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The Occult As a Dramatic Device in Shakespearean Tragedy

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The Occult As a Dramatic Device in Shakespearean Tragedy THE OCCULT AS A DRAMATIC DEVICE IN SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY APPROVED: Major Professor IJL1 Minor Professor £S- vu Director of epartment of English / Dean of the Graduate School THE OCCULT AS A DRAMATIC DEVICE IN SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY THESIS Presented, to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By Myrtle Seldon Gray, B. A. Denton, Texas August, 1967 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION AND CLASSICAL BACKGROUND . 1 II. THE OCCULT TRADITION IN ELIZABETHAN DRAMA 16 III. GHOSTLY VISITATIONS 3^ IV. THE WEIRD SISTERS 60 V. CONCLUSION 83 BIBLIOGRAPHY 92 iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND CLASSICAL BACKGROUND Supernatural manifestations commonly occur in literary history; moreover, they are a commonplace of tragedy. Such manifestations have since ancient times had a strange and alluring appeal to human curiosity. Occult phenomena hold a fascination for mankind too widespread and too far-reaching to need documentation here. It is not surprising in a literary genre as ancient and elemental as drama that occult phenomena should have had a prominent place. In almost every age when drama flourishes, supernatural manifestations are present on the stage. The original motivation for the use of occult phenomena on the stage is lost in the develop- ment of mankind's cultural history. What is important to note at this point is that as far back as Greek drama, play- wrights made considerable use of occult phenomena, not only for special effects somewhat external to the drama, but in many cases as an integral part of the structure and thematic fabric of the play. It is one of the commonplaces of scholarship ttigt things occult were prominent on the Elizabethan stage, aiil, that of all the Elizabethan playwrights Shakespeare was most adept at employing various kinds of occult devices. Shakespeare's use of such phenomena has been widely docu- mented, and it is not the purpose of this thesis to tread old ground or to belabor the obvious. What this study will demonstrate is that Shakespeare's use of occult manifesta- tions is not as superficial as it is sometimes said to be. On the contrary, it is the contention of this study that, especially in certain of the major tragedies, occult phenom- ena are integral to the main action, provide the play with essential motivation, and, in fact, are indispensable to a proper resolution. At their best, these occult manifesta- tions in Shakespeare's tragedies become devices that give form to the play and become part of established stage tech- niques and patterns. A study of this kind must, of necessity, take into ac- count manifestations of the occult in tragic drama that are antecedent to Shakespeare. It will, however, in no way be an attempt to trace the historical use of the occult since Greek times, nor will it document specific influences from the classical past. Nonetheless, Shakespeare did not work in a vacuum. Stage techniques and dramaturgical influences were well established by the time he appeared on the histor- ical scene, and it is inevitable that he would work within the framework of a continuing tradition, even though in the end he might modify or depart from the tradition. Chapter I of this thesis examines classical drama in order to gain an insight into the early uses of occult manifestations and to learn what implications they had for later dramatists. Chapter II explores several Renaissance plays that were di- rectly or indirectly influenced by the classical tragedies and which set certain precedents. Chapter III deals with the ghosts in Shakespeare's major tragedies and shows that although the ghosts were not an innovation of Shakespeare, it was Shakespeare who developed the ghost as a genuine dra- matic device. Chapter IV gives a brief history of witch- craft as a setting and then discusses in detail Shakespeare's use of the Weird Sisters as a dramatic device. In order to discuss the use of the occult phenomena as a dramatic device, it is necessary to include concrete defi- nitions of the terms used throughout the paper. The term occult phenomena is used synonymously with supernaturalism, preternaturalism, and occultism. The term dramatic device is used to mean an indispensable element and an integral part of the drama that motivates the plot and makes the drama coherent. The dramatic device can be more clearly distinguished when it is compared with the mechanical and decorative devices used in classical and early Renaissance tragedies that deal with supernaturalism. The mechanical device in its most effective use may motivate the plot, but it is