-

',

.

is

for racist common sense also posits that black men -

,

work

's

of

moves

white women

.

By

and also erases the desire

of

,

lust after white women

doing

Fanon

totally different perspective

)

a

(

;

limitation

from

,

's '

(

of

's in,

although

all

of

to

it

too

serious

a

is

of

.

p

71 ).

's

'

,

to

is

in

).

2

A

of

's

to

a

as a

of

man who has internalised value system white society may view pathway acceptance and have his liaison with white woman used this explanation describe Othello love for Desdemona see chapter Fanonian explanation black men desire for white specific situations and with some qualifications women useful only Firstly extend the consciousness black men would be readily that black men have necessarily assume internalised the things see Lawrence Just plain common sense white man view Secondly only object Fanon account the white woman the black man desire her own subjectivity markedly absent This

a

by

a

is

by

.

its

insurrectionary up

'

it

EldridurseCleaver called Imamu Baraka wrote Come

a

articulated

,

Eldridge

woman as

,

peculiar lust for white

rrape apeculiarii has been

course

:

by

Of

an

do

. : 71 $ ). all

p

, .

,

(

'

conceived

a

of

making sexual advances towards white

act

the damage they can women black men have hood Lawrence weapon black militants

,

a

by ,

's

,

of

's

for

's

,

,

In

.

of

of

.

on

In

to

desire

to

,

the black man

from

's

so

his bestiality and concludes that black men will seek enforce liaison upon white myth women Hence the myth the black rapist Othello such hovers the margins Brabantio accusations but undercut Desdemona own powerfully articulated desire Othello Prospero accusation rape and Tempest The corroboration Caliban upholds such myth which derives from the idea that aware racism

of

'

is

).

apologize for and facilitate the continued exploitation

of .

the black rapist

the bad black woman

white

designed

both

-

of '

says that the myth

the myth

of

the turn

of

to

is

Gerda Lerner rightly

women

of

of

,

.

(p

do

,

in

are

:

,

in

‘

, of

,

.

of

's

all

.

of

's

.

of

be If

to ) .

's

of

by

at

it

,

:'

.

' . , ' ,

's

of as

, -

as

it

,

of of

'

(

, .p

.

against white society black dada nihilismus Rape the white girls Rape their fathers Cut the mother throats cited Angela Davis 197 varieties feminism are guilty racist practices needs hardly detailed here that sexist versions anti racism abound well The result these has strengthened the fiction often presented facts black animalism Susan Brown rape Against Our Will has argued that black miller influential study express men historical oppression has placed many the legitimate supremacy beyond resulting ions male their reach their open sexual violence Quoting Jean McKellar Rape The Bait and the Trap which reported rapes claims that ninety per cent the United States black men Angela Davis points out that even official FBI figures place forty per cent 179 The pointhere not that black men not rape but that their dominant fictional representation has legitimised both patriarchal and racist myths female and black sexuality

black men

SEIZING THE BOOK

151

and women ' ( quoted Angela Davis , p . 174 ). And of white women , one may add - the construction of the black rapist also includes that of the passive white woman , whose potential desire for black men is thus effaced . In The Tempest , therefore , we must read Caliban ' s rapacity as set against Sycorax 's licentious black femininity and the passive purity of

Miranda, whose own desire , like Portia ’s , corroborates the will of the father ; although Miranda can be seen to ‘ slip away ' from Prospero (see Paul Brown , p . 67 ; Fiedler , p . 206 ) , this slippage does not erode fatherly authority in the same way as Desdemona ' s passion for Othello . Moreover , this juxtaposition of Miranda , Sycorax and Caliban focuses both on the economic aspects that were erased by Mannoni , and on the gender politics thathave been ignored in some other appropriations .

Sycorax edited

's arrival on

out these opening

Caliban

's

-2 )

,

the first recorded anti imperialist response that them the whole case the

-

elicited

,

in

1904 which found

in

to

the play

. (I .ii .

tak ’ st

This island 's mine , by Sycorax my mother Which thou from me 331 These lines had

of

lines

the island :

aboriginal against aggressive

us '

of Prospero

version

of

Mannoni , significantly ,

to

powerful contrast Miranda Both Pros her power the former draws upon the lan racism construct her foul witch to

'

of

'

a

to

as

;

as

as

(I ), of .ii .

to

pero and Caliban testify misogyny guage well

.

she operates

as a

-

the island

's

is

.

of

-

as a

-

of

,

, of

by)

(

).

.

,

(

-2

pp

civilisation was dramatised before subsequent Caribbean They were also focused 561 and African appropriations but although some these indicated the many pre colonial societies gender was hardly matrilinear nature significant dimension ever seized upon by anti colonial intellectuals oppression racial Sycorax more than the justification for Caliban territorial rights

Nixon

).

-

,

).

.

11

I. -

' ' (

.i .

as

.

,

in

to

'

(V

in

/

,

so

‘

,

of

to

's '

-

.

's

40 )

-

,

-3

'

-

‘

–

|

is

ey d

-

(I

. ii .

express his hatred 258 the latter invokes her strength his Prospero descriptions Sycorax emphasise master 321 339 both her non European origins she from Argier and her fertility brought hag This blue was hither with child 265 269 She strong That could control the moon make flows and ebbs also And deal her command without her power 269 71 Hence she complete contrast stands the white virginal and obedient Miranda is

(

,

.

–

)

by

of

they split the patriarchal stereotype Between them woman the virgin and whore goddess Miranda white devil mistaken for one Ferdinand and witch

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

152

of

own you

!

