Religious Contact and Conversion in Early Modern Drama

Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 4-15-2015 12:00 AM Turning to Food: Religious Contact and Conversion in Early Modern Drama Fatima F. Ebrahim The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Kim Solga The University of Western Ontario Joint Supervisor Dr. Margaret Jane Kidnie The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in English A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Fatima F. Ebrahim 2015 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Ebrahim, Fatima F., "Turning to Food: Religious Contact and Conversion in Early Modern Drama" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2796. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2796 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TURNING TO FOOD: RELIGIOUS CONTACT AND CONVERSION IN EARLY MODERN DRAMA (Thesis format: Monograph) by Fatima Ebrahim Graduate Program in the Department of English A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of « Doctor of Philosophy » The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © « Fatima Ebrahim » « 2015 » Abstract In this dissertation, I am proposing a new way to explore Anglo-Judeo-Islamic relations in early modern drama: to focus on the way food, drink, and the humoral body materializes on stage as “conversion panic,” which is dramatized in a range of scenarios from overt xenophobia to more nuanced scenes of acceptance and tolerance. Because the early modern English believed that diet – eating with religious others and/or eating foods from other nations – could alter their humoral makeup to the extent that their internal, physiological bodies underwent a religious conversion, they were constantly and consciously aware of the looming possibility of conversion. The hydraulic premise of humoral physiology thus extended, I contend, to religious identity: just as humors were fluid, so too was religious identity. Food, which is at once a central “non-natural” for the humoral body and an essentially theatrical element, provides an important point of convergence for investigating religious difference in early modern drama. To examine food’s role in the Anglo-Judeo- Islamic equation is to better understand how the early modern English simultaneously managed their fears, maintained their cultural and religious identities, and developed or nurtured economic and political ties with the other. To offer a more comprehensive picture of English interactions with religious others, I study early modern English histories, travel narratives, medical tracts, sermons, and other pamphlets, in addition to the English representation of religious others on stage. The plays I discuss span approximately forty- seven years, starting with Robert Wilson’s The Three Ladies of London (1584) and extending to the late Jacobean sequel to The Fair Maid of the West (c. 1631) by Thomas Heywood. ii I conclude that examining interfaith relationships from the perspective of foodways widens the possibility that the early modern English did not always look to the Turk, Jew, or Catholic in contempt. Rather, studying these interfaith encounters in tandem with humoral theory and culinary practices establishes the fact that the early modern English were conscious of their sameness with others, and responded to this awareness with attitudes ranging from outright resistance to compassionate acceptance. Keywords Early Modern Drama, Anglo-Islamic Encounters, Interfaith Relationships, Food Studies, Religious Conversion, Cultural Encounters, Humoral Theory, Eating Practices, Diet, Shakespeare, Middleton, Heywood, The Merchant of Venice, A Game at Chess, William Percy, Mahomet and His Heaven, Jewish Dietary Laws, Hospitality, Islamic World, Turks, Jews, Galenic Medicine iii Acknowledgments This project took shape over the course of my undergraduate and graduate years at McMaster University, the University of Windsor, and Western University. At each of these institutions I was met with great fortune to learn from, and be mentored by, professors whose generosity of time, patience, and encouragement have brought me here today. During my undergraduate career, Dr. Helen Ostovich introduced me to literature of the sixteenth century and her enthusiasm and guidance in those early years sparked what is now a thesis on early modern drama. At Windsor, Dr. Mark Johnston spent countless hours helping me improve my research and writing and I became a better graduate student because of him. I was taught and mentored also by Dr. Stephen Pender, who introduced me to the exciting world of early modern medicine, and who encouraged me to pursue what I love. My time at Windsor undoubtedly prepared me for my doctoral endeavour at Western. At Western I met professors, colleagues, librarians, and students who have all contributed, perhaps unknowingly, in helping me finish this project, and in bettering my experience altogether. I am indebted to my supervisors, Dr. Kim Solga and Dr. Margaret Jane Kidnie, who have been more than any graduate student could ever ask for. In these past six years, I have felt incredibly fortunate to work with Kim and MJ and learn from their expertise, both as scholars and as teachers; I cannot imagine what this experience would have been like without their knowledge, generosity of time, and sense of humour. I would also like to thank my examining committee, Dr. Paul Werstine, Dr. Madeline Bassnett, Dr. Melitta Adamson, and Dr. David Goldstein, whose questions and comments have pushed my thinking in ways that will enrich my arguments and benefit any future renditions of this project. iv Along the way I have had the good fortune to be in the company of friends – Taran Grewal, Zeinab McHeimech, Alicia Robinet, Stephanie Oliver, and Rebecca Gera – who offered me the kind of emotional support and encouragement that I needed to get through the days when the research and the writing seemed daunting and endless. And to my family, I owe a special thanks for all their love and prayers. I am grateful to my husband for his unwavering faith, and most of all, to my parents for crossing oceans for me. It is impossible to express in words all my gratitude for everything my parents have done for me and my education. I would like to especially thank my mom, to whom this thesis is dedicated, for her hard work and extraordinary patience; this degree is every bit her accomplishment as it is mine. v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi Introduction: Food, Humors, and the Judeo-Islamic Other in Early Modern Drama .......... 1 Chapter 1 ........................................................................................................................... 13 Humoral Theory, Diet, and Subjectivity: Foreign Food and the English Constitution 13 Porous English Bodies: Fears of Apostasy, Conversion and Contamination ............... 23 Aversion to Foreigners and Their Food in Sir Thomas More ....................................... 32 Anglo-Islamic Traffic ................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 2 ........................................................................................................................... 44 Early Modern Hospitality: Controlling Religious Boundaries in ................................. 44 England and the Islamic World .................................................................................... 44 Hospitality in England .................................................................................................. 50 Hospitality in the Islamic World ................................................................................... 62 Hospitality on the English Stage ................................................................................... 79 Chapter 3 ......................................................................................................................... 103 Conversion Panic: Forced Conversions, Dissimulation, and Food in The Merchant of Venice and A Game At Chess .............................................................................. 103 Jewish Ritual Slaughter in The Merchant of Venice ................................................... 105 Food and Faith: Jewish Dietary Laws and Markers of Faith Identity ........................ 128 The Problem of “Counterfeit Christians” and Religious Dissimulation ..................... 136 Food as Faith Markers: Discerning Religious Identity in A Game at Chess ............. 141 Chapter 4 ......................................................................................................................... 153 vi “The Tankard Cannot Lye”: The Christian-Muslim Encounter with Alcohol ........... 153 Early Modern English Attitudes

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