The Place of Patriarchy in The Duchess of Malfi and a Midsummers Night Dream
During the years of 1558 to 1603, Shakespeare began writing and producing many of his successful plays, which most audiences of this generation still love to this day. Among Shakespeare, there were also many of his contemporaries, who were talented playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and John Webster. Many favourite plays include, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ and other controversial at the time plays, such as the ‘Tragedy of Mariam’, which was written by underappreciated Elizabeth Cary.
With many feminist outlooks becoming more and more popular in today’s world, it is often forgotten how far the battle for female rights has really come. Back in Shakespeare’s era, women were products and items of their fathers, brothers and uncles. Women were seen as a possession, and were often sold to men, just to have children and remain a secondary character in their own lives. Men were viewed as the breadwinners, while women were incorrectly considered the ‘weaker’ sex who should raise their children and nothing more. Patriarchy was at a height during the Elizabethan era even with a queen as a head of the monarchy. Elizabeth I has succeeded her infamous father Henry VIII, as she was a product of the problematic marriage between her father and Anne Boleyn. His sole marriage to her was the ruin of Anne as a woman whole, as it began the conversion of many Catholics to Protestants, including her child Elizabeth. Many patriarchs believed a man should be on the throne, and because Elizabeth never married or had children and was branded as the ‘Virgin Queen’ some say her reign would never be safe and she could never be a successful queen. She had many threats towards her reign, which reflected society in general and how many believed they couldn’t function in the realm without a strong King to guide them. However, Shakespeare excellently conveys through his many plays, how significantly sexist and patriarchal society was, and how women were considered second class citizens.
The two selected plays, that will be analysed in relation to the place of patriarchy will be Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummers Night Dream’, and John Webster’s ‘The Duchess of Malfi’. Both plays are extremely different in terms of themes, setting and overall character dimensions and portrayal of women more importantly.
Firstly, in ‘A Midsummers Night Dream’ the place of patriarchy is evident from the outset of the play, as it opens with Theseus, who is the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. From Shakespeare’s sole descriptions alone, this immediately suggests that perhaps a Duke and Queen are equally as powerful as each other. Hippolyta is a queen in her own right, even if it may be fictionally, owning that title grants certain power. However, in the opening scene of the play, the audience are quickly made aware this is not an equal marriage, or arguably not a consented marriage at all, never mind equality. In the opening scene, Shakespeare makes clear that this a patriarchal play when he writes;
THESEUS. ‘Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword
And won thy love doing these injuries;
But I will wed thee in another key’
Shakespeare’s use of antithesis and inverse language such as ‘sword’ and ‘injuries’ suggests to the audience that this isn’t a romantic love story, of equal attraction, desire and love among partners, but rather a war driven courtship. These war like images, is not how one would usually talk about their beloved, but rather it emphasises the idea that this is a war strategy based marriage. Shakespeare uses the verb ‘won’ in references to their relationship, which suggests that this was an almost competition for Theseus. He has full domain over his wife to be as he has won her fair and square, and she has no say in the matter, because she not only is a ‘weak’ woman but also a prize for him to claim. However, even though he needs to claim his prize which is his marriage to Hippolyta, he has not successfully won her yet, as they play begins just four days before the wedding is to take place. This puts Theseus in a difficult position, as he quickly needs to claim Hippolyta as his wife, to sustain his masculine, warrior status. From this, the audience can gather, that this is a very patriarch world, in which this play resides in, as Hippolyta is basically won like a possession, but Theseus must also uphold this strong toxic masculine status, in this patriarch society.
Moreover, the place of patriarchy in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is further evident between Shakespeare’s structure of the two parallel worlds which is Athens and the Fairy world. Shakespeare further emphasises how the fairy world parallels Athens, between the character duplicates of Theseus and Hippolyta, and Oberon and Titania. Most productions of the play, often use the same actors for their character’s duplicates to further coincide that indeed, these characters are one in the same, in terms on portraying a female suppressed society and male toxicity. During the course of the play Hippolyta remains quiet, especially during the scene in which Egeus, demands from Theseus that his daughter marries Demetrius against his daughters will. This is another scenario in the play, in which a male authority figure has domain over a female character, and its manifested in the common form of an unwanted marriage. Hippolyta may remain silent during this scene, perhaps due to her own personal beliefs of being a woman forced into a marriage. However, in the fairy world, Hippolyta somewhat has her say, when her counterpart Titania, refuses to give Oberon the boy changeling;
OBERON: ‘Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.’