,

,

for

light

toads beetles bats

,

on his

still invokes

it

and for Caliban

Of Sycorax

the charms

,

exorcised

/ ,

:‘

All

fully

been

rebellion

As

not

's

an

;

its

his

But Sycorax is also Prospero 's ' other '; his repeated comparisons between their different magics and their respective reigns of the island are used by him to claim a superior morality , a greater strength and a greater humanity , and hence legitimise takeover the island and power has anxiety that Sycorax inhabitants but they also betray

.

of

.

). ..

.p

'( to

a

is

's

,

of

in

'

,

of

The

in

an

is

).

-

(I . ii .

40

George Lamming pointed out The Pleasures Exile while Miranda like many African slave child never having known Tempest has the advantage her mother the actual Caliban having known the meaning and power ofhismother Sycorax 111 Prospero patriarchy takeover both racial plunder and transfer 339

,

The connections between witches and transgressive women between capital accumulation and between the witch trials with the process witch trials ideological economic native women deological and sexual subordination and chapters colonial rule have already sheen been discussed and The discuss restructuring the colonised economy not only involved the export

by

,

.

)

3

1

of

of

of

(

,

,

of

-

of

-

,

, “,

,

,

in

,

.(

in

of

.

to

to

taught fight for the British colonialists kill and surrender their liberty the interests men Mies quoted

)

19

to

Burma suggested that

:

'

be

The men must Women must Rughani

see

, (

.

,

In

).

14

-

.pp

in

the British Colonial Administration civilise the Burmese people

to “

order

, .p

by

2

. 1.

in

Officer

in

of

”

"

in

's

,

a

,

in

to

England raw material factories but also redefinition men and women work which economically dislocated women and cal cified patriarchal tendencies the native culture Lawrence Socio logy and black pathology 113 Burma for example British colonialists acknowledged that Burmese women had property and sex England Accordingly Fielding Hall Political ual rights unheard

,

's

,

to

of

us

's

-

.

demarcate them from white women Therefore Prospero colonialist consolidates power which specifically white and male and constructs Sycorax black wayward legitimise past and wicked witch order Caliban version prompts question Prospero interrogation story events then this telling Sycorax story The distinctions drawn should include the generations critics between his white magic and Sycorax black magic only corroborate Prospero narrative African appropriations

,

's '

'

.

'

. ,

's 's

of

's

If

.

it

to

of

's

'

of

by

re -

us

to in

,

as a

is

as

abuse and

to of

,

.

,

to

Colonised women were also subjected untold sexual harassment rape enforced marriage and degradation both under direct slavery and pregnancy contrasts with Miranda illegitimate otherwise Sycorax chastity and virginity reminding that the construction the pro miscuity legitimise their sexual non European women served

SEIZING

THE BOOK

153

'

'

's

is

,

.

on

schooling of

the

's

by

of

-

,

; of

of

of

Miranda

its

the brutality of Prospero s ‘ reason and historical black culture but they did notbring out the gender value these terms they read the story colonised and colonising men but not colonised and colonising women which also told Miranda lonely presence the island emphasised suppression

',

of

,

Sir

'

's

in

.

of in

' by

.

's

of

's

for

is

It

ironical but not entirely inappropriate that one oldest Delhi colleges women should have been called Miranda House after the daughter the university colonial founder Maurice Gwyer Miranda schooling The Tempest demonstrates the contradic tory position occupied white women the colonial adventure Paul

.

)

(p

its

's

is

knowledge

the

(

asserts

re

's

:

,

,

of

magic his schooling Miranda his civilis humanity parental concern and love Prospero (

Caliban

alternately

Patriarchalism

Prospero

wisdom

's

of

power

' ); : its . '

ing

of 's

father

'

of

in

exercise

51

.

of

. ' .

sexuality Brown has discussed how the discourse offers the crucial nexus for the various domains colonialist discourse and the ways which control his subjects sexuality crucial for Prospero

of

:

to

's

of

,

the

In

,

).

a

of

's ',

of '

he

(P

a

is

’

, a

of

no

he

);

all

,

(

its

);

‘

'

humanely

,

of

of

my Ariel and his care Miranda his liberation his pains over Caliban authority power taken the father Miranda cannot choose but obey Prospero can torture both Caliban rospero aside and Ariel and often three together the rebels simultaneously disclosure that will tell tales his knowledge their plans favour and warning colonial situation patri archalism makes specific and often apparently contradictory demands iteration

;

of

/

do

of

–

)

48 – 9

i.

.

to

'

(

III .

'I

,

of

.

’

an is

's

on

‘

its

own women Miranda the most solitary Renaissance woman protagonists and exclusively male stage moves not know One my sex no woman face remember where references are made only three other women She indicates the apparent exclusion

but the same time their actual and together with other images femininity the play propels the narrative even when posited absence Miranda pro Prospero vides the ideological legitimation each actions the beginning the play he tells her that his Art prompted by his concern for her have done nothing but care thee Next the same scene he claims that his enslavement Caliban was prompted

,

;

at

).

,

. 16

's

. .ii

(I

'

-8 ).

Later

she

is

of

345

. Or ii.

Miranda

(I

rape

life

attempted

of

by

's

latter

of

,

by the

,

in

of

of

'I

:

in

‘

of

of

an

' of as is

,

sinister inclusion

in

the colonial arena

at

from

,

women

' ,

I

to

).

..

-

‘

V 1

'(

be

11

,

is

);

/

. .

IV 1 3 -4

(

him

as a

third mine own that for which live my Milan therefore after she married he will retire me my grave where Every third thought shall 310 described

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

154

complaint against Antonio is that he 'new created / The creatures that were mine , I say or chang ' d ' em , / Or else new form ' d ' em (I. ii.81 - 3) . His own enterprise is precisely the same, and Miranda is Prospero

's

'.

am

to

,

,

).

