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Category Archives: The Changeling
Judgement of Females in Literature
Recently I read an article, Do We Judge Female Characters More Harshly Than Male Characters? It brought up an interesting point about gender perception and the work done by social psychologists that “has repeatedly demonstrated that women are perceived and evaluated on a different criteria than men. Some traits seen as positive in one is seen as negative in the other ..such as assertiveness is seen as a positive trait in a male and in a female it is seen as pushiness, or a lack of warmth is acceptable in men but in women it can be a deadly (in terms of perception by others).” The discussion followed by how it translates to literature as well and how the female characters are evaluated against a different scale than their male counterparts.
It made me think about the character of Beatrice Joanna in The Changeling. There is no doubt that she is a villain, but the characteristics she exhibited are very similar to those we have seen in the “new men” in the different plays we have read this semester. And yet, as a female she is giving the harsher judgment, which as the ending of the play reaffirms shows it holds true….because it is De Flores who confesses the full extent of their crimes and kills her and himself.
While I am in no way trying to defend her as a character, there are some points that should be considered. And one of those points is the fact that in any other situation, and through our modern eyes, De Flores was basically stalking and sexually harassing Beatrice Joanna. Yes she was mean to him, but it wasn’t completely unprovoked. She also had very little choice and control over her own life, as many women of that time, as it was her father who would decide who she would marry….even if she did not want to.
But putting aside Beatrice Joanna, that double standard of character evaluation holds true even when applied to other characters. We praise Isabella for her virtuousness to her bastard of a husband, Celia for her goodness…and even with the Duchess and Julia there is the ingrained comparison of the moral virtuousness of the female character.
It does cause me as a reader to reevaluate, if not precisely how I evaluate what I read and judge characters, then at least how those judgements differ between genders and if the judgment would be the same if the gender was taken out of context.
Posted in The Changeling, The Duchess of Malfi, Tragedy
Tagged female characters, gender differences, judgement
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Beatrice-Joanna vs. Bel-Imperia
Due to the rapidity of with which Bel-Imperia falls in love again, it is easy to doubt the degree of her love for Horatio and even for Andrea. Not long after Andrea’s death, Bel-Imperia was already interested in Horatio. Her servant Pedringano tells Lorenzo about her feelings towards Horatio “She loves Horatio.” (2.1.79) Once again, Bel-Imperia falls in love with someone of whom her father does not approve. It is questionable whether she loves these men, or loves the freedom these men can provide her since they are not in the same social class as her. The play does not clearly depict Bel-Imperia’s feelings clearly. It seems as though Bel-Imperia merely decides with whom she will fall in love with, but her psychological details are not provided. Bel-Imperia fought for Horatio’s revenge and ultimately ended her own life. Bel-Imperia even resented Hieronimo for believing he was not seeking revenge, even if revenge meant going against her own brother Lorenzo. She wanted to take revenge onto her own hands “And give it over and devise no more, / Myself should send their hateful souls to hell / That wrought his downfall with extremest death.” (4.1.27-29). She helped Hieronimo with his plays to seek revenge against Lorenzo and Balthazar. Bel-Imperia was loyal to Horatio, even after his death.
Similar to this is Beatrice- Joanna. It is questionable if she truly loved Alsemero or just wanted things to go her way. Although Bel-Imperia killed for revenge, Beatrice-Joanna killed to marry to Alsemero. It can also be questionable why Beatrice-Joanna did not love Alonzo. The play never goes in detail as to why she did not want to marry Alonzo, but instead quickly falls in love with Alsemero. Beatrice-Joanna does in fact later admit to Alsemero what she has done, and that she did it for him.
Posted in The Changeling, The Spanish Tragedy
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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.”
Love Sick
“Are you not well, sir?,” Jasperino says as soon as he hears that Alsemero is unwilling to depart for Malta. Jasperino knows something is obscuring Alsemero’s judgment. Alsemero responds a bit sarcastically saying, “Yes, Jasperino, unless there be some hidden malady within me that I understand not.” They have a very “brotherly” relationship despite Jasperino being a friend of Alsemero who is a nobleman. They are close enough for Jasperino to recognize that Alsemero is acting a bit strange.
We hear this all the time in the present. When someone is “love sick” and they are mixing logic and emotions which is obscuring perception. When you desire something so much you’ll neglect other sensible thoughts and actions to obtain it. This is usually the wrong way to go.
“The seamen call. Shall we board your trunks?,” says a servant. “No, not today,” responds Alsemero. Jasperino reminds him that it is the astrologically crucial day to leave and they should leave for a safe journey to Malta. Alsemero, against better judgment, refuses again.
When Beatrice-Joanna enters Alsemero greets and kisses her. Jasperino has a short aside to the audience in which he basically says “I knew it!” and “this cannot be good!” Jasperino’s entire point at the start of the play is that Alsemero’s new interest in Beatrice-Joanna is against better judgment and that it could have been avoided. Since Alsemero does not listen to his friend he has already foreshadowed his demise. All of which could have been avoided if he wasn’t so love sick and just boarded the ship.
Posted in Psychological detail, The Changeling
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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.
You can’t always get what you want
Or can you? What’s the price than that you have to pay? Is it worth it? These are the questions that came to my mind after reading The Changeling. De Flores was able to achieve what seemed to be impossible at the beginning of the play. He was disrespected and despised by the woman that he was so obsessed with. The likelihood of his ever getting Beatrice’s attention was equal to zero at the time when the plot started. From this perspective the play is De Flores’ success story where the unlikely hero realizes his dream.
