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Politics and Power in the Gothic Drama of MG Lewis

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Politics and Power in the Gothic Drama of MG Lewis University of Southampton Research Repository ePrints Soton Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF LAW, ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES School of Humanities Politics and Power in the Gothic Drama of M.G. Lewis By Rachael Pearson Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2011 1 2 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF LAW, ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy POLITICS AND POWER IN THE GOTHIC DRAMA OF M.G. LEWIS Rachael Pearson Matthew Lewis‟s 1796 novel The Monk continues to attract critical attention, but the accusation that it was blasphemous has overshadowed the rest of his writing career. He was also a playwright, M. P. and slave-owner. This thesis considers the need to reassess the presentation of social power, primarily that of a conservative paternalism, in Lewis‟s dramas and the impact of biographical issues upon this. As Lewis‟s critical reputation is currently built upon knowledge of him as a writer of „Gothic‟ works, this thesis considers a range of his „Gothic‟ plays. The Introduction explores the current academic understanding of Lewis and provides a rationale for the plays chosen. Chapter One explores how The Monk prefigures Lewis‟s dramas through its theatrical elements and Lewis‟s reaction to violence on the continent in the 1790s. The remainder of the thesis examines Lewis‟s deployment of three conventions of Gothic drama in order to explore social power. Chapter Two discusses the presentation of the Gothic villain as one who usurps and abuses power through a focus on The Castle Spectre. Chapter Three considers Lewis‟s Gothic heroes in Adelmorn, the Outlaw; Rugantino, or, the Bravo of Venice and Venoni; or, the Novice of St. Mark‟s against his actions in Parliament and the trial by Court-Martial of his uncle General Whitelocke. Lewis uses these plays to advocate the qualities of mercy, benevolence and courage in those with jurisdiction over others. Chapter Four considers Lewis‟s use of Gothic spectacle in two 1811 plays, One O‟ Clock! or, the Knight and the Wood Daemon and Timour the Tartar, which return to a focus on usurpation. Factors considered include the use of 3 Renaissance influences and Lewis‟s rift with his father. Finally, the Coda examines Lewis‟s attempts to put his theory of paternal power into practice when he inherited two Jamaican estates. 4 List of contents 1) Title page 1 2) Abstract 3 3) List of contents 5 4) List of illustrations 7 5) Declaration of Authorship 9 6) Introduction 11 7) Chapter One: The authority vacuum and theatricality of The Monk 31 8) Chapter Two: „Prosperous vice is but triumphant woe‟: The Castle Spectre‟s depiction of villainy 65 9) Chapter Three: „Let us quit this scene of horror‟: Lewis‟s heroes and the restoration and revision of order 103 a) Chapter Introduction 105 b) „Twas a fearful dream‟: Adelmorn and the delusion of guilt 111 c) Rugantino: „The Republic‟s most devoted slave‟ 143 d) „Summon your fortitude‟: Venoni and the need for rationality 173 10) Chapter Four: „Something more than a mere spectacle‟ 207 a) Chapter Introduction 209 b) „Tis a Daemon in human shape‟: One O‟ Clock! 217 c) „Sedulously contrived for show‟: Timour the Tartar 245 11) Coda: Lewis‟s Journal of a West India Proprietor 277 12) Appendix: Raphael‟s The Transfiguration 293 13) Bibliography 297 5 6 List of Illustrations 1) Raphael‟s The Transfiguration (Appendix) 295 7 8 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, Rachael Pearson, declare that the thesis entitled „Politics and Power in the Gothic Drama of M.G. Lewis‟ and the work presented in the thesis are both my own, and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research. I confirm that: . this work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University; . where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated; . where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; . where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; . I have acknowledged all main sources of help; . where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself; . none of this work has been published before submission Signed: Date: 9 10 Introduction (5,421 words) 11 12 The aim of this study is to begin to reassess the work of Matthew G. Lewis, using a biographical perspective. Although Lewis is recognised as an important and influential figure in Gothic Literature, this is largely on the basis of one novel, The Monk (1796). This novel was so successful commercially that it gave Lewis the nickname „Monk‟ Lewis, which lasted not only for the rest of his life but which has survived to the present. It was a controversial text, affording him a degree of infamy, due to its depiction of the „real‟ supernatural, violence and sexual desire. Lewis was accused of blasphemy on the basis of remarks made by one character, Elvira, concerning the unsuitability of the bible to be read by her daughter. The fourth edition (1798) was heavily revised, a fact which, alongside the recall of unexpurgated copies, appears to have prevented Lewis and his publisher from prosecution.1 Lewis‟s resultant reputation as a writer whose work was believed, by some, to be shocking and detrimental to its readers is not based upon a consideration of his entire career, but a relatively small proportion of it. The Monk is one of his earliest works, and it is not written in the medium on which he would eventually focus. Indeed, it is his only work of extended, original prose. Lewis was, in fact, primarily a playwright. He had written work for the theatre prior to The Monk, and concentrated largely on this after the publication of the novel. In the fifteen years from 1797-1812 (the year in which his father died and he inherited his Jamaican plantations and slaves), Lewis wrote sixteen plays in a variety of genres, including melodramas (his most „Gothic‟ plays, as I will argue), tragedies, translations from French and German works and farces. These works outnumber his non-dramatic output, which is limited to the collection of poems Tales of Wonder (1801), the four-volume collection of short prose and poetic works Romantic Tales (1808) and the translated novel Feudal Tyrants (1806). Some of these plays were very successful commercially, enjoying long runs at Drury Lane or Covent Garden: The Castle Spectre (1797), in particular, was a huge box office success, taking a large amount of money and experiencing a lengthy first run before being 1 André Parreaux, The Publication of The Monk: A Literary Event 1796:1798. Études de Littérature Étrangère et Comparée (Paris: Librairie Marcel Didier, 1960) 112-114. 13 revived throughout much of the nineteenth century. Some were so successful that Lewis revamped them: One O‟ Clock! (1811), for example, is a revised version of The Wood Daemon (1807). Others, like Adelmorn, the Outlaw, were less lucrative. The critical reaction to Lewis has likewise been varied: the use of apparently sympathetic black characters in The Castle Spectre led to him being accused of harbouring then-scandalous democratic, abolitionist views and he also faced censure for his use of an on-stage ghost and working in the populist genre of melodrama. Other reviewers, however, praised Lewis for his skill within this medium, notably for his flair for devising dramatic spectacle; some defended him against the accusations of his detractors; and some, towards the end of his career, even praised the political implications of his works. Despite this commercial and popular success as a playwright, few critical or scholarly works have considered these plays, and the majority of these have not taken them seriously. Additionally, there has been little work on the dramatic influences on The Monk, or the relationship between that novel and the plays which succeeded it. Scholars have begun to consider the link between Romantic-era Gothic texts and their Shakespearean influences – Angela Wright (2008), for instance, interprets the ghost in Ann Radcliffe‟s Gaston de Blondeville politically and in relation to Radcliffe‟s use of Shakespeare – but the implications of Lewis‟s use of Shakespeare and Marlowe have yet to be fully considered.2 Although The Monk has remained in print and is easily available in a range of scholarly editions, Lewis‟s plays are now largely unknown. Only two (The Castle Spectre and Timour the Tartar) are available in specialised scholarly editions. The rest have all but disappeared, with availability limited to facsimile editions, the result not of work on Lewis but of the wider process of digitisation of many texts recently.
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