22

-

17

(

to

'(

/

of I. ii .

:'

in

to

I

/

art ;

themost successful of his creations. For twelve years ‘have I, thy school master , made thee more profit / Than other princess ' can , that have more time / For vainer hours , and tutors not so careful ' (1. ii. 171 - 4 ). This education has had two main and diverse purposes . On the one hand it has schooled her to obedience ; Prospero proudly affirms that Miranda nought knowing Ofwhence is ' ignorant of what thou She obeys question why despite the silence and has been taught not incomplete More fact that Prospero has left his story tantalisingly know Did never meddle with my thoughts She has there accept his version fore been well prepared the past unlike Caliban

; is

',

be

-t

.

,

63

, .ii .

-

(

him

,

as a

', ', '

sit

on ?'

, ,

st

'

,

' ,

as

is

,

:'

,

.

be

'd

/

).

14

-

13

.i .

IV

(

,

to

'

,

is

,

be

,

.

(

'

be

be

,

to

,

,

hear

', 'I

pray thee mark me Thou attend not sleep awake come Miranda ordered quiet obey see speak silent hush and mute She his pro my gift perty exchanged between father and husband Then Worthily purchas and thine own acquisition take my daughter thou

?

me

Dost

‘ ‘

Dost thou attend

, 1.ii )

'

to

by

is

to

I.

-2 ).

ii .

ation and she repeatedly

to a

to

.

questions

it )

Gratitude her father mingles with self depreci perceives herself nuisance Prospero never takes this control for granted however and 151 anxious secure her attention and obedience His story elling punctuated repeated orders down Obey and attentive

who

to

to

‘

of

,

be

.

in

's

,

participate On the other hand Miranda schooling calls upon her actively the colonial venture Although she does not love look upon Caliban she must educated about the economics the

We

he

:

situation

,

in

15 )

. .ii

311

(1

That serve

us .

,

in

:

cannot miss him does make our fire Fetch our wood and serves offices

to

)

62

in .p

',

to

')

of

('

’) ;

('

1

('

to the

')

by

's

'

,

;

to

in

for

be

to

('

his

.

to

'); to

');

try

32

, .p

is

-

(I

'

‘

,

(

so

to

.

)

(“ to

's

to

often

beginning

. .ii

The Tempest have

Caliban

on

assault

on of

sought transfer Miranda verbal Prospero Abhorred slave 351 the grounds that Miranda too delicate and not philosophical harshly see Kermode enough speak Barton Leontes 137 On the contrary these lines underline Miranda implication the colonialist project She has been taught be revolted Caliban thy vile race abhorred slave believe natural inferiority goodness and inherent incapacity bettered which any print sorry pitied will not take feel inferior native thee and and uplift him took pains make thee speak and concur Editors

SEIZING THE BOOK

155

''

totally in his ‘deserv d confinement . Miranda thus conforms to the dual requirements of femininity within the master - culture: by taking on aspects of thewhite man ' s burden the white woman only confirmed her own subordination . naming was ‘Miranda House was a school Indian women and ignore conspiracy not careful colonial not want the contradic its

to

such institutions and the space for alternative stances within yet the namebetrays some the assumptions underlying female

;

of

,

of

tions them

do

.

I

a

for

'

a

its

.

to ?

to

be

to

in

education the colonies and indicates the effort create native female intelligentsia which ignore gendered and racial alien schooled ation from the prevailing status quo Two other women are mentioned

,

's

is

to

of 56 )

it

,

.

of

.

told

:

is

,

of

to

.

of

,

,

of

'

(1

. .ii

.

of

,

of

of

a

as

of

first

is

them reinforce racial and sexual these Miranda mother who dismissed piece virtue and remembered solely for her capacity ensure the pure descent the Duke Milan Later we hear Claribel daughter Naples who has been married Alonzo King the King Tunis The tempest wrecked the ship while was returning from the wedding celebrations While he laments the death his son Alonzo

in

and the references

The Tempest

power relations The

)

19

117

. ( II .1 .

African

-

an

But rather loose her

to

,

,

,

Sir you may thank yourself for this great loss That would not bless our Europe with your daughter

fair

,

of

.

as

of

a

,

Thus women and black men and particularly combination the two the cause misfortune We are also told that Claribel

are posited

at

'

to

of

-

,

.

to

a

is

,

to

is

).

-4

(

,

.

II .i

‘

',

to

'

ill -

of

'

'

,

herself the soul oscillated between loathness this union and obedience her father 123 Her marriage abnormal and the source luck but she true European daughter subservient patriarchal will The references distinguish the marriage also serve between different non Europeans between the King Tunis and

,

'

am

as a

/,

on

',

, to .p '

;

,

).

-

)

. a

the

142

?

in

be

,

's

the

in

'

‘

's

wash

amplifies the doomed dialectic which might detected tongue which exerted the greatest curse coloniser

ability

to

A

The rape

hundred thousand crowns 256 259 see also Newman

, V .11 .

The White Devil

doomed dialectic

Caliban

v

of (I.

'

a

dowry

'(

,

attempt with Ethiop white

27 8

“

-

to

's

.

In

,

of

,

Caliban underlining the way that class positions power and regional differences can alter the meaning racial difference this respect one may recall also that whereas Cleopatra status can allow her frankly acknowledge her dark colour Think me That with Phoebus lowly servant girl must amorous pinches black Zanche

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE for

156

DRAMA

1

350

).

-

(I

. . 's ii

is

( it )

.

of ) of

.. .