De Flores knew right away that his time had come when Beatrice asked him to get rid of Alonzo, and he grabbed the opportunity. He was so obsessed with her that he didn’t think a moment about the evil deed of stabbing her suitor to death. He knew his goal and he did everything to realize it. He succeeded; he got what he wanted, but the cost was tremendous. He committed two homicides and also the young and innocent Beatrice whom he was madly in love with has changed beyond recognition. All of this happened for the opportunity of having one sexual act with her. De Flores was a smart guy; if he wasn’t so obsessed he must have realized that at the end they will not live “happily ever after.” Instead of this they both end up dead. De Flores was so blinded by his goal to pursue Beatrice that he did not realize that this end is inevitable.
You can’t always get what you want – it is better this way. In order to be successful the advice is to set a goal and work your way toward it. It is something that is worth to take into consideration, but first, one should realize that there are things that not worth to pursue, and that another saying,“the end justifies the means” is also not an absolute one.
The Changeling
Beatrice and De Flores’ relationship in The Changeling was very peculiar to me. Throughout the play she was disgusted by him, but when taking him up on his service she was then almost attached to his fate. The first introduction the audience has of their relationship is De Flores coming to talk to her but then she cuts him off showing her dominating status over him. It wasn’t until her passion for another man led her to the beginning of her end.
Beatrice was flirting with her demise when she flirted with De Flores to get him to kill Antonio. At this point she shows a break in the social boundaries by telling De Flores to stand up, rising him to her level. After committing the act, De Flores comes back to gain his reward. Accept, contrary to what Beatrice thinks, the reward he seeks is much greater then any monetary value. I saw this as him outsmarting Beatrice and making her in debt to him.
By neither of the characters specifying the reward for De Flores’ servitude, it places him in the perfect position. As soon as she asked him for his help she sealed her fate. De Flores was then able to gain the upper hand and this is truly the point where they become equal. Him physically then taking her virginity enforces that she just gave away her power. Her virginity was in fact the thing that made her most desirable, and without it she was then portrayed as less then.
At the end when De Flores stabs Beatrice is again another peculiar scene. She cries out in a mixture of pain and pleasure confusing to those that hear it. De Flores was not only to blame for her loss of status but now her loss of life. As they died by each other it almost seems poetic, but the fact that he stabbed her just shows how desperate he was to be so truly equal if not overpowering her.
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.
Two Characters–Similar in Situation but Different in Decisions
The subplot plays a significant role in dramas, particularly Elizabethan and Jacobean dramas. The subplot reinforces the theme/main idea of the play by presenting characters that are in situations parallel to those of the main characters, yet have contrasting personalities. For example, Isabella and Beatrice are both young women with prospective men in their lives. Three men are vying for Isabella’s attention and affection (Francisco, Antonia, and Lollio) and three men are also interested in Beatrice (Alonso, Alsemero, and De Flores). Isabella’s placed in a situation that limits her freedom and makes her an object of her husband’s authority, while Beatrice also initially lacks the freedom to choose whom she wants to marry.
These characters dramatically differ, however, in that Isabella remains virtuous and chaste, and does not succumb to the pursuits of the men attempting to win her over. In fact, she ironically beats them at their own game and wittily exposes their true intentions. Beatrice, on the other hand, takes a very different approach and loses her innocence in every way possible. The consequence of her actions is a serious one–death. Although she temporarily gets what she wants, the ends certainly do not justify the means.
Isabella and Beatrice are foils of each other, and the inclusion of Isabella in the plot of the play makes the audience see even more clearly how the selfish, immoral acts of a woman lead to a snowball effect of destruction.
Posted in Power struggles, Psychological detail, The Changeling
1 Comment
What price goes murder?
On the surface, The Changeling isn’t all that different from some of the other plays that we’ve read in that by the end, justice (in some fashion) has been meted out to those deserving of it. Bodies strew the stage, dramatic final words are spoken (“‘Tis time to die when ’tis a shame to live.”), and things seem somewhat right by the close of the final curtain (perhaps because the two principal villainous characters are dead). Yet this play is far from just another Renaissance tragedy.
When compared with some other of our readings, the play’s conclusion seems rather tame; the deaths are numbered, and De Flores and Beatrice depart seemingly on their own volition. Yet by the time Joanna breathes her final breaths, she has already lost something perhaps more valuable than her life, her reputation. And what’s more the loss of this intangible is not merely the result of a one time occurrence, but rather a repeated and consistent set of choices that she makes throughout the play’s five acts. In many ways, The Changeling signifies the vast difference in female characterization that we’ve encountered since the start of our readings this semester. From the start of the play, Joanna is neither the passive nor genteel character we might’ve expected out of a female character. Her degrading treatment of De Flores from the onset foreshadows in many respects the downward moral spiral that her character will undergo.
As a character whose status is of less than noble standing, Joanna is able to hold herself on her virginal purity and (dare I say) innocence. She sullies both of these beyond repair. So to return to the question that Alsemero originally posed to De Flores in the final scene, What price goes murder? The answer for Joanna is not merely her life, but her reputation, honor and purity, and by 5.3, she pays up.
Posted in Power struggles, Psychological detail, The Changeling
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