“The Passions of a Discontented Minde”: the Earl of Essex and Elizabethan Literature and Culture
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“The Passions of a Discontented Minde”: The Earl of Essex and Elizabethan Literature and Culture by Antonios Antoniades A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English University of Toronto © Copyright by Antonios Antoniades 2015 “The Passions of a Discontented Minde”: The Earl of Essex and Elizabethan Literature and Culture Antonios Antoniades Department of English University of Toronto 2015 Abstract Where recent criticism has focused disproportionately on drama as social influence, this dissertation investigates early modern thinking about theatre and the powers of spectacle by exploring the motivations and strategies of Robert Devereux, the third Earl of Essex. Although chiefly the subject of political and historical studies of the late Elizabethan period, I argue that he is an exemplary figure in his capacity to illuminate through his writing and that of his contemporaries the emotional and political implications of the major cultural and literary transitions of the late sixteenth century. My argument, articulated through analyses of medicine, psychology, and religion as well as of literature, begins with the proposition that Essex, like those drawn to him, understood the self, politics, and the theatre as transcendent and collective, where the divisions between and among component individuals were, at most, porous. I suggest that he and his contemporaries were well aware of the odds at which he stood with the prevailing modality of individuation; not only do Essex’s own writings express this malaise, but so, too, do those of his immediate and wider circles, most notably Donne, Greville, Bacon, and Shakespeare. Finally, I turn to the theatre itself, placing the theatrical experience of the Essex circle in the context of the same evolving phenomenology, arguing that in this light the political motives of the bespoke performance of Richard II on the eve of Essex’s rebellion are less ii revealing than the conspirators’ apparent belief in its potential to rouse its audience to action. In so doing, I both contextualize and limit the utility of “self-fashioning” as a hermeneutic. iii Acknowledgments “Against all the evidence of his senses, the man in love declares that he and his beloved are one, and is prepared to behave as if it were a fact.” This observation is the beginning of Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents. Likewise, it quickly became the cornerstone of my dissertation. As I began the preliminary research, I met and fell in love with Ruth Wilson, and my thinking took a new turn: my concern with the struggles of human beings to reckon with the boundaries that they discovered between themselves and others flowed directly from my own discovery that there were none separating me from her. This thesis is little more than a grotesque love letter to her, and if there is any worth in it, it is entirely attributable to the boundlessness of what I feel for her and with her. This thesis, and all the work that went into it, I dedicate wholeheartedly to her. I want to acknowledge my parents, who when I was a child dragged us to the library every Saturday to find new books. This dissertation is the culmination of their dedication as much as it is mine. I have had many wonderful teachers in my life who pushed a love for reading into a more thoughtful place, and without them I would be nowhere. Chief among these, of course, are the members of my thesis committee, Holger Syme and Paul Stevens, and my supervisor Elizabeth Harvey. I approached these three initially because I had participated in their classes and knew first-hand that they were gifted teachers; that they are all incredibly insightful scholars was an invaluable bonus. They have been a source of penetrating and challenging feedback, and I would not have made it to this point without them. This is particularly true of Professor Harvey, whose belief in me was invaluable in those moments where I had none in myself. Thank you. Without the support of my wonderful friends Claire Battershill, Fiona Coll, Heather Jessup, and Dan Newman, I would have set my hair on fire by third year. Regular lunches, not to mention study and writing help, were often the only social lifeline I had, and I cannot possibly communicate how comforting they were throughout this insane process. Lately, I have enjoyed much encouragement from my colleagues and students at the Bishop Strachan school, whose excitement about this process has at times outsripped my own. Thanks, dudes! Lastly, the late John Geary has been, for my entire life, a model of genuine love of literature, my inspiration for entering the teaching profession, and the person who showed me that sometimes people do PhDs just because they want to. Sunset and evening star, and one clear call. Although it has been a solitary pursuit, this has been a collaborative effort, and I am grateful to you all. Thank you. Thank you. And again, thank you. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iv 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Periodization and its Discontents ........................................................................................ 7 1.2 Habitus-forming Behaviour ............................................................................................... 10 1.3 The Structure of Scientific Revolutions ............................................................................ 15 1.4 Hysteresis as Ontological Paradigm Shift ......................................................................... 22 1.5 Hysteresis, Incommensurability, and the “Early Modern Divide” .................................... 24 1.6 Hysteresis and the “Turn to the Transcendental” .............................................................. 25 1.7 Essex and Hysteresis ......................................................................................................... 30 2 Chapter 1: “Raise up in me a vehement love” .......................................................................... 35 2.1 Synchrony and Synecdoche .............................................................................................. 42 2.2 Sources of the Self and the Sources of the Self: Augustine, Charles Taylor and Renaissance Self-Fashioning ............................................................................................. 46 2.3 The Pageantic Self ............................................................................................................. 49 2.4 Individuation and its Discontents ...................................................................................... 53 2.5 Infinity and Medieval Subjectivity .................................................................................... 60 2.6 Donne v Bacon: Incommensurability ................................................................................ 67 2.7 Abruption and Panic .......................................................................................................... 74 2.8 Thomas Hoccleve and Thomas More ................................................................................ 77 2.9 Sidney’s Arcadia and the Prismatic Self ........................................................................... 83 2.10 Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex ........................................................................... 88 3 Chapter 2: “The Melting Hailstone and the Solid Pearl” ......................................................... 94 3.1 Essex as Author ................................................................................................................. 95 3.2 Sincerity and Authenticity ............................................................................................... 101 3.3 Authenticity and Galenic Medicine ................................................................................. 109 v 3.4 Tears, the Self, and Essex as Poet ................................................................................... 119 3.5 Charisma .......................................................................................................................... 130 3.6 Coterie Writing, Fulke Greville and Edenic Authenticity ............................................... 135 3.7 Greville on Essex ............................................................................................................ 145 3.8 Essex, Hamlet, and the Divinity of Rashness .................................................................. 148 3.9 Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida and Essex .............................................................. 165 4 Chapter 3: The Interesting Influence of Drama Upon Certain Minds .................................... 183 4.1 Theatre and the Turn to Religion .................................................................................... 188 4.2 Turner, the Liminal, and the Liminoid ............................................................................ 191 4.3 The Medieval “Theatre” .................................................................................................. 194 4.4 The Liminoid Theatre ...................................................................................................... 202 4.5 Transubstantiation ..........................................................................................................