But even

to

).

Calibans

with

isle

by

as

's

be

,

10

-

This

'

.. .

‘

of

's in

,

( pp

‘

in

is

'

people himself

as the a

(

of

by

-

a

anti colonial appropriations and became symbol both European values for the internalisation the African and Caribbean intellectual and for his subversion hers was not considered them George Lamming The Pleasures gift language Exile points out that way particular not English but speech and concept the very prison which Caliban achievements will realised and restricted 109 Caliban presents the rape his attempt fascination

positing

by

-

).

108

's '

's

10

,

.

of

( , .pp

,

. ..

in

of

to

,

by

in

a

in

,

is

:"

is

.

,

is

he it

, .

or

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worthy duplication Caliban revolt boomerangs con firm the shaping power dominant culture Lamming wonders why Caliban sure that children Miranda would be like him and Prospero But not like her does not consider the phallocentricism ironically undercut Caliban confidence nor how his subor constantly simplifies both Caliban dinate racial position Moreover and Miranda Caliban his way kind Universal Like the earth he always there generous his gifts inevitable yet superfluous and dumb Caliban can never reach perfection not even the perfection implicit Miranda privileged ignorance The political is

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Prospero accusation and Caliban acceptance effect make the potential revolutionary rapist and suggest that have tried crucially interrelated with the other ways spaces are which Caliban limited by the boundaries colonial discourse Although the connec linguistic and sexual rebellion tion between Caliban hinted Lamming typical not fully developed this ommission the gender blindness many anti colonial appropriations and criticism ever exist outside the territories allowed him The Tem disorderly women Feminists have found the masculine will Renaissance drama unsatisfactory and have tried show that no other pure feminist consciousness possible from within the masculine arena in

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always them Homi Bhabha writes relation the part the the Other that colonial desire articulated that possession fantasmatic space that one subject can singly occupy permits which the dream the inversion role Introduction Black Skins White Masks This implicates both the coloniser and the imagine spaces outside such colonised while would idealist increasingly dissatis dialectic the colonial situation the interlocking fying the post colonial reality Even within the colonial struggle the evocation native culture has been important Aime Cesaire for exam ple tried indigenous space locate his Caliban he rooted African religion and culture and draws traditions uncontaminated available

place

crucial controversy

157

of

SEIZING THE BOOK surrounding

of

on

43 )

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ity

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current theories colonial discourse Benita Parry has this area has concentrated the complex ambiguity and hybridity colonial discourse the expense obscuring what Fanon called the murderous and decisive struggle Parry between two protagonists This problem has been suggested that recent work

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The Tempest are

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to

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radical ambivalence

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to

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essay which identified relation The Tempest by Thomas Cartelli counterposes quarrel have referred earlier he those who with the Tempest that speaks the predatory language notion colonialism community for whom and another nonwestern interpretative The Tempest has long served the embodiment colonial presumption problematize sees first group the traditionally stereotyped critical estimate Prospero and Caliban the relationship while the second resists this by recuperating the starkness themaster slave configuration 101

are '

'

of

as

by

by

a

can

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the confinement Caliban the space structured the the play does not allow him visualise what Parry calls question simple another condition beyond imperialism But we opposition between the two groups identified arguing Cartelli that the play functions the embodiment colonial presumption

marked coloniser

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of

of ,

ative teaching

of

,

its

in

to

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be

or by

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do

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only when the tensions and ambivalence which Brown points erased What we mean by the starkness the master slave con Surely not that either figuration the two opponents their stances and psyches are simple monolithic The harshness the colonial ignoring the complexity conflict cannot stressed the adversaries emphasise this point This project has tried relation our own European encounter with the text including the agenda for altern –

.

The colonial conflict intersects with others those caste and ethnicity and the colonial subject not simple being Moreover three centuries colonial history have shaped com a

is

be

.

, ,

of

'

,

,

class gender

is

.

point

,

of

,

as

plex institutions such the Indian education system which cannot dismantled unless we take into account the interpenetration colonial indigenous and patriarchal power structures But this precisely the

by

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on

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)

To on

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.ii .

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at

which Parry criticism becomes crucial she attributes the con hybridity programme marked centration the exhorbitation discourse and related incuriosity about the enabling socio economic and political institutions and other forms social praxis simply left Whereas The Tempest Caliban his island we know that your language reality Prospero rarely simply sails away curse appropriate the European text 362 not own terms limit ourselves the spaces allowed Not only will centre around similarity dissimilarity disclosure the and usefulness and irrelevance

GENDER , RACE , RENAISSANCE DRAMA

158

of the Western text, but it must extend to the economic , sociopolitical and institutional realities in which our academic practice exists .

Notes indebted to work on TheTempestby Barker and Hulme , Paul Brown and Rob Nixon , which has made this chapter possible initiating The English department of Miranda House has been instrumental Delhi English studies the critical examination India see chapter note has also provided applicability forum for regular discussion critical theory and the university lecturers Delhi This Indian classroom and published feminist criticism

)

in

. in

in

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it (

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between the two worlds

“

identification

the apparently

Kermode

:

the idea

of

,

Old World and introduces was Carthage

'

'

to

and race are picked the references other women trivial banter about Dido which has never properly been explained

as in

in

a

of

up a in

in

's

Femininity

sir

3

,

,

, of

perhaps bears out my contention that given the increasing feminisation English studies and women alienation from the dominant concerns the discipline Third overhauling English studies World feminist criticism will play central role India

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:

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English Renaissance Literature and the Nature

:

Women

the

Woodbridge , Linda,

and

172

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in

)

'

,

of

.

'

of

a

;

,

the (C

1980

.

