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Power and Tragedy in Hamlet and the Duchess of Malfi

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Power and Tragedy in Hamlet and the Duchess of Malfi Power and Tragedy in Hamlet and The Duchess of Malfi Bethany Townsend and Taylor Cunningham Contents Introduction Chapter One: Power and Gender Chapter Two: Tragedy and Mortality Cover art: Magdalene with the Smoking Flame by Georges de La Touri i Introduction The themes of power and tragedy were ones that seemed to exist concurrently with one another in many early modern texts. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi both explore issues of power, gender, mortality and tragedy, reflecting the social climate of seventeenth century Britain. Despite Hamlet being an Elizabethan play, and The Duchess of Malfi a Jacobean play, the influence of a female monarch on society combined the subjects of gender and power, influencing both plays to explore these themes. Despite this, tragedy often aligned itself with the issues of gender and power, with both playwrights exploring ideas of death and mortality, and its relation to their character’s actions in a period of intense religious conflict. Our first chapter ‘Power and Gender’, will discuss the treatment of gender in the seventeenth century, and how the presentation of women varies between plays. The issues of gender and power are crucial in reflecting the doctrines of a highly patriarchal society, and its detrimental effects on women at the time. Yet, this emphasis on gender also highlights the changes happening with regards to women’s positions in society, in an era undergoing religious, political and philosophical change. A selection of Jacobean and Elizabethan plays that will be discussed explore the strength demonstrated by female characters as well as their discrimination, and questions the concept of masculinity in pieces of drama written by William Shakespeare and John Webster. As a prolific Elizabethan playwright, Shakespeare threw himself into the Jacobean theatre by writing comedies with an underlying theme of violence. As modern day readers, we quickly learn that ‘like those other ‘manly’ women of the period, the learned lady and the female ruler, helped break down the patriarchal paradigm with its notions of inborn gender traits and naturally dictated gender roles’ii. These naturally dictated roles began to partially disintegrate, and this shall be discussed in the first chapter of this book, ‘Power and Gender’. The era of Jacobean theatre gave birth to the concept of capitalism, and people began to move away from the idea that male leaders were only capable of providing the country with security. Despite this, multiple aspects of society were still sexist and oppressive against women, as they were unable to act as their own gender on stage, with teenage boys playing female characters in Jacobean theatre. The roles were performed by i LL516 professional actors, known then as the Players, and certain actors specialised in certain areas, for example tragic and comic roles. The absence of female actors until the mid‐1600s can be used as a way to monitor the changes in gender roles within the seventeenth century. Renaissance theatre was available for all social classes to watch, meaning that lower class members of society were able to watch the same productions as upper class members, however, it was evident that class segregation still occurred due to the designated areas for different classes in the theatre. Those of a lower class had to stand for three hours in the groundlings, whereas the upper classes had the privilege of sitting in the galleries, with the benefits of seats and shelter. The plays of Shakespeare, Marlowe and other contemporaries were performed primarily in public theatres. Renaissance drama became less religious, and it was typical for a Jacobean drama to see Christian ethics in a state of decay. The idea of a decline in the importance of religious ethics and morality will be later discussed in this book. In the first chapter of this book, ‘Power and Gender’, the ideas of class and gender discrimination in relation to early modern theatre shall be discussed, specifically focusing on William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra (1606), William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1599), and John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi (1612). In our second chapter, ‘Tragedy and Mortality’ we shall move on to discuss the themes of death and religion, and how it reflects the social climate of the seventeenth century, as well as the influence it has on the characters in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, and Shakespeare’s King Lear (1604). We shall also be exploring how the themes of tragedy and mortality relate and dismiss various religious ideas among a society experiencing heavy religious conflict. According to Michael Neill, ‘Death is not something that can be imagined once and for all, but an idea that has to be constantly reimagined across cultures