The Fascination of Evil: Mental Malpractice in Shakespearean Tragedy
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THE FASCINATION OF EVIL: MENTAL MALPRACTICE IN SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY by JEFFREY CALLAWAY STEELE A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY The Shakespeare Institute Department of English School of Humanities The University of Birmingham September 2006 Resub: October 2008 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT The first part of this thesis offers a study of the phenomenon of fascination as it was understood in early modern England—specifically in its relation to magic, demonology and witchcraft. It examines fascination’s place within cultural traditions, and its operation within perception theory and the psychophysiology of the early modern medical understanding. It also examines some ways in which fascination operates within a theatrical context, and encounters the discourse of early modern “anti-theatricalists.” The second part of the thesis is an analysis of the Shakespearean tragic hero’s encounter with elements of fascinating bewitchment, and the problems of discerning reality through the mesmeric pull of misperception. The specific subjects of the dramatic analysis are Othello and Macbeth. For Chrissy, … without whose continued faith, support, and encouragement, as well as some timely and persistent prodding, I should never have finished this. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to express my thanks to my long-suffering supervisor, John Jowett, for his patience, encouragement and incisive help. I take full responsibility for any defects in this thesis, and deeply appreciate Dr. Jowett’s help in correcting the innumerable mistakes that have gone before. I am also privileged to have had wonderful backing and guidance from family, friends and colleagues during this period, and I am especially and eternally grateful to Lee Steele for her love, faith and support, Dick and Anita Calkins for their faith and hospitality, Dr. Barbara Caughran for her encouragement and proofreading, and Jim Shaw for his material efforts on my behalf. I would also like to thank Dr. Peter Martin for setting me on this path in the first place, which has brought with it more gifts than I could have possibly imagined. CONTENTS PART I: THE PHENOMENON Introduction: Fascination and Tragedy 1 1 Order vs. Chaos and Fascination Defined 8 2 Fascination and Witchcraft, The Evil Eye and Mesmeric Suggestion 35 3 The Primacy of Perception and Early Modern Sense Beliefs: Mind/Body Mechanics 70 4 The Devil and his “Ranging” 98 PART II: FASCINATION IN SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY 5 “Intising Shewes:” Macbeth and Othello as Tragedies of Bewitchment 113 6 Macbeth 134 7 Othello 164 Conclusion: False Evidence Appearing Real as Mental Malpractice 192 Works Cited / Bibliography 197 1 INTRODUCTION FASCINATION AND TRAGEDY This dissertation was inspired by a discussion of what makes great tragedy ―great.‖ It does not claim to solve that puzzle, rather this paper is a small attempt to explore one significant aspect of the inquiry: what influences a person of noble principles or virtue to commit acts that he knows are condemned by those same principles, to the extremity of his own ruin? One often hears phrases such as ―it was a tragedy that could have been avoided,‖ or, ―it was a tragedy waiting to happen.‖ In a modern sense, tragedy can include in its definition the idea that ruination and calamity are avoidable circumstances, if the persons involved act to prevent them with sufficient grace, alacrity, wisdom, and courage. To the ancients, the avoidance or prevention of tragic events (which many times were the will of the gods, or a particular god) was often not possible, and therefore was a defining element in the drama—suffering nobly through catastrophe to show obedience to the divine will. In the early modern period of Europe, there was a new aesthetic that explored the question: how much control do individuals truly have over their own destiny? The ideas of tragic expression in the late-Renaissance drama of England began to evolve to include a sense that an individual, working from personal motivations, could become a primary influence on tragic events. While the deities (and demons) were still powerful beliefs in the public consciousness, human actions and intentions became more important, not only for the tragic hero on the stage, but for the edification of the audience as well. In Reformation Europe, and especially Calvinism, concepts of ―election‖ and the free grace of God through the following of the 2 Christ-example refined Protestant doctrine regarding behavior and ethics. As B.A. Gerrish summarizes in ―The Place of Calvin in Christian Theology:‖ For Calvin, as (he thinks) for Augustine and Bernard, the condition for moral responsibility is not