,

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',

Iris

,

in

(B

-

'

.,

in

B

,

1540 1620

,

righton Harvester 1984 Wright Louis The popular controversy over women Middle Class Culture hapel Hill University Elizabethan England North Carolina Press 1935 Young Beyond unhappy marriage critique the dual systems theory Womankind

Index Acharya , P. B. , 147 Adelman , Janet, 141 Advani, Rukun , 29 Agrippa , Henry Cornelius Altbach Philip

ni

, ,

151 157

,

n3

,

107

145 148

,

,

Lord

Burton

Robert

35n3 The Anatomy

of

Buddha

, , ,

22

,

Brustein

,

, , ,

Antipodes

Brownmiller Susan 150 Robert 73

137

Trevor 91

Austen Jane

John Russell

158

Arnold Matthew Aston

134

Charlotte Emily

,

106 112 118 n4

141

Brown Paul

104

130

141

,

,

,

-

Martha

Brome Richard Brontë Brontë Brown

,

Anderson Perry Anderson Thom Anger Jane Ardener Shirley

119

139 140

135

112

,

,

117

, 71 ,

Bertolt

135

,

Brecht

, , , , 79 , 32 , , G . , , 93 , 4, 8 - , 3 , 30 9 28 , 7 , , n8 30 , , 83 , ,

,

Althusser Louis Anant Victor

, , , , - , , , 41 , , , R , .L 6 , , , ., 30 n5 , 94 , 53 27 , , , 96 , 86 -7 , n5 ; 22 , The ,

Blumberg

Melan

n4

,

,

94

13

,

156

n2 ,

,

,

35

, 12 , ,

Devisprasad

114

Kamladevi 118

Clark

Sandra

Cleaver Eldredge 150 Cohen Walter 135 Coleridge 141 Conrad Joseph Heart Darkness 137 145 Coulson Margaret n4 Coward Cowhig

Rosalind

Ruth

62 n2

,

,

, ,

67

, 8 94 , n2 , , 44 ,

,

n2 ,

, 93

118 n5

n8

139

48

118

,

54

,

n4 , , 37 5 8 ,

,

n17

,

, D . , , M 34 6 ., ,

,

,

Bhavani Kum Kum

,

,

,

, ,

,

,

,

Bhabha Homi Bhatnagar Rashmi

157

Clark Alice

,

,

,

13

91

, 91

,

,

,

, , , 91 , 76

n1

Bentinck Lord William Berger John 110 133 Bergeron

Cesaire Aime 156 Chakravarti Uma Charles Chattopadhyay Chattopadhyay Chrysostom

100 101 104 105 106 108 109 116 141 n2

Blair Judith

141 n5

Carby Hazel Carr Helen 127 Cartelli Thomas n1 145 Cartland Barbara Castiglione Baldassare Cavendish Margaret

49

,

145

,

,

Barthel Diane Barton Anne 154 Aparna Basu Belsey Catherine

n1

135

139

, , , , , , , , , , , I, 51 , , , , , , S 55 70 , , , . , , , , 69 , , T , , 45 , ., 73 , , 57 , V ., 92 , 40 138 , , , , , , , 79 8 20 , , 35 , n7 64 41 8 39 , 24 , n4 of 50 , , 76 , , 42 , 36 76 43 , n9 -6 , , n4 45 , , 74 , 46 n7 , ,

n1

35

n9

,

,

13

36

,

n5

143

23

n3

,

Michele

24 8 -5

,

Barrett

,

, ,

,

1,

, 19 , 27 ,

17

n6

, 106

, ,

Francis

n1

8

158

8

,

Barker

, 7 ,

,

Baraka

118

Matteo Imamu Amiri 150

,

Bandello

Butler Marilyn Butler Martin 135 138

114

5

,

32

,

, 8

n2

,

,

3 , 7

Baldick Chris Baldwin James Bamber Linda Bamberger Joan

,

Mikhail

Bakhtin

11 ,

, , , ,

,

Babb Lawrence Bagchi Jasodhara

22

, , A ., 20 - 74

choly 139

INDEX

174

Foucault , Michel , 9 n8 French , Marilyn , 8 n2 Friere , Paulo , 32

Dabydeen , David , 32 Danby , John F ., 14, 125

Darwin , Charles , 35 n5 , 143, 144 Dash , Irene G . , 8 n2 Davies , Tony , 65 Davis , Angela , 8 n4 , 150 - 1 Davis , Joe Lee , 135, 139

17

,

,

, . , H ., 94 , n8 , 36 - ,

,

9

, , 72 , , 55 , , 8

,

-9

,

-5

n3

n5

,

112

,

,

98 91

n1

n2

,

,

145

,

143

,

78 -9

46

13 ,

,

n6 ,

,

44

42 -3 98

,

,

110

n1

7 , 8

,

76

,

,

8

, , , , 72 , , E Sir .J 77 , ., , , 91 56 , , , 30

,

,

120

n6

,

,

,

119

141 61 131

, G .K .,

,

54 -5

, , 50 , 53 ,

n7 ,

,

43

136

132

Henrik

A

's

,

13

, 8

98 91

, R. ,

,

76

, , ,

132

Alfred

Jean

ni

158

51

,

148

n3

53

,

,

36

,

,

, ,

39

,

,

Hitchcock Hobsbawm

Ibsen

,

n3

153

ni

Hic Mulier Christopher

n6

69 ;

143 144

Heisch Alison 63 Hemingway Ernest

Hunter

,

141

Harrison Stephen 133 Hartmann Heidi Heale William 117 Hegel George Wilhelm Friedrich

Pity She 35

Tis

;

'

