A New Way to Pay Old Debts
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Category Archives: Love relationships
Paulina’s Guise (The Winter’s Tale, Act III Scene II)
(The following post contains spoilers to the end of The Winter’s Tale)
While Paulina’s account of Hermione’s death may seem shocking and quite feverish in its delivery, with the later ‘reanimation’ of the Queen in mind, it is possible to read her delivery as a kind of act to disguise the truth of Hermione’s death. Even before Paulina has left and returned to announce the Queen’s death, she hints at the potential fatality, she states, “This news is mortal to the Queen–look down / And see what death is doing.” This foreboding warning to Leontes cannot be mere happenstance. Perhaps Paulina and Hermione have decided to take advantage of her sons death in order to escape from the rampaging madness and rashness of the king. This would also allow Hermione to live a (relatively) free life, until the events of the play would allow for her return.
Paulina’s sudden hysterical reaction to Hermione’s death can easily be interpreted as an expression of grief for her departed mistress. Yet, Paulina’s previous behaviour in the play depicts her as an observant and persistent person. Even when she playfully calls Leontes a tyrant when she attempts to present his new born child to him, she remains witty and logical in her banter and advice/condemnation. To suddenly turn so explosive, so explicitly brutal in her tone and speech, is a auspicious turn of character for Paulina.
“What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me? / What wheels, racks, fires? What flaying, boiling / In lead or oils?.”
Later when questioned about her explosive behaviour by one of the gentlemen at court, Paulina rationalizes her actions as “the rashness of a woman.” This posture of Paulina’s could further indicate her pretense of Hermione’s death. Paulina understands the benefits that this performance affords her. Socially, her role as a woman excuses her irrational behaviour, and by fulfilling that expected role of the over-emotional grief stricken woman, by conceding to these conventions (and hiding her normally rational behaviour–thus allowing Paulina to overcome this particular branch of madness, implying perhaps another win for the distaff sphere) Paulina can successfully hide the death of the Queen and convince the court of her sincerity.
Posted in Comedy, Life vs. Death, Love relationships, Power struggles, Psychological detail, Tragedy
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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).
A New Way to Pay: Scene Study
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7MKa-Z2w1k
Hi everyone.
This is the final scene study of the semester brought to you by Peter and Eugene. While we will gladly share some of the tribulations that we faced in the course of doing this in class tomorrow (namely filming a two-character scene with a crew of two already acting in the scene), for now try to absorb the hundred or so lines that are as densely packed and difficult to recite as they appear to be. I am sure that Massinger never intended the likes of us to perform this, but I suppose that is the price to pay for having your play last nearly 400 years.
Anyway, enjoy (or at least try to).
Posted in A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Comedy, Love relationships
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“The Changeling”
I wondered what the title really meant for this play as I was reading through the scenes. I recognized that Antonio was listed as ‘the changeling’ in the cast list but from what I perceived, he was a minor character compared to Beatrice and De Flores. But it is clear by the end of the play that Antonio only serves as a faint parallel of the true changelings.
Beatrice’s working in cahoots with De Flores for their murder plots may not seem like an unusual situation for a Jacobean drama. What makes this unique is the fact that they have completely different image between themselves and the world. There are many examples where a switch in emotions is seen in Beatrice and De Flores, like their relationship; Beatrice went from despising him to seeking out his company and De Flores in changing his view of Beatrice from infatuation to controlling.
While these are obvious observations I noticed that their personalities never really changed. I felt Beatrice remained a spoiled and indifferent character throughout the play, from picking and choosing who her husband would be to killing people just for the sake of her well being. She blamed others on her misdirection, such as De Flores and Alsemero, rather than herself. Also, De Flores remained a trickster and a person in control throughout the play, even to the point of suicide. It is understandable that emotions will change day in and day out but I personally didn’t feel that these two characters genuinely embody the definition of a “changeling.”
Beatrice-joanna: Victim of desperation
Was Beatrice really a sociopath or was she just desperate? I sympathize with Beatrice because even though she was responsible for the deaths of two innocent people, it seems she didn’t really know what the consequences would be. Similar to Doctor Faustus, Beatrice was naive enough to believe her extreme actions would have no repercussions. She was so naive that she trusted De Flores, a man she loathes and has treated like dirt, without thinking he would use this information to easily blackmail her. From the start of the play, Beatrice seems to be acting out of desperation.