free choice but voluntary action—doing what, in fact, one wills to do. (295) The classic notions of fate and divine will were sharing the English stage with concepts studying the force of human will and a greater investigation into the internal negotiations that prompted an individual‘s choice of action. The scientific discoveries of the Renaissance were showing the depth and complexity of the material Creation, inspiring individuals to explore the possibilities of such miracles as perpetual motion, aviation, and combustion technology. At the same time, other experimenters were investigating the areas of alchemy, astrology, physiology and even the beginnings of psychology. Mankind was seeking power in increasingly complex ways, to combat ignorance and improve the quality of lifestyles. In Elizabethan England, one of the most interesting developments of the early modern period was taking shape in the new Protestant configuration of the church. This change in the state religion, effectively consolidating the powers of church and government in the English throne and the attendant restructuring of both ecumenical and political powers did not come easily—it continued through and past Shakespeare‘s lifetime. It was, by its very mandate, unsettling to the previous ways of religion and society and continued to focus thought upon the many themes within the conflict of order versus chaos. It also sought to cast its moray over the theatre, but was met with some resistance, some subversive arguments and in some cases, like Macbeth and Othello, a rich and multi-faceted study on the nature of volition and the presence of evil. The early Tudor dynasty might have overseen a period of the restoration of domestic harmony after the tempestuous contention between the houses of York and Lancaster and the 3 upheavals of the fifteenth century. But Henry VIII‘s active participation in the Reformation movement‘s break with Rome, by creating a separate English Christian church, put order and stability under pressure once again. Through Edward VI‘s short reign, Queen Mary‘s unsuccessful attempt at a Catholic counter-reformation, and the early part of Elizabeth‘s succession to the throne, domestic harmony was anything but certain. The strife born of Catholic vs. Protestant beliefs, rapid commercial expansion‘s influence on individual class and status concepts, and the questions of the rights and responsibilities of rulership, were all societal contentions that Shakespeare was born into and that found expression in his drama. The context of the contentions is succinctly described by Robert Watson in ―Tragedies of Revenge and Ambition:‖ Tragic contradictions were everywhere in Shakespeare‘s London, provoking exalted ambitions and then taking revenge on those who pursued such ambitions. Protestant theology—the most obviously pressing cultural innovation—at once told Christians to aspire to direct communication with God, and told them to despair of ever knowing anything about Him; told them to focus obsessively on their prospects for eternal salvation, and to recognize that those prospects were beyond their power to control or even comprehend; to seek desperately, and yet to mistrust utterly, an inner conviction of divine favour. The terrifying instability of the new urban capitalist economic system—whose essence was to encourage but also punish ambition—was matched by the terrifying instability of this new belief system, which left many true believers vacillating wildly between a faith that God‘s love would exalt them beyond all comprehension, and a fear that God‘s just anger at such presumptuous sinners would damn them beyond any redemption. (164) There is little hard evidence to support assertions as to what Shakespeare specifically believed, though he offered conspicuous evidence that he was interested in presenting eloquently considered views of the profound questions of his day through his art. This dissertation is an attempt to illuminate a particular phenomenon which influences the perception of some of these questions. It shows its features in, amongst other of his plays, Othello and Macbeth, centering upon themes such as the problem of perception, threats to an established order and some of the powerfully seductive influences that precipitate the fall of a 4 tragic protagonist. In the Elizabethan and the Jacobean age‘s microcosm of the stage, these plays reflect the catastrophic consequences of engendering the chaos of misguided personal will—not only upon the individual, but also upon his place and influence within the state. In choosing the title ―The Fascination of Evil,‖ I am attempting to arrange the discussion around those ―bewitching‖ elements of the dramatic scenarios that invite the characters to exchange their understanding of reality for a belief in appearances, initiating a causal train of events that enable chaotic elements to dominate thought.