Shakespearean Polyphony. An exploration of female voices in seven selected plays using a dialogical framework. Item Type Thesis Authors Intezar, Hannah Rights <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by- nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. Download date 29/09/2021 22:27:48 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10454/6300 University of Bradford eThesis This thesis is hosted in Bradford Scholars – The University of Bradford Open Access repository. Visit the repository for full metadata or to contact the repository team © University of Bradford. This work is licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence. Shakespearean Polyphony An exploration of female voices in seven selected plays using a dialogical framework H. Intezar Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Social Sciences and International Studies UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD 2013 Abstract This thesis employs the concept of ‘voice’ in order to explore the variety of dialogic relationships between men and women in seven Shakespeare plays. Here, ‘voice’ is defined as an ideological position held by a character and voices within a dialogical relationship test dominant social ideas. In doing so, the aim is to explore how employing a linguistic approach allows us to develop a more nuanced perspective towards women and female voices in Shakespeare. Taking the early modern tradition of an all-male-cast into consideration, this project acknowledges the tension between the idea of embodiment and voice; however, it argues that even though there is no biological female body of the Shakespearean stage, there is a female voice. Dialogism, of course, derives from the work of the Russian theorist Mikhail Bakhtin. These ‘voices’ are analysed in the context of a theoretical framework informed by his writings on the novel, which are also increasingly being used to make sense of drama in line with Bakhtin’s own awareness of a nascent dialogism in Shakespearean drama. ‘Polyphony’, in particular, assumes a separation between the author’s and the characters’ points of view. Thus, this project considers Shakespeare’s texts as dialogic and his plays as a dialogue of voices, in which the characters have the capacity to hold dialogical relationships where no voice holds more importance than any other. This is significant because these conflicting voices are what make the Shakespearean text different from those in which a single voice is heard - that of the author, for example. As this study talks about an oppressive authoritative/patriarchal language, a dialogic approach unlocks the languages of the others which it tries to marginalise and silence. The research reveals a complex relationship between space, time and voice. More precisely, the carnivalesque becomes visible in Shakespeare’s use of innovative discursive devices, such as ‘active parody’, ‘Menippean dialogue’ and ‘Socratic dialogue’, which suggests a multi-toned and ambiguous female voice; a voice that has the capacity to covertly and overtly oppose and challenge social ideologies surrounding gender. The thesis offers new perspectives on the presentation of women and speech. Importantly, it offers a more sophisticated and complex Bakhtinian framework for looking at carnival in Shakespeare. Additionally, a linguistic model of analysis also develops current scholarly use of Bakhtin’s concept of carnival. Rather than viewing carnival as simply a time-space of betwixt and between, this project looks at carnival in the context of language (the carnivalesque). More specifically, it reveals how Shakespeare’s female figures find pockets of carnivalesque space in everyday existence through dialogue. Thus, suggesting that emancipation is not limited to an allocated time or space, rather, it can also be achieved through language. Key Words: Shakespeare, Bakhtin, polyphony, carnival, voices, women i Dedicated to My Parents I hope ‘thank you’ is strong enough to convey the gratitude and love I feel when I think of all the encouragement, prodding, concern, care and energy, not to mention financial support, you have invested in these last few years. Without your support, in every way possible, I would not have been able to start this project let alone finish it. ii Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the direct and indirect support of a number of people whom I want to thank: Professor James Knowles: I am in great debt to you for all your advice, immense help, reading my first draft, and your critical comments which made me rethink my initial thoughts. Dr Kenneth Smith and Dr Paul Sullivan: I am extremely thankful for all the support you have given me and especially for your help during these unexpected extra few years. My friends, The ‘Cashetts’, and everyone from ‘The Office’: Over the past few years you have kept me sane and connected with the world – ‘thank you all, you guys’. To all the admin staff in the department of Social Sciences and International Studies Finally, Above and Beyond All Others, my Gratitude