As the play starts off, I was immediately on Beatrice’s side because she was the victim of an arranged marriage. As we’ve witnessed throughout the semester with different plays, arranged marriages are very difficult or near impossible to get out of. Beatrice, like many strong women of her time might’ve done, decided to take matters into her own hands and get Alonzo killed in order to have her freedom. When her plan goes awry, she only gets more desperate and digs herself a deeper hole by getting Diaphanta killed. Beatrice’s reasons for doing what she did were in fact selfish, but at least they weren’t for the sake of greed or advancing in society. I could understand a woman scheming in order to marry the person they love. Beatrice felt she had no way out, and took extreme measures without putting much thought into how her actions would affect others (ie. Tomazo) and herself for that matter.
The Changeling: Falling victim to your own plans
Before writing this blog I was troubled about whether to elaborate on the class discussion on innocence and women or start a new thought. However after rereading today’s discussed schemes I found a small sub-theme inside the bigger theme of innocence. This theme comes out when De Flores says that Beatrice has lost her own innocence and is the slave of the deed rather than the mastermind behind the deed. I realized that De Flores highlight the sub-theme of victimization. In this case I found it interesting because Beatrice becomes the victim of her own plan.
Although many may argue that others are the victim to Beatrice’s plans, she is rarely alone in making decisions. Along her side is De Flores who comes up with the idea to burn a part of the house. She tries to save herself to prove her virtue; however, one of her lies leads to another which eventually leads to her death. De Flores mentions that she must think about her reputation above all else,but while thinking about her reputation she becomes lost in the things she does to save herself. She murders and lies and cheats; yet when push comes to shove she cannot take the weight of her own plans. An example of this is when she says she commits murder and deceit because of Alsemero’s love for her.
All her lies leads to her own death. She all along probably felt that she can control and tell people what to do, for example how she made Diaphanta go into bed with Alsemero. However she could not control the actual truth.
Stubbornness in Love
In The Changeling, we see that Beatrice is arranged to marry Alonzo. After asking for a three day extension for their wedding, Tomazo forewarns Alonzo about Beatrice. Alonzo quickly dismisses what was said about Beatrice, and does not listen to Tomazo. This is also seen in Endymion. Upon hearing Enydmion’s love for Cynthia, Eumenides advises him against it and states that his friend is “bewitched.” Both men go against others’ opinions for the sake of love. Through their stubbornness, this leads to a negative outcome. Ultimately, Alonzo is killed, and Endymion falls into a deep sleep that lasts many years. This shows their vulnerability and persistence towards love. They are unwilling to accept the reality, and continue to seek towards love.
The main drive of both these plays is love. They are willing to go through the obstacles in order to achieve their desires. Their driving force are their desires. They are too stubborn to realize the reality or to take the advice of those who are not blind with love. They are seeing these women with love instead of the naked eye. They allow themselves to be vulnerable towards their desires for these women, but are being stubborn to see and hear the reality.
Posted in Endymion, Love relationships, The Changeling
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Death and Its Release
Given the setting of the drama and the attitudes during the time it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that death was a release for the Duchess and the ones truly close to her. Instead of being bound by the rules and laws that are present she is able to escape all that. Death does not represent to her an end but rather a beginning. For in the next world she would be able to live freely and as she wishes (granted this would mean that there is a life after death but…this is not the time to argue on that matter). Granted at the time she thought that Antonio and her children were dead, so this furthered her belief that death would enable her to reunite with them. While we as the audience know that this is not the case at the moment, it allows her to face her impending execution with courage and defiance.
Frankly I’m glad that the Duchess was killed. Had she remained alive it would’ve been for no other reason then for Ferdinand to gloat over the so-called power he has over her. With her execution Ferdinand kinda lost what he was trying so hard to keep in the first place. I could imagine the Duchess smiling down from whatever astral plane she is on and remarking on how she won in the end. True her death could have been avoided and maybe something could have happened that might have resulted in a happier ending, but given the circumstances it played out quite well.