not indispensable to the plot. An example of a super- natural character used as a mechanical device is Seneca's Juno in Hercules Furens. At the beginning of the drama Juno, the wife and sister of Jupiter, is angry because Jupiter favors his mortal loves. She calls upon the furies and other spirits to make Hercules, Jupiter's favorite son, go 1 insane and slay his family. Juno's appearance in the pro- logue motivates the plot in Act IV: Hercules goes mad, slays his family, but in Act V, returns to his senses. Juno has served only as a mechanical device to set the play in motion. Her part in the play could easily be dispensed with without weakening the fabric of the drama. In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex the Delphic oracle is an oc- cult phenomenon. The oracle warns Laius and Jocasta, the King and Queen of Thebes, that a son would be born to them who would kill his father and marry his mother. A son was born, and in order to avert the tragedy the child is given to a shepherd to be killed. The shepherd first pierced the child's feet, but being unable to carry through the murder, he gave it to another shepherd. The child was subsequently adopted by Polybus and Merope, King and Queen of Corinth, who named him Oedipus, which meant swollen-foot. When Oedipus reached manhood, he learned from the oracle that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus was never told of his adoption, and, as a consequence, be- lieving Polybus and Merope to be his real parents, he left Corinth determined to avoid his horrible fate. On his way to Thebes he meets a stranger with whom he quarrels and Thomas Newton, Seneca and His Tenne Tragedies (Bloomington, i960), pp. 9-12. afterwards slays. Continuing to Thebes, Oedipus meets the Sphinx and answers her riddle, whereupon she kills herself, and Oedipus becomes the savior of Thebes. Shortly after the news of Laius' death, Oedipus marries Jocasta, Laius' wife, and is proclaimed King of Thebes. After many years and the births of four children Oedipus learns that the man he slew at the place.where three roads meet was Laius. Realizing now that the Delphic oracle concerning his fate had been fulfilled, Oedipus rushes to Jocasta for the purpose of killing her. Finding her already dead by suicide, he takes 2 the brooches from her robe and blinds himself. The oracle provides the antecedent action to the play, provides the initial motivation for the play and is brought in during the development of the play. The oracle is indispensable to the play and serves as a genuine dramatic device. The decorative device does not motivate the plot, as the mechanical device might do, nor is it an integral part of the structure of the drama. An example of the decorative device is found in Euripides1 The Troades. The play opens with Neptune and Minerva serving as prologue gods. They discuss the fall of Troy, a favorite city of Neptune, and the fact that Minerva's altar has been insulted.-^ Because of 2 Meyer Reinhold, editor, Classical Drama (New York, 1959), PP. 51-55. 3 ^Theodore A. Buckley, translator, The Tragedies of Euripides (New York, 1877), pp. ^3-^5. these things they wish to make the Greeks' journey homeward as difficult as possible. After the prologue, the business of the play is concerned with the sufferings of the women of Troy. The wrath of the gods toward the Greeks is not in- corporated into the dramatic action of the play. The role of the gods in this play is not structurally necessary; they have no intrinsic value; they simply decorate the drama. Comparing the mechanical device with the decorative device, it is apparent that the former is more important to the drama. The mechanical device, even when it is represented by sliding walls, trap doors, and sudden appearances of gods or devils, is more functional than the decorative device. C. E. Whitmore says that the influence on the characters is k the sole criterion of the intrinsic supernatural. A ghost for example may have many appearances in the drama and still not affect the progress of the action. On the other hand it may have a few appearances and yet dominate the action from beginning to end. When this is the case, the author has created a dramatic device. The large body of occultism to be found in tragic drama from Greco-Roman times until the present day is sufficient to attest to the fact that mankind has been preoccupied with an acute interest in the supernatural. The appearance of supernaturalism in Greek drama was an outgrowth of religion. JLL C. E. Whitmore, Supernatural in Tragedy (London, 1915)t p. 11. In fact, Greek drama had its origins in Greek religion, and certain supernatural elements of Greek drama were probably inevitable from the beginning. The Greeks believed that their gods made their wills known through soothsayers, dreams, and oracles.
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