TITANIA: ‘Not for thy fairy Kingdom-Fairies away!’
OBERON: ‘Well, go thy away. Thou shalt not from this grove. Till I torment thee for this injury.
From Shakespeare’s exchange between Oberon and Titania above, it is evident that there is a parallel between Athens and the fairy world. Hippolyta wouldn’t dare say no to her ‘superior’ Theseus, but in this scene, Titania shows quality leadership and independent skills, as she denies Oberon his request and leaves him no room to demand and she quickly leaves. She is poised and is a counterpart to Hippolyta as she is able to speak her truth, and in doing so this is a way of Hippolyta also revealing her own truth. The parallel is further emphasised when Oberon uses the noun ‘injury’. This is a repetitive phrase from before when Theseus explained his many ‘injuries’, this further connects the characters, as it reinforces how the fairy world expands and explores Hippolyta and Theseus’ relationship through the use of the fairies Oberon and Titania. As brave as Titania is in the scene, it doesn’t continue without consequences. Oberon sends Puck to retreat a special flower, that will cast a spell over Titania’s eyes, and make her fall in love with the first thing she sees, which just so happens to be a man with an animal’s head. This is an act of revenge on Oberon’s part to show Titania that he is superior and he will not bow down to a woman, or be equal but rather he is the king and she will learn not to disrespect him again. Likewise, to Theseus, Oberon must have patriarchal control and domain over Titania, and it could be argued that in the fairy world, Oberon’s control comes in the shape of a changeling boy. Moreover, the boy who represents everything childlike and innocent about the world, could also represent Titania’s innocence towards a male dominated world, and perhaps Oberon’s sexual desires towards her. Krieger has stated that Oberon and Titania are ‘spiritual manifestations of the sexual drives of Theseus and Hippolyta'. So perhaps. Oberon’s real annoyance doesn’t come from the refusal of the changeling boy but of Titania’s refusal to become subservient to him, and not bow down but remain an equal. The fact that Oberon seeks revenge and to do it in such a humiliating and non-consensual away, emphasises the real matter here, which is that men needed to have full domain over women to feel settled in their own society and to sustain patriarchal control.
On the other hand, the second play that will be analysed is John Webster’s ‘The Duchess of Malfi’. Unlike, the first appearance of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ as a comedy, Webster’s play is one of great tragedy, and has many powerful themes and motifs which circle around a patriarchal society. As one of Shakespeare contemporaries, Webster’s play, is one of extremities in terms of violence, gore and more importantly a female lead, who is not weak but rather defies the very meaning of patriarchal by following her own rules, but subsequently paying for these brave rebellions with her life. Webster’s play follows many famous plays of ‘heroic tragedy’ such as ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Othello’ where the main character follows to a great tragedy or death, while keeping the audiences interest to the idea of ‘hero’. These such heroes usually die in the final act, but in Webster’s play the Duchess dies in Act 4, which could be argued to be for a lasting dramatic effect in Act 5 but could also symbolise that as she is a female lead, she is still not quite a male hero, so she doesn’t get the dignified closure she deserves due to the sexist and patriarchal society this play was written in.
Patriarchy is of place throughout the play, but two key characters are the voice of the sexist male patriarchal society, during the time this play was written, which are the Duchess’ brothers Ferdinand and Cardinal. They are the living embodiments of female suppression and toxic masculinity, perhaps quite like Oberon and Theseus. However, at the end of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, Oberon removes the spell of Titania, and Theseus allows Hermia to marry Lysander. Ferdinand and the Cardinal do not allow for such guilt and morals to sway them; they believe they have all the power, and have the right to force the Duchess into going against her heart and her own dreams even though she is head of the state, and they are merely subjects. Webster effectively conveys the place of patriarchy in the play when he writes;
FERDINAND: Let not youth, high promotion, eloquence—
CARDINAL: No, nor anything without the addition, ‘honour’,
Sway your high blood.
