SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...

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145 Her darling sins, has any charms for her. I have mark’d her praying: not one wand’ring thought Seems to steal meaning from her words.—She prays Because she feels, and feels, because a sinner. (I.3.152-160) Benedict, though acknowledging the Countess’ inner strength and true character, and despite his vocation, resents her and plots her downfall. As a representative of the church, he is scheming, manipulative, and self-serving. His superficial belief system is marked in the fact that he can even conceive of beliefs, hymns, and saints as sources of amusement instead of matters of salvation. He recognizes in her what he lacks in himself. By lying about the marriage of Adeliza and Florian, he caused the fatal confrontation at the end of the play—and gained the estate as he had planned all along. Benedict recognizes and fears the power of true piety to “unbuild” the entire Church. This may explain his determination to destroy her. She embodies both true devotion and incredible sinfulness. These two parts of her, genuine maternal love and weakness in controlling her physical passions, war with each other. While Edmund was absent she could control her emotions and tried to do good, as several of the characters acknowledged. But Benedict’s scheme led to a frenzy of emotion, perhaps even fits of madness, as her worst fears were realized. She dies and her family and property are dispersed; the sins of the mother do not pass to future generations because her sins destroy her son. The Mysterious Mother and The Castle of Otranto have at the center of their plots fear of the disruption of the social order. The anxieties found in works known as Gothic spring from fears and uncertainties arising from instabilities in personal, social, religious,
146 and political realities during the mid-eighteenth century—in other words, all of the things that gave structure to everyday life. Incest in Walpole’s works reflects anxiety about the perceived decay of the family unit and by extension the individual’s place in the world, anxiety which is exacerbated by the accumulation of centuries of meaning that became attached to the use of an incest theme in literary works.
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SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading
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READING INCEST: TYRANNY, SUBVERSION
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APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. R
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2 of it, despite its familiarity to
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4 about incest was influenced by th
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6 clarification. Pope Gregory II ad
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8 sibling, and mother-son. 2 She no
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10 is viewed by both. Incest in eig
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12 subverts both the social and the
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14 CHAPTER II ‘SWICHE UNKYNDE ABH
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16 a book to each of the seven dead
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18 Richard” (111). The dedication
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20 an idea familiar to Gower’s me
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22 laboring-folk and Piers, in retu
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24 introduction of Amans, the unsuc
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26 learns. Augustine takes up the i
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28 of the king, whose primary duty
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30 bribed two priests to convince P
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32 story of incest implied, averted
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34 Again, her response impassions h
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36 in the most extreme sense. When
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38 in the first book, and relates t
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40 benign, sympathetic interpretati
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42 and Machaire, and at the same ti
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44 To finish the turn in the narrat
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46 oghne prest” (V.1382-3). Geniu
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48 incestuous. When she vows to tel
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50 epilogue that acts as a prayer f
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52 Of wommen were absent as thanne;
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54 speak at length and discover the
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56 Biblical incest, mostly unjudged
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58 of a king and the function of la
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60 country. But the incest—the wo
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62 As chivalry is a controlling the
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64 conflicting demands of love and
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66 material for adaptation or trans
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68 four sons, Gawain, Gaheris, Agra
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70 can not be ameliorated, at least
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72 killed save Mordred, who was fou
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74 surrogate son-knights. Cherewatu
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76 Lo ye all Englysshemen, se ye ha
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78 demonstrated to all present on t
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80 corruption that plagues the Pend
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82 CHAPTER III ‘INCEST IS IN ME
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84 wished to rid himself of Anne Bo
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86 societal forces. The plays focus
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88 in the family and on a national
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90 reputation shifted such that vie
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92 comes not from an instinctive ap
Page 101 and 102: 94 virtue, resists and is made whol
Page 103 and 104: 96 willingness to sacrifice the liv
Page 105 and 106: 98 Rejection of God and divine orde
Page 107 and 108: 100 is as an “ungodly sickness”
Page 109 and 110: 102 exercise her own agency. Though
Page 111 and 112: 104 potential problem of having a f
Page 113 and 114: 106 The plots of these three plays
Page 115 and 116: 108 play, the Duchess will have bee
Page 117 and 118: 110 As we have seen, the Duchess us
Page 119 and 120: 112 BOSOLA. It seems you would crea
Page 121 and 122: 114 But as Ferdinand’s outrages i
Page 123 and 124: 116 knife as phallus. Eros (Cupid)
Page 125 and 126: 118 posed by his slide into unreaso
Page 127 and 128: 120 and, as Kenneth Graham notes, i
Page 129 and 130: 122 Castle of Otranto displays the
Page 131 and 132: 124 Theodore is killed a group of k
Page 133 and 134: 126 memory, and regard your highnes
Page 135 and 136: 128 first Gothic playwright, publis
Page 137 and 138: 130 the castle is there primarily t
Page 139 and 140: 132 strength, and the men enter the
Page 141 and 142: 134 God bless me; and pass’d on.
Page 143 and 144: 136 familiar. It is more usual for
Page 145 and 146: 138 sensation of horror in the audi
Page 147 and 148: 140 foil to the Countess, with her
Page 149 and 150: 142 And when he knelt, weeping, to
Page 151: 144 Castle of Otranto, the knife is
Page 155 and 156: 149 destruction and disaster. One o
Page 157 and 158: 151 subvert both patriarchy and mon
Page 159 and 160: 153 BIBLIOGRAPHY Aers, David,ed. Me
Page 161 and 162: 155 Classen, Albrecht, ed. Violence
Page 163 and 164: 157 Ford, Jane M. Patriarchy and In
Page 165 and 166: 159 Lenz, Joseph. The Promised End:
Page 167 and 168: 161 Riddy, Felicity. Sir Thomas Mal
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