A New Way to Pay Old Debts
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Author Archives: Yevgeniy Kharonov
Posts: 4 (archived below)
Comments: 2
Incest and Sororicide
As a biologist I know that human children that are raised together are averse to having sex with each other because of a complex network of genes that have evolved in order to prevent these sorts of relationships from yielding offspring. The offspring of closely related family members typically inherit all the recessive or abnormal genetic traits. In the Anthology’s introduction to Tis Pity She’s a Whore by John Ford (not assigned reading), the authors discuss the theme of incest. They tell us that dramatists stage incest because it is a matter that the audience pays serious attention to. Most times incest is associated with the villains. In the The Duchess of Malfi, incest was not discussed directly, but rather through Ferdinand’s obsession with his sister’s sex life. Ferdinand’s suppressed sexual desire of his sister morphed into a desire to see her dead. From incest to sororicide, the descent is quite rapid and as a member of the audience, I am riveted. I look forward to seeing how “Ford makes the incestuous lovers central and… rather ordinary” (p1905) in Tis Pity.
ASIDE: I also recommend A Song Of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin and the spin off Game of Throne on HBO for the dramatization of incest and sororicide on Middle Earth (which is strangely like Renaissance England).
Ethics of Service
In Massinger’s A New Way to Pay Old Debts, the role of the servant is captured in two differing lights. Firstly there are the servants that work in the home of Lady Allworth with great pride and fulfillment. These servants are absolutely necessary for the upkeep and normal function of the household. There is Order the steward, Amble the usher, Furnace the cook, Watchall the porter, and Waiting-woman and Chambermaid. Lady Allworth treats her staff with respect and shows them gratitude for their work, as when she gave Furnace money for new aprons and a summer suit: “In the meantime, there is gold / To buy thee aprons and a summer suit” (1.2.58-59). The staff shows great loyalty in return for Lady Allworth’s conscientious conduct. Overreach tries and fails to get Order to criticize Lady Allworth about her mourning rituals: “Sir, it is her will, / Which we that are her servants ought to serve it / And not dispute” (1.3.4-6). The staff also knows their place in the household and in society in general. In the presence of Lovell, Lady Allworth asks Amble and Waiting-woman for some privacy. Their reply characterizes both their social status and their respect for Lady Allworth: “Amble: We are taught better / By you, good madam. / Waiting-woman: And well know our distance” (4.1.173-174). The house servants’ compliance was imperative to the fruition of Wellborn’s plot (of the false engagement to Lady Allworth). Without the servants this plot would have never worked and Wellborn would not have been able to attain the same resolution for his debts.
Greedy and Marall are technically Overreach’s servants and parallel the loyal servants in Lady Allworth’s home. These two show their loyalty to their master by complementing his notorious schemes and in most cases carrying them out. However they do not show the same respect for Overreach as the respect that Lady Allworth gets from her servants. Marall and Greedy are in it for themselves and each one only serves in order to attain their personal desires. They interact in a way that befits common thieves and sell-swords. Overreach calls them fools and knaves while they reply: “You are all wisdom” (2.1.23), or “The best I ever heard! I could adore you” (2.1.43). Overreach realizes that he needs his servants : “Alone I can do nothing, but I have servants / And friends to second me…” (5.1.312-313). Unfortunately, Marall does not have much loyalty left for Overreach and he betrays him by changing the deed for Wellborn. He then offers his services to Wellborn :”If it please Your Worship / To call to memory, this mad beast once caused me to urge you to or drown or hang yourself; / I’ll do the like to him, if you command me” (5.1.335-337). To which Wellborn replies:
You are a rascal! He that dares be false
To a master, though unjust, will ne’er be true
To any other. Look not for reward
Or favor from me; I will shun thy sight
As I would do a basilisk’s. Thank my pity
If thou keep thy ears. Howe’r, I will take order
Your practice shall be silenced (5.1.337-344).
In the end, everyone gets what they deserve and those who were loyal to their masters retain pride in their loyalty, while those that betrayed their masters retain great shame. As Wellborn said: “His conscience be his prison” (5.1.347).
Posted in A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Comedy, Power struggles, Satire
1 Comment
When a “Volpone” emerges on Long Island
I mentioned this article in class:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/brittany-ozarowski-cancer-heroin-lie-hoax-long-island-new-york_n_3054786.html, and felt I should provide the reference. There is a striking overlap between the actions taken by Brittany Ozarowski, a young heroin addict that gulled her family and her community into giving her money for cancer treatments, and those of Volpone who gulled his acquaintances intro giving him gifts. I assume that such guile is standard human practice. It seems like a brilliant plan at first; to look sick and fool others into pitying you. But what then, does the charade go on indefinitely? Volpone figured that it must end eventually. Indeed his sham was exposed through the court and his coconspirator Mosca. In Brittany’s case, it was revealed when donors decided to pay her doctors directly and offered to take her to her visits. In some sense Volpone, while morally ambiguous, only targeted other despicable men, who were blinded by greed and self interest. Brittany’s donors were kind hearted people that legitimately felt bad for her and had nothing to gain from helping her. In this sense Long Island’s Volpone is a different breed than Venice’s Volpone.
Posted in Psychological detail, Volpone
1 Comment
Dilemmas and Devils
Christopher Marlow’s Doctor Faustus deviated from the Elizabethan tradition of presenting plays on the subjects of love, war, or courtly transgressions. The prologue’s Chorus focused our attention on our “muse,” Faustus whose fate was of considerable interest to the newly protestant Elizabethan/Jacobean audiences. Faustus was a man of great intellect who sold his soul to the devil for god-like powers, only to waste both his powers and his soul for what seemed like trivial achievements.
Faustus was described as the son of lower class parents who had excelled tremendously at the University of Wittenberg and was granted a Doctorate in Medicine and Theology. In his first soliloquy Faustus informed the audience that he had reached the pinnacle of every subject that he had studied (including philosophy, medicine, law, and theology) and that the only thing left to expand his mind and abilities was necromancy. Faustus knew that pursuing necromancy was a fatal sin against his god but came to the conclusion that divinity was baseless because all humans commit sin and thus to adhere to a religion that punished sin was illogical. Faustus asked “What doctrine call you this? Que sera, sera” (What will be, shall be). Faustus focused his desires and decided through some contemplation (with spirits like the Good Angel and Evil Angel and the magicians Valdes and Cornelius) that he would sell his soul to the devil for ultimate power.
One of the most comical scenes was when Faustus first performed the incantations to summon the devil Mephistopheles who appeared as an ugly fiend, to which Faustus commanded that he return in the image of a Friar. This scene was both comical and heretical in Marlowe’s time and furthered what seemed like a highly secular, almost atheistic jest of a play. The pact that Faustus made with Lucifer enabled him to use Mephistopheles as his personal servant for twenty-four years. Throughout this period Faustus pursued and personified the seven deadly sins, that were also presented to the audience in a dumb-play, and achieved nothing of any worth. He managed to play a trick on the pope, summon the spirit of Alexander the Great for Charles the V, and garner fresh grapes for a German Duke’s wife.
In the end, Faustus stood the fool for his time ran out and Lucifer owned his soul. He was torn to shreds and dragged off to hell. Faustus achieved nothing during his time as a great necromancer except sleeping with succubi and performing party tricks, however a deeper issue was presented to the audience. The issue of eternal damnation which was and is a terribly frightening issue for devout Christians. I imagine that the audience, being very religious, was left with a sense of content at Faustus’ fate.
