Issues of Death : Mortality and Identity in English Renaissance Tragedy

Issues of Death offers a fresh approach to the tragic drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Starting from the premise that "death" is a historical construct that is differently experienced in every culture, it treats Renaissance tragedy as an instrument for reimagining the human encounter with death. Analyses of major plays by Marlowe, Kyd, Shakespeare, Webster, Middleton, and Ford explore the relation of tragedy to the macabre tradition, to the apocalyptic displays of the anatomy theatre, and to the spectacular arts of funeral. Cover......Page 1 Issues of Death: Mortality and Identity in English Renaissance Tragedy......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Epigraph......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Contents......Page 10 List of Illustrations......Page 12 Note on Conventions Used in the Text......Page 14 Inventing Death......Page 16 Envisaging Death......Page 18 Shameful Death......Page 23 Indifferent Death......Page 28 Theatre and Plague......Page 37 Tragedy and Death......Page 44 Memorializing Death......Page 53 Issues of Death......Page 57 Part I: 'Within all rottenness': Tragedy, Death, and Apocalypse......Page 64 The Dance of Death......Page 66 Envisaging Death: From the Danse Macabre to the Totentanz of Basel......Page 77 Theatre and the Macabre......Page 96 The Triumph of Death......Page 103 'This my fatal chair': Marlowe's Tamburlaine and the Triumph of Death......Page 107 Anatomy and Death......Page 117 Vesalius and the Scene of Dissection......Page 129 Anatomy and Discovery......Page 137 Anatomy in the Theatre......Page 149 3: Opening the Moor: Death and Discovery in Othello......Page 156 'Show me thy thought'......Page 157 Othello's Darkness......Page 160 Opening Iago......Page 166 The Encaved Self: Othello and Inwardness......Page 170 Opening Masculinity......Page 174 Drawing the Curtain: Apocalypse in the Bedchamber......Page 177 The Changeling and Othello......Page 183 The Castellated Body......Page 190 Entering the Body......Page 196 Private Passages......Page 200 Discovering Death......Page 204 Part II: Making an End: Death's Arrest and the Shaping of Tragic Narrative......Page 214 Writing Finis......Page 216 Kyd and the Ends of Revenge......Page 226 Death and Narrative Desire......Page 231 'Forbid to tell the secrets'......Page 235 'They'll tell all': Playing the End......Page 241 'Every fool can tell that': Narrative in the Graveyard......Page 248 'To tell my story': Hamlet and the Art of Ending......Page 252 Remembrance and Revenge......Page 258 'Must I remember?'......Page 266 'Chronicles of the time': Hamlet and the Performance of Memory......Page 273 Part III: 'Rue with a difference': Tragedy and the Funereal Arts......Page 278 Distinguishing the Dead: The Role of Heraldic Funerals......Page 280 Funeral Rites and Tragic Ending......Page 296 Displaced Funerals......Page 303 Maimed Rites......Page 307 Hamlet's Rites of Memory......Page 315 'Fame's eternity'......Page 320 Triumphant Graves......Page 323 Marble Constancy......Page 327 Monuments and Ruins......Page 343 'Non norunt haec monumenta mori'......Page 347 'The figure cut in alabaster'......Page 353 'Hearts are hollow graves'......Page 356 Finis coronat opus......Page 363 11: 'Great arts best write themselves in their own stories': Ending The Broken Heart......Page 369 Appendix: The Plague and the Dance of Death......Page 390 Primary Sources......Page 392 Books......Page 395 Articles and Essays......Page 401 Index......Page 408 Cover 1 Issues of Death: Mortality and Identity in English Renaissance Tragedy 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Epigraph 7 Acknowledgements 8 Contents 10 List of Illustrations 12 Note on Conventions Used in the Text 14 Introduction 16 Inventing Death 16 Envisaging Death 18 Shameful Death 23 Indifferent Death 28 Theatre and Plague 37 Tragedy and Death 44 Memorializing Death 53 Issues of Death 57 Part I: 'Within all rottenness': Tragedy, Death, and Apocalypse 64 1: 'Peremptory nullification': Tragedy and Macabre Art 66 The Dance of Death 66 Envisaging Death: From the Danse Macabre to the Totentanz of Basel 77 