Social Status in The Shoemaker’s Holiday
The Shoemaker’s Holiday, written by Thomas Dekker, is one of the first plays we have read in class that closely examines social status. I say closely because I think the other plays we have read thus far do incorporate social status as a plot device in one way or another, but none do so as thoroughly as The Shoemaker’s Holiday. The plot’s main character is the boisterous yet charming Simon Eyre, a shoemaker dedicated to his craft and to those who work with him. Eyre’s trademark phrase is “Prince am I none, yet am I princely born”. He says this over and over again, and it might provide an explanation as to how and why Eyre is able to ascend the social ladder as a shoe maker to a Lord Sheriff, to finally a Lord Mayor. The fact that Eyre has the opportunity to climb the social ladder is intriguing, and offers and interesting parallel to the side plot of Lacy and Rose, whose guardians are opposed to their marriage due to differences in social status.
While Lacy’s Uncle is opposed to his marriage to Rose because she is middle class (albeit her father is what one might recognize as New Money). On the other hand, Rose’s father opposes the marriage due to Lacy’s previous lifestyle as a reckless spender, and in turn a threat to Roses’s assets if they do get married. However, Lacy finds his way around this roadblock to his happiness with Rose, and chooses to disguise himself as a shoemaker, thus entwining his plot with that of Simon Eyre. Things aren’t completely settled between the already married Lacy and Rose, as their guardians still oppose the union. Leave it to the King to make an appearance in the last scene, and set everything right. He talks in length about how the problem of social status shouldn’t be an obstruction to the couple’s happiness, as Rose is ” worthy bride for any gentleman” (21.109) and Lacy “To gain her love became a shoemaker” (21.113). This part of the King’s speech is moving as he stands up for the couple’s love for each other coming before social status. However, he promptly appoints Lacy a higher status as a Knight, much to the delight of Oately and Lincoln. In conclusion, I don’t think that this play is campaigning that social status doesn’t really matter; instead it provides a well thought out portrayal of matters of the working class in a manner that showcases the cunning and vivacity of these particular characters.
Posted in Love relationships, The Shoemaker's Holiday
Tagged social status, the shoemaker's holiday
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The Shoemaker’s Holiday: Beyound the bawdy jokes
The Shoemaker’s Holiday is a comedy filled with sexual humor but there are much deeper meanings behind the bawdy jokes. Dekker’s play is a citizen’s comedy and it clearly and explicitly represents the voice of the upward rising class of the craftsmen.
Simon Eyre and also Roger Oatley are successful working class men who, by acquiring positions in city government got additional respect and also political power above their financial strength. What they also represent is a strong criticism toward the aristocrats. They are conscious representatives of their own class who have disdain toward courtiers. In Scene 1 Oatley doesn’t want Lacy for his son in law. To have one’s daughter marry with an aristocrat should be desirable, but for him to have a husband for his daughter from his own class is much more important. Eyre further reinforces this opinion in his advice to Rose in Scene 11 about who should she marry to. His advice to the fellow craftsman’s daughter furthermore has a universal, ever valid connotation: don’t judge a person by his external appearance. People can be well dressed but have nothing in the inside.
Juxtaposing Lacy’s and Ralph’s situation in Scene 1 is also a great example for this aforementioned additional meaning behind the explicit sexual humor. Both young men have to go to the war in France. Lacy as a courtier appointed by the king to be the chief colonel of the London’s company sent to the war. Ralph as a shoemaker was drafted as a soldier. Lacy deserts the army because he is in love with Rose and doesn’t want to leave her. In a romantic play this would represent the greatness of love, that can go beyond any boundaries. But Dekker’s play is not like that. There is Ralph’s figure in the other corner. He is a young husband deeply in love with his wife and not just a guy who having a secret affair with someone. Eyre and his men are trying to persuade the captains (who are – so brilliantly written – Lacy and his cousin) not to take him to France, but poor Ralph never says a word. He arrived with gun and gunpowder, ready for the battle. Deserting the army was never in the mind of the young craftsman.
There is so much more in this sort scene. Yes, it is filled with bawdy jokes that are the trademarks of Firk’s character and are there to make the comedy more enjoyable (or more offensive for others). But among these it is showing how virtuous is the working class and how prone to vice are the aristocrats. There is the master who is willing to suffer financial loss just to save his worker, there is the young craftsman who is ready to go to war, and on the other side there is Lacy, the aristocrat showing his true character. I believe that Lacy had the power to discharge Ralph, yet he does nothing. Even if he really couldn’t do anything, he is a true hypocrite. A man presented to him in a really similar situation as himself; nevertheless he cares nothing about him. He is already made his decision to desert the army for her love but he is telling Jane that his husband must go because his country needs him.
Posted in Comedy, Love relationships, The Shoemaker's Holiday
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