Gender And Power DoM Flashcards
“Apricots” (…) “taste one”
Compare to rape scene?
Act 2, scene 1
Apricots represent how the patriarchy controls the female body
They were believed to put a pregnant woman into labour
It’s a symbol of corruption and decay as it rots from the inside, reflecting her brothers’ moral decay which leads to her downfall
Echoes physical assertion of male authority over the female body therefore taking power over her body
The Cardinal has “taken [Julia] off [her] melancholy perch”
- Julia is in the passive
- power dynamic of masculine dominance
- Julia dehumanised, zoomorphism
- static, objectified
- falcon imagery, constant figure of inferiority
“I account this world a tedious theatre, //
For I do play a part in’t ‘gainst my will.”
Act 4 Scene 1 - duchess to Bosola after F threatens her with a dead man’s hand
Metatheatrical - encapsulated her profound sense of disillusionment with the world
Metaphor of world as theatre - life is staged performance.
“Tedious” - ongoing drudgery and dissatisfaction, trapped in a repetitive and unfulfilling existence
“Gainst my will” - lack of autonomy enhances themes of entrapment - her role is not one she embraces but one imposed on her by external forces
Idea of fate and puppetry,
Lack of control in a violent and disordered world
Performative
“Let me see her face again.”
Act 4 Scene 2 - Ferdinand looks at Duchess’ dead corpse
- Almeida Theatre, 2019 Rebecca Frecknall
Ferdinand sits on top of her body
Exerting physical dominance
But he also is at a weakness - men give women power when it’s too late
- compare to Stella and Stanley hug and rape scene
“Didst thou never study the mathematics? (…) Go, go!”
Act 2, scene 2 - Bosola to the old lady
Prose - looks down on her
Imperatives, male power
Inferior to him
No intellectual capacity to show simplest knowledge
Like in streetcar, Stanley undermines female knowledge by referring to the “Napoleonic code”
“There is seen // the shape of an old woman”
Act 5 Scene 2
The cardinal explains (with lies) the reasons of Ferdinand’s insanity - performative
Old women in both plays become the harbinger of death, symbol of decay
“Tis very much like my wife’s voice.//
“Ay, wife’s voice”
Act 5 Scene 3 - Antonio speaks to the Duchess’ echo
Does she gain power because she has words even after death or no power because she echoes bits of other people’s words
Stichomythia reduces her power, reflects what other people give her
-mutability of grave/remingling of elements
Critic Susan L. Anderson suggests that
(ABOUT THE ECHO)
THE ECHO IS SIMULTANEOUSLY A WOMAN SPEAKING AND A WOMAN SILENCED
The widow
An exception to a general system of male control, were often regarded as threatening: lustful, too independent, unruly
Dom seeks to exercise a widow’s freedom by remarrying against the wishes of her brothers
She ‘sins’ further by choosing someone below her social rank
Bevington ‘all consequences arise from her independent will and her brothers desire to squash or punish such female autonomy.’
“Kneel (…) You speak in me this, for we are now one”
[they kneel and she takes Antonio’s hand]
[they rise]
“These words should be mine”
Act 1 Scene 2
Actions done together - unity
“You” tears down social structure, equality - respect
Duchess violates norms of femininity
- adopts active role in marriage
Wedding ring symbolises duchess’ defiance of societal norms and her determination to marry for love.
Antonio and duchess relationship seems more equal
STASIS AND GENDER - Duchess is not passive, she does all actions
Her proposal is DRAMATIC IRONY!!!!!
“Pull and pull strongly (…) must pull down heaven upon me”
Act 4 scene 2
Plosive alliteration, desperation
Onomatapeic - reflects violence
Some productions allow the duchess to take control of her death by placing the noose around her own neck
In Almeida 2019 production, both duchess and bosons kneel together, he slowly pulls rope and the duchess is raised above him - THE DUCHESS STAGES BOTH DEATH AND MARRIAGE
Almeida 2019 - Duchess death
In original script - like Desdemona and Ophelia, duchess dies with her body unmarked and unspilled in what is perhaps a symbol of her virtue
By end of act 4 scene 2, cariola and duchess spread ink on their necks, representing bloodiness
They are in the glass wall, rather than being watched they are watching, shift in power dynamic
“I will melt my heart // to store them with fresh colour”
[kisses her]
Bosons to duchess after death in act 4 scene 2
In almeida 2019, he doesn’t kiss her or prey on her body
Makes him seem more empathetic
Bosola, like Mitch, is respectful rather than animalistic like Stanley and Ferdinand
“The Cardinals mistress” act 5 scene 1
Bosola says “you are very fair” act 5 scene 2
Objectify Julia
Use her for information
Women’s attraction to men is what causes their downfall, like Blanche
You - false respect
Dies with mouth symbolically sealed
“Who do i look like now?”
“Like to your picture in the gallery (…) some reverent monument // whose ruins are even pities”
Act 4 scene 2
Static, observed
Recalls duchess’ earlier rejection of self as a statue and prefigures her NOBLE DEATH