8

H

,

, ,

,

77

72

,

, ,

n9

36

8

,

to

India

131

Thomas

Howard

137

106 Passage

n1

,

,

n4

63

Sir

Stuart

152

Hume Peter The

20

,

, , ,

,

,

,

,

56

,

, , , ,

Vir ,

Hall

-

Fielding

, - , ., 50 , 15 , 41 23 , , 42 52 , , 48 54 , , 54 62 , 62 , 64 , A

n6

, ' E , s .M , ., 39 , A 69 ; , , , 26 ,

,

,

Hall

n3

,

Lover Melancholy

n13

117

131

91

, E . H .,

,

Barton

,

,

,

,

, 27 ,

,

91 90

, ,

-

,

n7

,

151

Forster

Hacker Haec

Holloway Mark

n3

Forbes Geraldine n11 Ford John 105 The Broken Heart

147

Maurice

Hill

n2

157

Figes Eva Firestone Shulamith

132 133 141 n3

Heinemann Margot

137

149

Fiedler Leslie

Whore

, , Sri

,

,

,

, , 76 ,

110 128

Frantz

, , 94 ,

Fanon

Gwyer

Hardy

141 n1

,

8

63

n1 n5

Ellis Fermor Una 100 141 n1 Engels Frederick ni English Studies Group The Erikson

Stephen

Hakluyt Richard

n3

.,

R

,

96 30

, , ,

,

,

52

134

133

Germaine

Guazzo

145

,

,

142

98

, ,

91n1

, ,

131

T

, 43 ,

117

, . , S I. .,

19 ,

,

,

, ,

96

,

n4 ,

63

, L ., , 27 , 86 , ,

67

,

,

Terry

Ecker Grisela 112 Eden Richard 136 Zillah Eisenstein Eliot George Elizabeth

,

,

;

n6 , , 9 , n2

8

91

91

Greer

7

,

88

,

,

,

128

Griffiths Trevor

Juliet 8n2

Dusinberre Dwaraki

Amitava 121 Girish Ghosh Aurobindo Gibbons Brian 122 Goldberg Jonathan Gowda Anniah Gramsci Antonio Grant Charles Greenblatt Stephen

,

20

Rashmi

,

124

Ghosh Ghosh

59

, 6,

125

Drakakis John 141 Drakopoulou Maria Dryden John

Eliot

122

n6

Doraiswamy

Eagleton

n1

120

5

, , 74 ,

Donne John

,

113

132

,

,

126 131

112

,

101

8

,

,

n7 ,

,

92 n8

41

108

,

Charles Oliver Twist n1

Dollimore Jonathan

,

,

Dickens

46

Lust Dominion

The Roaring Girl

95

,

65 , , 66 , , , , , 77 68 46 , , , ; 3 , 87 94 , , ,

III ,

113 , 115 Dekker Thomas

Garrett , Clarke , 79 Geetha , A. S. , 85 George 22

, 8 n1 , 70 , 91 n1 ,

Zemon

, , 96 33 ,

, Natalie

Davis

Gandhi , Indira , 110 , 115 Gandhi ,Molhandas Karamchand , 36n7

INDEX

175

Mary

Mason

n7

,

,

75 -6

69

68

84 ,

, ,

69

,

123

106

108

-3

100 101

,

-

20 99 ,

,

110 119

,

54 96 ,

, 94 , 39 , , 95 ,

68 ,

,

98

, 96 ,

Beware Women

,

,

106

105

123

More DissemblersBesidesWomen The Roaring Girl Women

,

4 74 ,

, , -

100

, ,

, , n2

73 ,

,

99 69 ,

105 119

117 n1 122 Cheapside

,

,

Chess

118

100

, 68 ,

,

111 At

Chaste Maid Game

81

40 40

,

,

76 96

,

93

,

A

,

108

A

',

n13

62

Lover

ni

, , 97 39 - , , 12 98 57 , , ,

,

83

,

156

,

's

,

Clifford

,

,

Leech

., ., 3 3, ,

, , ,

Q F . .R D

Leavis

36

152

,

n2 Leavis

106

, 44 , , 98 51 , 52 ,

D

Errol

, ,

Lawrence

141

117

Thomas

The Changeling

The White Stocking

Lady Chatterley 150

152

143

65 19 19 ,

;

16

Lawrence

144

,

,

,

Middleton

n4

, , , . H ., , ' , , 35

,

George DLarmour Brigid

149

Merck Mandy 118 Mernissi Fatima 122

Lamming

,

,

Menezes

76

Krishnakmari , N . S ., 85 Kristeva , Julia , 24 , 112 Kuhn , Annette , 8 n3

Lahiri Nayanjot

Philip

, A .,

Knox , John ,

Scots

de Medici Catherine

141 n2

At

, L . C., 65 ,

Knights

,

Lorraine

Mary Queen Mary Tudor

, , 20 , , 98 , , nb 99 , 76

n1, 80 ,

35 ; Dr Faustus ,

Márquez Gabriel García 121 Marx Karl n8 n1 112

,

110

108,

76

143 , 154 , 158 n1

Kernan , Alvin , 40 Kishwar , Madhu , 26, 27, 38, 62

Margaret of Parma , 76

Markels , Julian , 141 n2 Marlowe , Christopher ,

,

Kermode , Frank , 61,

137

,

Kapur, Anuradha , 134 Kaufman , Gloria , 71 Kaufmann , R . J., 137 Kelly , Joan , 1 , 8 n1, 8 n2 , 56, 69 , 70 , 71, 76, 82 , 91 n1 , 91 n3 , 112 Kendal, Geoffrey , 31 , 30- 1