Theatre and the Macabre 96 The Triumph of Death 103 'This my fatal chair': Marlowe's Tamburlaine and the Triumph of Death 107 2: The Stage of Death: Tragedy and Anatomy 117 Anatomy and Death 117 Vesalius and the Scene of Dissection 129 Anatomy and Discovery 137 Anatomy in the Theatre 149 3: Opening the Moor: Death and Discovery in Othello 156 'Show me thy thought' 157 Othello's Darkness 160 Opening Iago 166 The Encaved Self: Othello and Inwardness 170 Opening Masculinity 174 Drawing the Curtain: Apocalypse in the Bedchamber 177 4: 'Hidden malady': Death, Discovery, and Indistinction in The Changeling 183 The Changeling and Othello 183 The Castellated Body 190 Entering the Body 196 Private Passages 200 Discovering Death 204 Part II: Making an End: Death's Arrest and the Shaping of Tragic Narrative 214 5: Anxieties of Ending 216 Writing Finis 216 Kyd and the Ends of Revenge 226 6: 'To know my stops': Hamlet and Narrative Abruption 231 Death and Narrative Desire 231 'Forbid to tell the secrets' 235 'They'll tell all': Playing the End 241 'Every fool can tell that': Narrative in the Graveyard 248 'To tell my story': Hamlet and the Art of Ending 252 7: Accommodating the Dead: Hamlet and the Ends of Revenge 258 Remembrance and Revenge 258 'Must I remember?' 266 'Chronicles of the time': Hamlet and the Performance of Memory 273 Part III: 'Rue with a difference': Tragedy and the Funereal Arts 278 8: 'Death's triumphal chariot': Tragedy and Funeral 280 Distinguishing the Dead: The Role of Heraldic Funerals 280 Funeral Rites and Tragic Ending 296 Displaced Funerals 303 Maimed Rites 307 Hamlet's Rites of Memory 315 9: Finis Coronat opus: The Monumental Ending of Anthony and Cleopatra 320 'Fame's eternity' 320 Triumphant Graves 323 Marble Constancy 327 10: 'Fame's best friend': The Endings of The Duchess of Malfi 343 Monuments and Ruins 343 'Non norunt haec monumenta mori' 347 'The figure cut in alabaster' 353 'Hearts are hollow graves' 356 Finis coronat opus 363 11: 'Great arts best write themselves in their own stories': Ending The Broken Heart 369 Appendix: The Plague and the Dance of Death 390 Bibliography 392 Primary Sources 392 Secondary Sources 395 Books 395 Articles and Essays 401 Index 408 Death, like most experiences that we think of as 'natural', is a product of the human imagination: all animals die, but only human beings suffer Death; and what they suffer is shaped by their own time and culture. Tragedy was one of the principal instruments through which the culture of early modern England imagined the encounter with mortality. The essays in this book approach the theatrical reinvention of Death from three perspectives. Those in Part 1 explore Death as a trope of apocalypse - a moment of un-veiling or dis-covery that is figured both in the fearful nakedness of the Danse Macabre and in the shameful 'openings' enacted in the new theatres of anatomy. Separate chapters explore the apocalyptic design of two of the period's most powerful tragedies - Shakespeare's Othello, and Middleton and Rowley's The Changeling. In Part 2, Neill explores the psychological and affective consequences of tragedy's fiercely end-driven narrative in a number of plays where a longing for narrative closure is pitched against a particularly intense dread of ending. The imposition of an end is often figured as an act of writerly violence, committed by the author or his dramatic surrogate. Extensive attention is paid to Hamlet as an extreme example of the structural consequences of such anxiety. The function of revenge tragedy as a response to the radical displacement of the dead by the Protestant abolition of purgatory - one of the most painful aspects of the early modern re-imagining of death - is also illustrated with particular clarity. Finally, Part 3 focuses on the way tragedy articulates its challenge to the undifferentiating power of death through conventions and motifs borrowed from the funereal arts. It offers detailed analyses of three plays - Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra, Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, and Ford's The Broken Heart. Here, funeral is rewritten as triumph, and death becomes the chosen instrument of an heroic