RENAISANCE DESIRE, and DISOBEDIENCE: Eroticizlng
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L RENAISANCE DESIRE, AND DISOBEDIENCE: EROTICiZlNG HUMAN CURlOSiTY AND LEARNING IN DoCTOR FAUSTUS by Alexandre Da Silva Maia Department of English Literature MeCiIl University, Montreal Septem ber, 1998 A THESIS SUBMiTTED TO l'IFE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES AM) RESEARCH iN PARTiAL FULFiLMENT FOR TECE REQ- OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS COPYRiGBT ALEXANDRE DA SILVA MAU, 1998 National Libraiy Bibliothèque nationale IN ofCamda du Canada uisiins and Acquisitions et "9Bib kgraphic Services semices bibliographiques The author has pteda non- L'auteur a accordé une Licence non exclusive licence dowing the exclusive permettant a la National Libtary of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seil reproduire, prêter, di~bn'buerou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous papa or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nim, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur consene la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substaatid extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantieIs may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. cana!! ABSTRACT Focusing on the A-text (1604) version ofMarlowe's Doctor Fmiu, this study further assesses biographical information on the poet and intellectual currents of the Co~ter Reformation, so as to investigate the play's relation to emergent trends ofindividualism in the Renaissance, recovery of the pgan pst, and intellectual aspirations that could readily col1ide with orthodoxy. Clearly reflecting of the pendabout individual deviance from social noms through intellectual overreaching, Doctor &wus powerfully testifies to the potential dangers of human aspiration and the scholarly spirit of unbounded leaming. While thus explonttg the exotic temptations of forbidden knowledge, the play resurrects and interrogates traditional taboos which related intellectual appetite to wrongful lust. Marlowe stages an explosive conflict between the conservative tradition of intellectual inquiry, whic h distnisted the unorthodox scholarship and Neoplatonic magic that some widely infl uential thidcers promoted in the Italian Renaissance, and Faunis's own creative desires, ambitions, and imagination The tension between proscnid and presmid knowledge climaxes in the invocation of Helen of Troy. While Helen's signiticance is cornplex, we find that, in relation to the play's concem with dissent fiom orthodoxy, she focuses the power of intellecnial longing to seduce and ravish the min& Apart fiom being a superior play, Doctw FUWW encapsulates Marlowe's awareness of his pend's measy perception of unconventional thinking, and urges the importance of challenging restrictions on how much one is pennitted to know. 1 must acknowledge a deep and special debt to my supeMsor, Kenneth Boms. 1 should like to thank Ken for showing care and enthusiasm when suggesting materials, discussing problems, and editing rny work. 1 have benefited more than 1 can say fiom his kindness, respect, and stimulating conversations about the Renaissance. My wmthanks also p to Kendall Wallace for helping me work through problems in research. Kendail's personality kept me laughing during the most mistrating of tirnes. 1 am also grateful to sorne fn'ends who patiently supported me: Jacqui Brinhan, Angela Seferta, Dawn Penny, Nadya Chishty-Mujahid, and-through thick and thin-John Lewis. Above all, however, I must thank my parents for helping me in every possible way. Pottant principalement sur la version A (1604) de Dofror Faustus (Tragique Hisîoire du ff Faust) de Marlowe, la présente étude examine de rnanidre approfondie des renseignements biographiques conceniant le poète et Les courants intellectuels de la Contre-Rdfome, de m811ih B analyser le rapport entre l'oeuvre et les teadaaces émergeant au cours de la Renaissance, telles que l'individualisme, ainsi que le rétabiissement d'un passé palen et les aspirations intellectuelles qui pouvant fiicilernent aller A I'enconîre de l'orthodoxie. Refldtant clairement les angoisses de l'époque concernant les écarts par rapport B la norme chez les personnes trop entrepienantes sur le plan inteiiectuel, Doctor Faustus Cvoque avec force les risques inhdrents aux aspirations humaines et B l'apprentissage sans limites. Tout en explorant les tentations exotiques du savoir interdit, i'oewre ressuscite et meten question des tabous traditionnels qui qualifiaient l'appétit intellectuel de &su répréhensible. Marlowe met en scène un confiit explosif entre la tradition cousewatrice de la curiositb intellectuelle, qui allait l'encontre du savoir peu orthodoxe et de la