76 91

, 20, 147 , Barbara , 91 n3

Kalidasa

Kanner

of

Kakar , Sudhir , 98, 113 , 117 n2

127

114

McKeller , Jean , 150 McLuskie , Kate , 142 Malory , Thomas , 82 - 3 Mandeville, Sir John , 136 , Mani , Lata , 12, 36 n10 Mannoni , O ., 149 , 151 Manu , 88 -9

,

, 80 - 1, 89,

,

35 n4 , 36 n10

9 n8

Macheray , Pierre , 8 n8 Mack , Maynard , 141 n2

83

Joshi, Rama , 25 ,

,

Chloe, 148

Lucas , F . L ., 90

,

Jordon , Winthrop , D ., 44 Joseph , Gloria , 8 n4

Longinus, Daphnus and Loos, Cornelius , 85 Lown , Judy, 8 n5

9

, Ben , 133 , 135 , 141 n5 ; Volpone,

136

89 , 114

Literature and Society Group

,

Johnson

ni

, Joanna , 25 , 35 n4 , 36 n10 , 80 - 1,

Liddle

,

Jhabvala , Ruth Prawer ,Heat andDust , 51 Jhansi, Rani of , 115 Johnson , Samuel , 20 , 40 , 124 Jones , Ann Rosalind , 8 n1 , 36 n9 Jones , Eldred , 43 Jones , Inigo , 132 - 3

Lenin , V . I., 112

Lentriccia , Frank , 3 , 4 , 41 Lerner , Gerda, 56, 150 Leaver , 91

of

Jagger , Alison , 8 n3 , 8 n5 , 36 n9

James I , 56, 132 , 133 Jardine , Lisa , 8 n1 , 8 n2 , 67 , 70 , 77 , 81 - 2, 91 n5 , 91 n7 , 98 , 104 , 105, 130, 141 n2 Jayawardana , Kumari , 26, 36 n7 Jha , Amarnath , 22

105

INDEX

176 85 , 92 n8

Mitra , Ashoka , 85 , 92 n8 Montrose , Louis Adrian , 4, 8 n1, 65 , 66 - 7 , 77 , 91 n7, 130 , 134, 141 n3 Moorhouse , Geoffrey , 15, 35 n5 , 37 n14

More , Sir Thomas , 26, 71, 138 Morley , Dave , 2 , 5, 6, 8 n7 , 9 n10 Morton , A . L ., 138 Muir , Kenneth , 119, 122 Mulde -Sacke, 77 Muliyil , G. , 19

30

Nebrija , Antonio , de , 13 Neely , Carole , 40 , 41 , 57 , 60

General , 33

, Karen , 63 n4 , 155 Newton , Judith , 5 , 9 n8 , 41, 96 - 7 Nixon ,Rob , 144 , 148 , 149, 151 , 158n1 Norris , Christopher , 40

, Edward , 11, 14 , 28 ,43 , 44 , 50 , 79 Sangari, Kum Kum , 9 n9 , 25 - 6 , 36 n10 Sargant, Lydia , 8 n3 Schochet , Gordon , 56 , 83

Scott

, Paul,

45 - 6, 83 , 95 , 99 , 100, 104 , 119 , 121 , 144

The Comedy

,

Hamlet

, , , , 34 49 , , 50 , 60 , ,

-

105

106

,

Errors 141

,

Labour Lost

,

Love

Macbeth

100 127

133 142 149 100 104 108

,

You Like

, 1, ,

100

110 124

,

, ,

It - 93 , of , 30 ,

Antony and Cleopatra

108

, 74 ,

n1,

Well That Ends Well

n6

135 , 141

11, 157

Parthasarathy , R. , 32 Pathak , Zakia , 90- 1 Paul , St, 73 Peele , Thomas , The Battle of Alcazar, 46 de Pisan , Christine , 72 -3, 93

The Raj Quartet, 51

Scott , Reginald , 42 Serpieri , Alessandro , 52 Shakespeare , William , 18, 20 , 22 , 30 - 1,

As

,

, 22

Sadasivayya

60

Parmer , Pratibha , 8 n4 , 36 n10 Parrinder , Patrick , 7 Benita

122

, Michael , 5

,

Pannicker , K . M ., 89 Parker , Kenneth , 29

,

96-7

Rymer , Thomas , 40 , 41

30

The Palace of Pleasure,

106

Parry

Ryan

s

117 n1,

n1

,

, 5, 9 n8 , 41, , 73

Rozett , Martha Tuck , 141 n2 Rushdie , Salman , 121

All '

- Leslie , Molara , 45 , 41 , 61 Orkin , Martin , 41, 61- 2 , 63 n4 Ornstein , Robert , 90, 96 , 101 , Ben

Painter , William

Ridley , M . I. , 41 , 42 , 62 , 62 n3 Robinson , Cedric , 43, 44 , 45 , 49- 50 Rollo , J. C. , 30 Rose , Mark , 124 , 141 n2 Rose , Mary Beth , 92 n7

Said

Ogundipe

120 , 141

, 100

Roy , Ram Mohan , 14

Newman

Okri ,

Richards , I. A. , 19 Richards , Nathaniel Ridless , Robin , 140

Rowe , F . J., 21 Rowley , William ,

148

2

Neruda , Pablo , Canto

Rao , Raja , Kanthapura , 32 Reiss , 88 Ribner , Irving , 96 , 119

75 9

, C. D., 22 ,

Randall , Dale B ., 100

's

Narasimhiah

Neale , Steve ,

, 23

Rosenfelt , Deborah Rowbotham , Sheila

Nagarajan , S ., 23

Naipaul, V. S. ,

Plato

Pollack , Otto , 88 Ponniah , Gowrie , 114 Pym , John , 37 n16 Raleigh , Walter, 17, 29 Ramayana , 64 n8 , 134