self-fashioning designed to dress the arbitrary abruption of mortal ending in a powerful aesthetic of closure. Death, like most experiences that we think of as natural, is a product of the human imagination: all animals die, but only human beings suffer Death; and what they suffer is shaped by their own time and culture. Tragedy was one of the principal instruments through which the culture of early modern England imagined the encounter with mortality. The essays in this book approach the theatrical reinvention of Death from three perspectives. Those in Part I explore Death as a trope of apocalypse -- a moment of un-veiling or dis-covery that is figured both in the fearful nakedness of the Danse Macabre and in the shameful openings enacted in the new theatres of anatomy. Separate chapters explore the apocalyptic design of two of the periods most powerful tragedies -- Shakespeare's Othello, and Middleton and Rowley's The Changeling. In Part 2, Neill explores the psychological and affective consequences of tragedy's fiercely end-driven narrative in a number of plays where a longing for narrative closure is pitched against a particularly intense dread of ending. The imposition of an end is often figured as an act of writerly violence, committed by the author or his dramatic surrogate. Extensive attention is paid to Hamlet as an extreme example of the structural consequences of such anxiety. The function of revenge tragedy as a response to the radical displacement of the dead by the Protestant abolition of purgatory -- one of the most painful aspects of the early modern re-imagining of death -- is also illustrated with particular clarity. Finally, Part 3 focuses on the way tragedy articulates its challenge to the undifferentiating power of death through conventions and motifs borrowed from the funereal arts. It offers detailed analyses of three plays -- Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, and Ford's The Broken Heart. Here, funeral is rewritten as triumph, and death becomes the chosen instrument of an heroic self-fashioning designed to dress the arbitrary abruption of mortal ending in a powerful aesthetic of closure. Death, Like Most Experiences That We Think Of As 'natural', Is A Product Of The Human Imagination: All Animals Die, But Only Human Beings Suffer Death; And What They Suffer Is Shaped By Their Own Time And Culture. Tragedy Was One Of The Principal Instruments Through Which The Culture Of Early Modern England Imagined The Encounter With Mortality. The Essays In This Book Approach The Theatrical Reinvention Of Death From Three Perspectives. Those In Part 1 Explore Death As A Trope Of Apocalypse - A Moment Of Un-veiling Or Dis-covery That Is Figured Both In The Fearful Nakedness Of The Danse Macabre And In The Shameful 'openings' Enacted In The New Theatres Of Anatomy. In Part 2, Neill Explores The Psychological And Affective Consequences Of Tragedy's Fiercely End-driven Narrative In A Number Of Plays Where A Longing For Narrative Closure Is Pitched Against A Particularly Intense Dread Of Ending. Finally, Part 3 Focuses On The Way Tragedy Articulates Its Challenge To The Undifferentiating Power Of Death Through Conventions And Motifs Borrowed From The Funeral Arts.--book Jacket. 1. 'peremptory Nullification': Tragedy And Macabre Art -- 2. The Stage Of Death: Tragedy And Anatomy -- 3. Opening The Moor: Death And Discovery In Othello -- 4. 'hidden Malady': Death, Discovery, And Indistinction In The Changeling -- 5. Anxieties Of Ending -- 6. 'to Know My Stops': Hamlet And Narrative Abruption -- 7. Accommodating The Dead: Hamlet And The Ends Of Revenge -- 8. 'death's Triumphal Chariot': Tragedy And Funeral -- 9. Finis Coronat Opus: The Monumental Ending Of Anthony And Cleopatra -- 10. 'fame's Best Friend': The Endings Of The Duchess Of Malfi -- 11. 'great Arts Best Write Themselves In Their Own Stories': Ending The Broken Heart -- Appendix. The Plague And The Dance Of Death. Michael Neill. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [377]-391) And Index Of interest to students and scholars of 16th-17th century literature and drama, Shakespeare and Renaissance studies, this book looks at issues of death. It is presented in three parts