IRREGULAR UNIONS IRREGULAR UNIONS CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE IN EARLY MODERN EN GLISH LIT ER A TURE Katharine Cleland CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London Publication of this open monograph was the result of Virginia Tech’s participation in TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem), a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries. TOME aims to expand the reach of long-form humanities and social science scholarship including digital scholarship. Additionally, the program looks to ensure the sustainability of university press monograph publishing by supporting the highest quality scholarship and promoting a new ecology of scholarly publishing in which authors’ institutions bear the publication costs. Funding from Virginia Tech made it possible to open this publication to the world. www.openmonographs.org Copyright © 2021 by Cornell University The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: https:// creativecommons . org / licenses / by - nc - nd / 4 . 0 / . To use this book, or parts of this book, in any way not covered by the license, please contact Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress . cornell . edu. Printed in the United States of Amer i ca Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Cleland, Katharine, 1982– author. Title: Irregular unions : clandestine marriage in early modern En glish lit er a ture / Katharine Cleland. Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020015143 (print) | LCCN 2020015144 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501753473 (paperback) | ISBN 9781501753497 (pdf ) | ISBN 9781501753480 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Marriage in lit er a ture. | Clandestinity (Canon law) | En glish lit er a ture— Early modern, 1500–1700— History and criticism. Classification: LCC PN56.M28 C58 2021 (print) | LCC PN56.M28 (ebook) | DDC 820.9/3543— dc23 LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020015143 LC ebook rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020015144 Cover illustration: Othello and Desdemona (1859) by Daniel Maclise, RA. For Hattie and Alice Contents Acknowl edgments ix Introduction: Making a Clandestine Match in Early Modern En glish Lit er a ture 1 1. Reforming Clandestine Marriage in Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Book I 17 2. “Wanton Loves and Young Desires”: Marlowe’s Hero and Leander and Chapman’s Continuation 40 3. Sacred Ceremonies and Private Contracts in Spenser’s Epithalamion and Shakespeare’s A Lover’s Complaint 63 4. “Lorenzo and His Infidel”: Elopement and the Cross- Cultural House hold in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice 87 5. “Are You Fast Married?”: Elopement and Turning Turk in Shakespeare’s Othello 110 Conclusion: Incestuous Clandestine Marriage in John Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore 134 Notes 143 Bibliography 171 Index 189 Acknowl edgments All scholarly books have long histories, and I would like to start at the very beginning. I am grateful for wonderful teach- ers and mentors at early stages in my education. First, I would like to thank Kristopher H. Koechling. I would also like to thank Megan Matchinske and Larry Goldberg at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In par tic- u lar, I would like to thank Jessica Wolfe, who introduced me not only to Spens- er’s Faerie Queene but also to the jouissance of scholarship. As a gradu ate student at the Pennsylvania State University, I benefited from the stellar early period faculty in both the English and History departments. I would like to thank Robert R. Edwards, Ronnie Hsia, Joan B. Landes, Marcy North, and Linda Woodbridge. A special thanks to Laura L. Knoppers for her continued advice and friendship. Furthermore, I would like to thank the fol- lowing members of the Early Period Studies Group for their conversation and friendship: Ryan Croft, Gabriel Ford, Ryan Hackenbracht, Giuseppina Iacono Lobo, Niamh O’Leary, Chad Schrock, Paul Dustin Stegner, Catherine Thomas, Sarah Breckenridge Wright, and Paul Zajac. I cannot adequately express my gratitude to Patrick Cheney and Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr. for their advice, encouragement, and mentorship throughout the writing of this book. Each of them read multiple drafts of several chapters, and always with the same interest and enthusiasm as though approaching the proj ect for the first time. I am deeply indebted to them both. I am grateful for my colleagues and students at my current institution, Virginia Tech. My department heads, Joseph Eska and Bernice Hausman, have been exemplary in their support. Ernie Sullivan was an excellent mentor when I first arrived in the En glish department. I never would have finished the man- uscript without the help and support of