Violence Flashcards
Quotes and critics
There are ultimately no hard feelings between the criminals and the law who understand each other perfectly.
Charney
Example 1:
Truscott: Under any other political system I’d have you on the floor in tears!
Hal: (crying) You’ve got me on the floor in tears
Truscott jerks Hal from the floor, beating and kicking and punching him
Truscott: I’ll house you down! I’ll chlorinate you!
*Hal tries to defend himself, his nose is bleeding
[…]
Truscott: (to Dennis) I’ll take you down to the station and beat the eyes out of your head.
Truscott manipulating and intimidating people shows how institutional violence is normalised.
His willingness to overlook crimes also shows the cynical nature of authority figures, suggesting that violence is a tool for control rather than justice.
Example 2:
Truscott: Thirteen fatal accidents, two cases of suspected fish poisoning.
Fay: I administered poison during the night of June the twenty-second
Fay uses her position as a nurse to exploit others, and with her history of marrying and murdering her husbands, Fay’s character is predatory and callous.
Vindice usurps, irrevocably, the mind and soul of the revenger’
Walsh
‘Jacobean lust spares no one and thereby renders everyone equal’
Moretti
Vindice: Duke: royal lecher: go, grey haired Adultery, / And thou son, as impious steeped as he;
The Duke is a symbol of corrupt power. The Duke is part of the larger court, which is a cesspool of violence and murder.
His death at the hands of Vindice and Hippolito highlights the cyclical nature of vengeance and violence in the play.
Example 2:
Vindice: ‘Tis the best grace you have to do it well; / I’ll save your hand that labour
[…]
Vindice: And make his eyes, like comets, shine through blood
[…]
Vindice: The brook has turned to blood
Middleton highlights the pleasure with which he enacts his revenge.
In addition, Vindice’s one-sided conversation with the skull emphasises the notion that he has lost all respect for Gloriana’s corpse, and she has now become a mere prop to support his revenge.
Dennis: Gave me a rabbit punch
[…]
Winded me. Took me by the cobblers.
Truscott punched Dennis in the back of his head (very dangerous as it can damage the spinal cord) during a previous encounter in the police station.
Truscott’s willingness to use violence serves to underscore Orton’s criticism of authority and the police force, using power to show their dominance/superiority.
‘Duke: oh royal lecher: go grey haired Adultery’
Self-explanatory.
Oxymoron underscores Middleton’s criticism of the ‘noble’ court and aristocracy who indulge in shameful acts such as violence.
