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

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81 the head of the family, or nation, loses his reason and descends into irrationality, then all people suffer.
82 CHAPTER III ‘INCEST IS IN ME’: INCEST AND EARLY MODERN DRAMA Incest is certainly a familiar trope in medieval tales; writers often appropriated pre-Christian tales to highlight the dangers of poor self-governance. Incest is formulated as the ultimate expression of the destructive effects of loss of self-control, as passion overcomes reason and the human slides toward the bestial. Perilous for the individual, it is disastrous in a king, as he puts an entire nation at risk. This chapter will interrogate the changes in usage of the incest motif from the medieval period into the early modern age by examining three specific works. As English society consciously moved against Catholicism as a method of understanding the world, it might be expected that interest in old-fashioned tales of such “unkynde abhominaciouns” would fade from popularity and usefulness, but instead it mushroomed and found expression on the stage. As Gower and Malory knew, medieval Englishmen were no strangers to dynastic shifts. The several dedications of Confessio Amantis reveal one such shift from Richard II to Henry IV, as well as awareness of the prudence of avoiding any outright critique of the king. Malory’s knights of Camelot experienced the armed conflict and intermittent battles that mirrored the rivalry between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians which culminated in the rise of the Tudor line when Henry Tudor won the crown from Richard III on Bosworth Field in 1485, effectively ending the Wars of the Roses and establishing peace.
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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
Page 37 and 38: 30 bribed two priests to convince P
Page 39 and 40: 32 story of incest implied, averted
Page 41 and 42: 34 Again, her response impassions h
Page 43 and 44: 36 in the most extreme sense. When
Page 45 and 46: 38 in the first book, and relates t
Page 47 and 48: 40 benign, sympathetic interpretati
Page 49 and 50: 42 and Machaire, and at the same ti
Page 51 and 52: 44 To finish the turn in the narrat
Page 53 and 54: 46 oghne prest” (V.1382-3). Geniu
Page 55 and 56: 48 incestuous. When she vows to tel
Page 57 and 58: 50 epilogue that acts as a prayer f
Page 59 and 60: 52 Of wommen were absent as thanne;
Page 61 and 62: 54 speak at length and discover the
Page 63 and 64: 56 Biblical incest, mostly unjudged
Page 65 and 66: 58 of a king and the function of la
Page 67 and 68: 60 country. But the incest—the wo
Page 69 and 70: 62 As chivalry is a controlling the
Page 71 and 72: 64 conflicting demands of love and
Page 73 and 74: 66 material for adaptation or trans
Page 75 and 76: 68 four sons, Gawain, Gaheris, Agra
Page 77 and 78: 70 can not be ameliorated, at least
Page 79 and 80: 72 killed save Mordred, who was fou
Page 81 and 82: 74 surrogate son-knights. Cherewatu
Page 83 and 84: 76 Lo ye all Englysshemen, se ye ha
Page 85 and 86: 78 demonstrated to all present on t
Page 87: 80 corruption that plagues the Pend
Page 91 and 92: 84 wished to rid himself of Anne Bo
Page 93 and 94: 86 societal forces. The plays focus
Page 95 and 96: 88 in the family and on a national
Page 97 and 98: 90 reputation shifted such that vie
Page 99 and 100: 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
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132 strength, and the men enter the
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134 God bless me; and pass’d on.
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136 familiar. It is more usual for
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138 sensation of horror in the audi
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140 foil to the Countess, with her
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142 And when he knelt, weeping, to
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144 Castle of Otranto, the knife is
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146 and political realities during
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149 destruction and disaster. One o
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151 subvert both patriarchy and mon
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153 BIBLIOGRAPHY Aers, David,ed. Me
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155 Classen, Albrecht, ed. Violence
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157 Ford, Jane M. Patriarchy and In
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159 Lenz, Joseph. The Promised End:
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161 Riddy, Felicity. Sir Thomas Mal
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