magie &platonicienne dont fàisaient la promotion certains penseurs trés influents de la Renaissance, et des propres ambitions et dtsirs du Dr Faust L'opposition entre Ies connaissances prescrites et promites atteint son paroxysme au moment de l'invocation d'H6lhie & Troie. Bien que l'importance de ce personnage soit complexe, nous obwolls. en ce qui concerne le théme de l'écart par rapport B la norme, qu'eue incarne la puissance que revêt l'appétit intellectuel dans la séduction et l'enchantement de l'esprit. Tout en &tantune oeuvre dramatique de qualité supérieure, Docior F-hrs refléte bien B qud point Marlowe était conscient du malaise que suscitaient, il i'bpoque, les de penser puc<niventiomI.ies. L'oewn tiiit ressortir I'importuice de remettre en question les restrictions au sujet des codmcesqu'il est permis de poss&ier. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Renaissance ïntellectual Aspiration and Faustian Dgire I Chapter 1 Libido Sciendi and the Camdity of Forbidden Knowledge 16 Chapter 2 Heterodox Revelations in the Renaissance 47 Chapter 3 Pagan Ravishmeat and Faustus's lavocation of Carnal Wisdom Conclusions The Faustian Falk Casting a Shadow Over Renaissance 106 Optimism Works Cited INTRODUCTION RENAISSANCE INTELLECTUAL ASPIRATION AND FAUSTM DESLRE The malleability and mobility of the Renaissance individual invariably complicates the task of the cntic who is attempting to trace the process of selfkiefinition, and this rnakcs it difficult to assess the degree to which an individual's autonomy affects societal structure as well. ' Christopher Marlowe's Ihctor ~iiusttr.~'surveys the Protean qualities of the "self- fashioning" individual, while also revealing the ideological concems of Renaissance society which are so Fundamrntally linked to the penod's regenenited thirst for knowledge. Boctor Fùu~tuv is, to be sure, highly representative of the anxieties surrounding boundless intellectualism and belief in the infinite potential of man. ' By using the terms "individual* and %utonomy," I do not mean to imply an utter disensagement from the great institutional powers of Endish society in the sixteenth century. In "The Alleged Early Modem Origin of the Self and History: Teminate or Rgroup'?." in Patrick Cullen and Thomas P. Roche- Jr.. eds., 3per1ser Stt~dies,X ((New York. 1989): 1-35, A. Kent Hieatt rightly notices that such ternis of reference are distressingiy vague, and do not adequately express the comptexity of the subject. However, this study does argue for the development of individudistic thouyht in the Renaissance, away tiom the scholastic system of the Middle Aga, and towiuds a yreater cornprehension of singdar inteilectud and mative power According to Stephen Greenblatt, Runc~iswrt~~eSerf-Fkshcvnirîg (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1980). p. 2, there was no single "history of the self" in the sixteenth century, but there was a transition in how Elizabethans defined their own identity partidy as the result of their "increased self-consciousness about the tàshioning of human ident ity as a manipulable, arthl process." 'Citations tiom Marlowe's play are tiom Dmm Fint.stt~.s+ed. Michael Keefer (Peterborough: Broadview Press. 1991). ûther recent editors who prefer the A-text include David Bevuigton and Eric Rasmussen. I have chosen to refer to the more authentic 1604 A-tm version because it is shorter, more concise, yet disturbing in its presentation of the Faustian fa. Keefer notes t hat the A-text "is probably not fat removed tiom what audiences at the Rose would have seen pert'ormed during the mid- 1 590s" (p. ai;). The B-text of 1 6 16 is more substantially revised and censoreci, therefore reducing the force of Mariowe's transgressive achievement in the earlier version Certainly the notion of subverting orthodox 1-ng is more pronounceci in the 1604 text- Leah S. Marcus States in 'Textual tndetenninacy and tdeologicai Difference: The Case of Ductor FMIS~IIS,,"Rernisar~ce Drumu, 20 ( 1989): 17, that Faustus has become more pro-imperial in the B-te- and he focuses his transgressive attitude on the ^ditant nationabkt sentiment that dominated English audiences durhg the 1590s." The A-text is more nationalisf but its introspective focus on leamhg makes this version of the play more refevant to my treatment of intekmai ambition and forûidden knowledge. The development of the individual in the Renaissance ran parallel to the great excavation of ancient human accornplishments in art and literature. Nineteenth-century critic Jacob Burckhardt discusses sirnilar developments arnong Italians of the fourteenth century. Although Burckhardt's canonized study of individualism has been criticized for its uneven description of the transition fiom the Middle Ages