Belongs to God iii ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III A NOTE ON SPELLING AND DATES VII Primary Sources vii LIST OF FIGURES VIII CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION: THE MALE SCRIBE AND THE FEMALE VOICE 1 Boys Playing Girls: The Bodiless Female Voice 5 Interpretation of Carnival in Shakespeare Studies 17 CHAPTER TWO: DEVELOPING A METHODOLOGY: USING BAKHTIN TO OBSERVE THE FEMALE VOICE 26 The ‘Multivoicedness’ of Carnival 27 Dialogism: The Hero-Author Relationship 42 Types of Discourse 48 Words of the First Type: Single-Voiced Discourse 49 Words of the Second Type: Single- and Double-Voiced Discourses 50 Words of the Third Type: Passive Double-Voiced Words 51 Passive Double-Voiced Discourse: ‘Unidirectional’ and ‘Varidirectional’ 52 Active Double-Voiced Words 53 Parody 53 iv Treating Shakespeare’s Texts as Polyphonic and Carnivalised Drama 58 CHAPTER THREE: CARNIVALISED DIALOGUE INTHE TAMING OF THE SHREW 69 Chronotopic Shifts and the Representation of Space 71 The Carnivalised Taming Plot and the ‘Sideward Glance’ 77 The ‘Loopholes’ in Kate’s Final Speech 91 CHAPTER FOUR: CHRONOTOPES AND THE SHAKESPEAREAN FESTIVE COMEDY 103 As You Like It and the Adventure-Time Chronotope 112 Twelfth Night and the Adventure-Time of the Everyday Chronotope 129 CHAPTER FIVE: MENIPPEAN SATIRE AND SOCRATIC DIALOGUE IN THE MERCHANT OF VENICE AND MEASURE FOR MEASURE 142 Bakhtin and the Widening Categories of Menippean Satire and Socratic Dialogue 143 The ‘Biter- Bit’ Menippean Satire in The Merchant of Venice 153 The Socratic Provocative Word in Measure for Measure 166 CHAPTER SIX: THE GROTESQUE BODY IN MACBETH AND OTHELLO 180 ‘nothing is, but what is not’ 181 ‘This castle hath a pleasant seat’: The Carnivalesque Atmosphere in Macbeth 187 The Unproductive Body of Lady Macbeth and the Feminised Body of Duncan 195 v The Violation of Order and the Carnivalised Space of Cyprus 202 The Private Female Space 207 CHAPTER SEVEN: DISCUSSION 216 Thesis Outline and Themes 216 Implications for Employing Bakhtin to Contextualise Shakespeare 223 The Character-Theory Debate 224 A Different Understanding of Carnival and Space 227 Feminist Readings 227 GLOSSARY 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY 233 vi A Note on Spelling and Dates In all quotations the early-modern use of ‘v’ and ‘u’ and ‘I’ and ‘j’ has been modernised. The dates given for plays in the thesis refer to the date of first performance and are provided after the initial reference to each play in parenthesis, and subsequently when appropriate so that the reader need not constantly refer back. Primary Sources Unless stated otherwise, all play excerpts are taken from the editions detailed below; William Shakespeare, Othello, ed. by E. A. J. Honigmann, 3rdseries (London: Arden Shakespeare, 1997). William Shakespeare, As You Like It,ed. by Juliet Dusinberre, 3rdseries (London: Arden Shakespeare, 2006). William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, or What You Will, ed. by Keir Elam, 3rd series (London: Arden Shakespeare, 2008). William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, ed. by J. W. Lever, 2nd series (London: Arden Shakespeare, 2008). William Shakespeare, Macbeth, ed. by A. R. Braunmuller, 2nd edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, ed. by John Drakakis, 3rd series (London: Arden Shakespeare, 2010). William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, ed. Barbara Hodgdon, 3rd series (London: Arden Shakespeare, 2010). vii List of Figures Figure 1. Types of discourses identifed by Bakhtin as found in Morson, S. G and Emerson (1990). viii Chapter One: Introduction: The Male Scribe and the Female Voice This thesis explores the ‘multivoicedness’, particularly the representation of the female voice, in seven Shakespearean plays. To understand the potential of the texts for generating clashing, opposing, or ironic perspectives around gender, this project aims to articulate the ‘double-voicedness’ in the dialogue of the selected plays more clearly by drawing on Bakhtin’s work on polyphony. Polyphony is most closely associated with Bakhtin’s theory of the carnival, as both advocate the unfinalisability and openness of act, thought and voice (Bakhtin, 1968, 1981, 1984, 1986). Subsequent chapters explore the deeper linguistic dimensions of carnival (the carnivalesque), which have been largely neglected in Shakespeare studies. Voice can be seen as univocal, in which only a single accent, word, perspective, ideology or person can be heard. Alternatively, it can also be defined as a locus of discourses replete with an ideology, therefore making it multi-voiced in nature. It is the verbal-ideological perspective expressed within a particular ‘utterance’. It is noteworthy that a voice will always have a particular ‘intonation’, which reflects the value behind the consciousness that speaks, and a single word or utterance can carry more than one intonation.1 1For detailed definitions of ‘intonation’, ‘voice’, ‘utterance’, ‘carnival’, ‘carnivalesque’ and ‘dialogism’ see Glossary.