FOREIGN AND NATIVE ON THE ENGLISH STAGE, 1588-1611: METAPHOR AND NATIONAL IDENTITY Jane K. Pettegree A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2009 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/786 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License FOREIGN AND NATIVE ON THE ENGLISH STAGE, 1588-1611: METAPHOR AND NATIONAL IDENTITY Jane K Pettegree A Thesis Presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of St Andrews School of English January 2009 i . Abstract This thesis explores the role of metaphor in the construction of early modern English national identity in the dramatic writing of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. The metaphorical associations of character names and their imagined native or foreign stage settings helped model to English audiences and readers not only their own national community, but also ways in which the representation of collective ‘Englishness’ might involve self-estrangement. The main body of the thesis comprises three case studies: Cleopatra, Kent and Christendom. These topographies -- personal, local and regional -- illustrate how metaphorical complexes shifted against both an evolving body of literary texts and under pressure from changing historical contexts, variously defining individual selves against the collective political nation. Each section explores inter-textual connections between theatrical metaphors and contemporary English non-dramatic texts, placing these within a wider European context, and ends by discussing a relevant play by Shakespeare (Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear and Cymbeline respectively). The first case study examines ways in which Cleopatra was used as a metaphor to define individual against collective identity. I shall suggest that such Oriental self-alienation might be seen as enabling; Cleopatran identities allow English writers, readers and audiences to imagine aesthetic alternatives to public identities. The second case study looks at the idea of Kent as an emblematic identity that both preserved local peculiarity while providing a metaphor for collective English identity. Writers use Kentish ambiguity to explore discontinuities and uncertainties within the emerging political nation. The third case study examines the idea of Christendom, used as an imaginary geography to bridge the gap between individual and political identities. I suggest that attempts to map Christendom to literal territorial coordinates might be resisted in ways that produced, again, alternative, non-national literary identities. ii Declarations I, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 98,024 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. date: signature of candidate: I was admitted as a research student in October 2003 and as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in September 2004; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2003 and 2009. date: signature of candidate: I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. date: signature of supervisor: In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. We also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. We have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: embargo on the electronic copy for the fixed period of 5 years on the following ground: publication would preclude future publication. date: signature of candidate: date: signature of supervisor: iii . Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for their financial support as a part-time student. I owe particular thanks to my principal supervisor, Alex Davis, whose prompt and careful attention to my various drafts has always been insightful and supportive. I am also grateful to Andrew Murphy and Eric Langley, who provided secondary supervision and suggestions. Sandra McDevitt, Postgraduate Secretary to the School of English, has always been efficient and helpful. I have also benefited from the generous conversation of many friends and scholars encountered while at St Andrews. In particular, I am grateful to David Gascoigne, who helped me to polish my translations from French source texts; Malcolm Walsby, who helped to clarify my understanding of sixteenth-century French political culture; and Paul Hammer, whose knowledge of the troubled world of the Earl of Essex is second to none, and who provided both coffee and conversation. More generally, staff and students at the University of St Andrews School of English and the School of History’s Reformation Institute have been generous with their insights; in particular, those associated with the French Vernacular Book project: Sandy Wilkinson, Sara Barker, Matthew Hall and Lauren Kim. Steve Reicher in the School of Psychology was generous in making time to discuss his research on collective identity formation. I also owe a debt of thanks to Alastair Hamilton for introducing me to the Warburg Institute library; Leiden University, for allowing me access to their collections; Antony Martin, Claire Jowitt, Colin Martin and David Trim, whose email exchanges helped me to understand how Africans, Pirates and Armadas all presented exotic spaces within European boundaries. Finally, to friends and family: Rona Johnson for friendship, and most of all, Andrew, Megan and Sophie, without whose love and sense of perspective none of this would have been undertaken. iv Abbreviations ELH: English Literary History ELR: English Literary Renaissance PMLA: Periodical of the Modern Language Association SQ: Shakespeare Quarterly TLS: Times Literary Supplement Editions of Shakespeare Used The First Part of the Contention betwixt the two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster is significantly different from the play that eventually appeared as 2 Henry VI in the Folio of 1623. I refer to the signature numbers of Q2 (London: Valentine Simmmes for Thomas Millington, 1600), available from EEBO (the Chadwyck-Healey Early English Books Online database). Shakespeare’s True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear refers to the ‘Pied Bull’ Quarto of 1608, Q1 (London: Nicholas Okes for Nathaniel Butter, 1608), again taken from EEBO. Otherwise, for Shakespeare’s plays, references will use through-line numbers (TLN) taken from The First Folio of Shakespeare: The Norton facsimile, based on folios in the Folger Shakespeare Library Collection prepared by Charlton Hinman, 2nd edn. (London: W. W. Norton, 1996). v . Illustrations p.1 Figure 1: ‘Prologue’ to Henry V, from Shakespeare’s First Folio: Mr. VVilliam Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies Published according to the true originall copies. (London: Isaac Jaggard, and Ed. Blount, 1623). Source: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/, accessed 28 August 2008. Permission: Image published by permission of Proquest. Original by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library. p. 154 Figure 2: Jack Straw sig. E4v to F1r, showing the transition from Roman type (dialogue) to Blackletter (proclamation text). Source: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/ accessed on 24 November 2008. Permission: Image published by permission of Proquest. Original copy © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved. Shelfmark C.34.b.46. p. 198 Figure 3: John Cauis, Iohannis Caii Britanni De canibus Britannica (London: William Seres, 1570), sig. C4r. Source: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/, accessed 29 November 2008. Permission: Image published by permission of Proquest. This item is reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. p.302 Figure 4: The Crest of the Worshipful Company of Stationers. Permission: With the permission of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. Note on images produced by ProQuest as part of Early English Books Online. Inquries may be made to: Proquest 789E. Eisenhower Parkway Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 USA. Tel: 001-734.761.4700 vi Table of Contents I: Introduction 1. ‘Ciphers to this great accompt’: Placing the Subject …………... 1 2. Textual Materialisations: Representative Motifs …………... 30 II. Alternative Cleopatras 1. Introduction …………. 48 2. Cleopatra Before the Renaissance …………. 50 3. Renaissance Cleopatras …………. 53 4. Cleopatra