FERDINAND: Marry? They are most luxurious
Will wed twice.
Webster portrays two characters who believe they have absolute control and authority over their sister. When Webster writes ‘sway your high blood’, Cardinal is referring to his sisters ‘apparent’ sex lust, and is forbidding her from remarrying, as it was seen as very lustful. The fact that brothers, fathers or uncles could make judgment on a woman’s marriage let alone sex life, is evident of the patriarch at place here. The duchess is of higher rank than both of her brothers as head of state, but still she is deemed to listen to the shaming from them. This quote also may refer to swaying your blood through a new marriage, by mixing another blood type into the family. Ferdinand uses the adjective ‘luxurious’ and in this context he means that, widows who want to remarry are lustful and shouldn’t be allowed the honour of remarriage.
The Duchess’ brothers did not want to see a female as head of state, as in a patriarchal society, it made the state appear ‘weak’ and ‘feminine’. This is also factual of the time period the play was written in, as many females were head of states such as the Queen Elizabeth herself, but also many others such as Mary Queen of Scots and Catherine De Medici. A powerful reverend at the time John Knox spoke out against such females, and deemed them as unfit, and unlawful, as females were to blame for the ruination of paradise from Eve. The constant battle many leaders were facing were immense, not just from wars and government but from gender battles, that always wanted to see a male as head of state.
The Duchess has had to lead a split life in this play, one where she is head of state and is powerful, the other she has secretly remarried. Theodora A. Jankowski writes that
‘The play thus participates in the discursive construction of women in the early modem period and helps to reveal the contradictions in the notion of a female ruler. These contradictions are ex- plored in the ways in which the Duchess is represented as using her body natural and her body politic… This widow attempts to secure herself politically by divorcing her natural body from her political one by creating a private second marriage that exists simultaneously with-but hidden from- her public life as a ruler. In this double position of wife and ruler, then, the Duchess becomes an uneasy and threatening figure. I will argue, therefore, that, despite the character's failure to create a successful means by which she can rule as a woman sovereign, she challenges Jacobean society's views regarding the representation of the female body and woman's sexuality’
Even though the Duchess lives in a place of patriarch, she still keeps her independence and strong willed nature a key characteristic of herself, by going against her brother’s wishes. It could be argued she is one of the first feminists, and she disobeys her brothers and pays with her life, and on some level she already knew by remarrying she was signing her death contract. Her unwillingness to be nerved is evident when Webster writes,
DUCHESS: I am Duchess of Malfi still.
Webster’s use of dramatic staging in this moment shows, the Duchess has lost everything, from her family and fortune but she still has pride and dignity. She rejects the sexist view that she should beg and appear weak, holds herself together, to convey a heroic death. By rejecting her brothers, she rejects the patriarch which is fundamentally embedded in the society of that time. She is a heroic character and should be categorised among tragic heroes like ‘Hamlet’ or ‘Othello’.
To conclude, both Shakespeare and Webster effectively convey the place of patriarchy in both their plays. This is done by having suppressed female characters such as Hippolyta or female heroines who are undermined like the Duchess.
Bibliography
- Shakespeare, W., Greenblatt, S., Cohen, W., Howard, J., Maus, K., Gossett, S. and McMullan, G. (2008). The Norton Shakespeare. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton.
- Webster, J. and Marcus, L. (2009). The Duchess of Malfi. London: Arden Shakespeare.
- Godshalk, W. (1981). ‘A Marxist Study of Shakespeare’s Comedies’ by Elliot Krieger. Comparative Drama, 15(1), p.56. Accessed 20-11-2019.
- Theodora A. Jankowski (Spring, 1990). Defining/Confining the Duchess: Negotiating the Female Body in John Webster's 'The Duchess of Malfi', Studies in Philology, Vol. 87, No. 2, pp. 221-245, Published by: University of North Carolina Press, Accessed: 20-11-2019