Katy Powell. Peter Potter and Eliza- beth Spiller provided advice and encouragement along the way. I would also like to thank my two gradu ate research assistants: Rachel Wurster and Anna Merz. At Cornell University Press, Mahinder Kingra has been the ideal editor, and I am grateful that he saw the potential in my proj ect. I am particularly indebted ix x ACKNOWL EDGMENTS to the reviewers, Sarah Beckwith and an anonymous reviewer, who read the manuscript closely and wrote highly detailed reports. The final manuscript greatly benefited from their insightful comments and suggestions, as well as from suggestions by Cornell University Press’s faculty and editorial review boards. This proj ect had financial support from a number of sources. At Penn State, I received funding from the Humanities Institute and the Rock Ethics Insti- tute. The Folger Institute funded a short- term fellowship at the Folger Shake- speare Library. The project benefited from my conversation with other fellows, particularly Jay Zysk and Kat Lecky. At Virginia Tech, I also received funding from a Niles Research Grant and the Center for Humanities. Parts of this book have already appeared in print. Portions of chapter 1 ap- peared as “En glish National Identity and the Reformation Prob lem of Clan- destine Marriage in Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Book I,” in Spenser Studies 29 (2014): 75–103. Copyright © 2014 by the University of Chicago Press. Used by per- mission of the publisher. https:// press . uchicago . edu. Portions of chapter 2 first appeared as “ ‘Wanton Loves, and Yong Desires’: Clandestine Marriage in Marlowe’s Hero and Leander and Chapman’s Contin- uation,” in Studies in Philology 108, no. 2 (2011): 215–237. Copyright © 2011 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. https:// www . uncpress . org I have saved the most impor tant people in my life for the end. My parents, John and Pam, and sister, Elizabeth, have been patient, loving, and supportive through these long years. My husband, James, always maintained confidence that I would finish the book, and I am happy to acknowledge officially in print: he was right. I would like to thank my parents- in- law, Jon and Kathy, for their help during the COVID-19 crisis. While I was completing this book, my two daughters— Harriet Elizabeth and Alice Helen—were born. They have brought more joy to my life than I could have ever thought possi ble. I dedicate the book to them. IRREGULAR UNIONS Introduction Making a Clandestine Match in Early Modern En glish Lit er a ture In Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Touchstone, the fool, attempts to marry Audrey, a poor country girl, in a clandestine ceremony in the forest of Arden. Sir Oliver Mar- Text, the would-be officiate of the wed- ding, insists that Audrey “must be given, or the marriage is not lawful” (3.3.69– 70).1 What no one in this scene realizes is that this statement is not technically true: witnesses or participants of any kind were not required to make a legal marriage in early modern England. Sir Oliver’s ineptitude, however, can be forgiven. His misstatement reflects the widespread confusion concerning the making of a match during the period, even on the part of the clergy. Many early modern audience members probably would have nodded along in agree- ment. Since the Book of Common Prayer does call for witnesses, those not fa- miliar with the law could easily assume that they were necessary for a legal union. The Book of Common Prayer also dictates the types of witnesses: a couple’s “frendes and neighbours.”2 Even more specifically, awoman’s “father or frendes” should be the ones to pre sent her to the minister.3 An eavesdrop- per who happens to be lurking in the bushes nearby (in this case, the melan- choly Jaques) would not seem to fall into one of these recommended categories. Jaques, who obligingly offers to give the bride away, also persuades Touchstone to delay the wedding to a more appropriate time and venue: 1 2 INTRODUCTION And will you (being a man of your breeding) be married under a bush like a beggar? Get you to church, and have a good priest that can tell you what marriage is. This fellow will but join you together as they join wainscot; then one of you will prove a shrunk panel, and like green timber warp, warp. (3.3.83–89) By ordering Touchstone to “get . ​to church,” Jaques informs the fool that a nuptial ceremony with an officiate and a stranger giving away the bride does not fulfill the proper requirements. Even more tellingly, he insists that the mar- riage be performed by a more qualified minister, “a good priest who can tell you what marriage is,” so that the union does not “warp” over time. Perform- ing the appropriate rituals is just as impor tant as thoroughly understanding the duties and responsibilities associated with marriage.