46

Mies, Maria , 26, 62 n1, 81, Miller , Arthur , 30 Miller . Barbara Diane , 38 Miller , Jonathan , 144 Millett , Kate , 8 n3 Milton , John , 21 , 90 Mitchell , Juliet , 112

109

155

INDEX

177

,

81 ,

,

80

no

,

71

5 6

,

26 n6

,

,

,

95

, 93 ,

,

91

-

87

83 ,

, 78 , , 80 ,

,

75

,

,

,

, ., , , - 77

,

98

8

16

,

,

Elizabeth Horace

n5

98

A

,

,

, 5 ,

,

,

,

6 31 5

, , 4,

,

10

99

H

,

,

, 8 ,

,

,

130

Streetcar Named

8

,

Young Iris

n5 ,

91

, 70 , 73 ,

,

n5

,

8

,

Wolpe Anne Marie n3 Woodridge Linda 8n1

,

,

54

n2 ,

8

,

8

,

120

Williams Tennessee

, , , , ,

's

of 15

-

,

Alfred Lord

69

White Allon Whittey Steve Willeman Paul Willes Richard 136 Williams Raymond

Wilson Wilson

91

69 ,

141

n1

110

n5

Robert Weimann 147 Wells Henry Whigham Frank

Desire

21

Tennyson

Leonard n3

56

,

55

Tennenhouse

Women

,

, , , , R , , 90 . 83 H , , , .,

. E .,

T

Tanvir Habib 121 Tapper Bruce Elliott 114 n1 Tawney

84

,

M .,

,

, W , 6 , . , , T -6 30 ., , , , ; 39 21 91 , 50 n2 , 1 , , 97 , 55 , ; , 65 , , 68 - , 8 39 , , 69 , , , 74 , of

,

80

75

100 105

,

139

The Duchess

100 105 108 110 123 124 133 155 Sigrid 104

,

Travels 137

,

's

132

The Lawes Resolution Rights

n3

The White Devil

127

,

35

, 28 , 30 ,

14

, ,

-

, . C , ., A

Swinburne

74

,

n1 ,

n7

35

,

132

Woman Hater

Swift Jonathan Gulliver

,

91

56

, 67 ,

F

,

,

90 -1

, ,

Joseph

the

,

Swetnam

n3

Weir Angela

,

, ,

,

37

n17

117

135

133

81

117

Weigel

Strachey Lytton Stubbes Philip 131 Sunder Rajan Rajeswari Swetnam

John

73

,

,

91 ,

n3

Webb Webster Malfi

, ,

, 10 . , , , , 14 8 77 , , 79 36 , ,

n10 131

n1

Stone Lawrence

n1

8

, , 38 2, , 3 89 , 7 ,

, ,

9

n4 ,

nii

, . N ., , ,

,

141

Esther 132 Spear Percival n14 Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Sowernam

Stallybrass Peter 61 Shirley Staton

V

,

, 21 , Wadsworth Frank Warner Marina 118 Warnicke Retha

142

Hilda

Smith Stella

117 n3

18

n8 ,

9

Volosinov

,

n1

35

,

,

76

P

,

Smith

n1

Alan

58 ,

23 , , ,

,

Sinfield

n1

Vives Juan Luis

141 n2

Simmons

Gauri

,

Viswanathan 105 106

62 n1

115

, 13 , 14 , 16 , 18 ,

110

,

, ,

Vanita Ruth

,

Sharma Ursula 113 137 Shaw Catherine Shelley Shepherd Simon Simeon Dilip

Travitsky, Betty , 92 n7 Tyrell William Blake 118

8

, , , . , J., B 66 ., , , L T ., 72 91 2, ., , , , , 21 , 14 18 M - , 5 , , 108 , ., , 8 15 47 , 29 , 95 n2 70 , -1 37 , ,

Titus Andronicus , 46 - 8 , 49, 51, 80 , Twelfth Night

M . W ., 66

, E.

Tillyard

,

102

The Tempest, 6 , 15, 33 , 52 , 62 , ch . 6 passim

Thomas , Keith , 8 n1, 56, 91 n3 Thomson , Edward , 23 Thorne , Anne , 110 , 118 n5 , 133

40 ,

Romeo and Juliet , 101 , 108 - 9, 123 The Taming of the Shrew, 109

11

106, 123, 127 , 142 , 149 -50

Richard II , 131

23

38

74 , 75 , 83, 93 , 95, 97 , 99 , 101 , 102 ,

, Susie ,

Tharu

Thatcher ,Margaret , 31, 110 Thiong ' o, Ngugi Wa, 31 , 32 , 145 -6 Theodorakis , Mikis , 33

,

,

,

Othello , 10, 32 , 34, ch . 2 passim, 65

, Ellen , 75 Thapar , Romila , 35 n4 , 35 n5

Terry

32 ,

, 40 ,61, 93 , 99 ,

,

The Merchant of Venice , 100 , 104 , 108 Much Ado About Nothing 104

105

INDEX

178

Woodridge, Linda , 8 n1, 70 , 73,

,

,

Young

n5

105

8

Willeman , Paul , 6

Willes , Richard , 136 Williams, Raymond , 5 , 10 Williams, Tennessee , A Streetcar Named Desire, 98

Wilson , Elizabeth , 8 n5 Wilson , Horace , 16 Wolpe , Anne Marie , 8 n3

Iris

White , Allon , 4 , 5 Whittey , Steve , 31

91 n5 ,