and through time’iii. This can be related to the state of Christianity and its beliefs in what happens after death after the effects of the Reformation in the sixteenth century. Various branches of Catholicism and Protestantism advocated for differing religious practices and beliefs, causing the emergence of multiple branches of Christianity, including Calvinism, Lutheranism, and The Church of ii LL516 England. Despite this division amongst varying denominations, and the ensuing differences in doctrine and belief, it could be argued that a homogenised view existed within Christendom of the importance of dying a good death. This is related to concepts and texts such as Ars Moriendi (The Art of Dying), and Momento Mori (Remember Death), and the religious importance of remembering death whilst living. With multiple books being published on how to prepare for death, such as George Strode’s The Antomie of Mortalitie (1632), it was evident that members of seventeenth century society believed in the importance of dying a good death, and this is presented in both Hamlet and The Duchess of Malfi. I will be expanding on this concept of dying a good death, by analysing the character’s treatment of the afterlife and mortality. In particular, I will be exploring the idea of suicide in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and how it revokes ones right to a good death, leaving one disgraced in the eyes of the living, and damned in the eyes of God. By exploring Ophelia’s controversial death, I shall also be examining the treatment of women in death, comparing it to their treatment in life discussed in chapter one, ‘Gender and Power’. By introducing Shakespeare’s King Lear, I will be analysing how fate is presented among Shakespeare and Webster’s plays, and how this could reject concepts such as The Art of Dying, replacing them with ideas of predestination. Contrasting The Duchess and Bosola’s fatalistic beliefs, with Hamlet’s obsession with the idea of good and bad deaths presents how different characters act in life, regarding their beliefs on what shall happen in death. i Georges De La Tour, Magdalene With The Smoking Flame, 1638. ii Cissie C. Fairchilds, Women In Early Modern Europe (Pearson Education, 2007), p.390 iii Michael Neill, Issues Of Death (Clarendon Press, 1997), p. 2. Bibliography De La Tour, Georges, Magdalene With The Smoking Flame, 1638 Fairchilds, Cissie C. ‐ Women In Early Modern Europe (Pearson Education, 2007). Neill, Michael ‐ Issues Of Death (Clarendon Press, 1997). iii LL516 Chapter One - Power and Gender Taylor Cunningham We will begin this book by focusing on the use of power through gender and hierarchy in early modern drama. In most early modern plays, it would be traditional to have signs of decline running throughout, however in the core text of this chapter that I will be focusing on, The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster, the main character doesn’t seem to have the biggest decline of the play. During the Jacobean era, the plays being performed and produced were becoming more exaggerated in the areas of violence and human beings ability to be selfish and its effects. One of the most prominent aspects of early modern drama that show a hierarchy relevant to society is the fact that there were no female actors on stage, all female characters were played by men. Now, despite women not being allowed on stage, they were still being portrayed as powerful through the production. Playwrights wanted to explore the nature of evil and test the boundaries with regards to extreme human behaviour, sex and violence in the Renaissance period. This is portrayed and completed in The Duchess of Malfi, alongside other plays by Thomas Middleton, William Rowley and Shakespeare. Some of these authors will be mentioned, explored and analysed throughout. It is evident through the way in which that the playwrights portray the characters that societies waters were being tested in ways in which were bound to cause uproar. Despite the plays that were being performed coming across as extremely controversial, the Jacobean era was a time in which Britain was free of conflict, and peace allowed the succession of theatre and literature. The use of gender in the plays that will be discussed, explore how society plays a part in the gender hierarchy that can be interpreted by the readers and audience each play and performance. “ In the setting of the Renaissance, the thought of a woman engaging herself in politics was highly unusual, whereas the domestic household was widely considered the proper domain for a female”i The statement above summarises the typical Renaissance woman’s duties and what is expected of them. The characters that will be discussed from different early modern dramas 1 LL516 such as Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra will challenge this statement and support the fact that political female rulers had an equal influence, if not an either bigger impact on society due to the unfamiliar female taking over.
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