Matthew Barge
Death is a constant companion in revenge tragedies. Skulls, graves, corpses, duels and murder abound. After all, there must be something that needs revenging. T.S. Eliot says of John Webster, in “Whispers of Immortality,” “Webster was much possessed by death / And saw the skull beneath the skin.” One might say the same thing about some of Thomas Middleton’s plays, as well. With the constant onslaught of death, the authors of these plays are able to use a variety of imagery to connect their ideas with the audience. In Thomas Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy and John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, imagery of death and dying establishes a connection to the Anglican past of England while interjecting new Puritan opinions about the idea of death, creating a changing view of the time period. Traditional Anglican viewpoints are apparent throughout both plays. The plays reference classical ideas and works, such as memento mori, the Danse Macabre, and ars morendi or The Art of Dying. They then subvert these ideas to demonstrate newly established, Puritan ideas about death, including the finality of the body and the emergence of the study of the end times, including the judgement that accompanies the Apocalypse. This paper will look at the thoughts of death at the time, both Anglican and Puritan, and then consider their application to The Revenger’s Tragedy and The Duchess of Malfi.
One area of growing conflict between Anglicans and their Puritan counterparts was the importance of the body. In the Anglican church (as in the Catholic church), the body took on an extra importance because of the soul that occupied it. Bodies of apostles and saints had added significance because of their holy status. The body was a relic to be worshipped in the Anglican church. Scott Dudley discusses how the bodies are considered vessels of the holy spirit because of their association with God. Bodies also have the capacity to facilitate miracles (282). The skull of Gloriana in The Revengers Tragedy can be seen as an example of this. At the opening of the play Vindici talks to the skull, “My study’s ornament, thou shell of death / Once the bright face of my betrothed lady / When life and beauty naturally filled out” (1.1.15-17). Vindici worships this skull, keeping it on hand for nine years, talking to it, studying it and then using it to exact his revenge. The severed hand in The Duchess of Malfi can also be seen this way, as Ferdinand uses it as a relic of Antonio to scare the Duchess (4.1.42ff). The Church believed the dead, or specifically their bones, connected them to that which is holy, as well as to the history of their church.
In contrast, the Puritans believed that miracles associated with the body were either fabricated by the Anglicans or Catholics, or were of Satan and occurred in order to sway people away from God (Dudley 284). The holiness and miracles were stripped away from the body, and so the bodies lose their significance to the Puritans, replaced by the importance of the mind. Instead of proof in the physical body, the inward presence of God is important, and the physical body merely interferes with that pursuit. Related is the emerging importance of science at the time, as knowledge of the inner workings of the body was growing at a rapid pace. Bosola, in The Duchess of Malfi, refers to this perspective of the body when he tells the Duchess, “Thou art a box of wormseed” (4.2.120), indicating that when dead, she is nothing more than food for worms. The body after her death has no significance; to Bosola the Duchess exists no longer, and so her corpse is nothing, as well. This attitude demonstrates the Puritans’ focus on things upward, in heaven, instead of leaving their thoughts on that which is still earthly.
Another subject that separated these two groups was eschatology, the study of the end times and the final destiny of the soul. Earlier plays, such as William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, spent a great deal of energy on this subject. The eventual destination of Hamlet’s soul makes him question his revenge and is the subject of much of his famous soliloquies. There was a litany of theories on the subject, and one would be hard pressed to find two sides that agree on almost any aspect of it. The newest ideas, and ones that are shown by Webster in The Duchess Of Malfi, are of the inherent mystery of what will happen in the end times (Marche 86). The apocalyptic end times are clearly important and will contain a judgement of some kind, but it is impossible to predict the outcome. Webster ends his play with lines by Delio, “Integrity of life is fame’s best friend, / Which nobly beyond death shall crown the end” (5.5.118-119). Webster writes that the integrity of life will be paid back, and exalted beyond death, in the final judgment; although no one can be sure how it will happen, it will happen. Earlier eschatological views also centered around the return of the dead, which can be seen in the double killing of the Duke in The Revengers’s Tragedy, as well as the echo in The Duchess of Malfi. Stephen Marche notes the importance of the idea of bodies being remade during these final days, but also concludes that it is impossible to know what those bodies would be. This mystery shrouds the future, even though we know, or hope, that we will be remade in God’s image (91). This mystery hangs over these plays, especially The Duchess of Malfi.
The Revenger’s Tragedy centers entirely on death. It begins with Vindici focusing on the skull of his poisoned love, Gloriana, leads to the murder of the Duke in an act of revenge, and ends with the murders of Lussurioso, Supervacio, and Ambiosso. In each instance, there are examples of the Anglican ideas, as well as new Puritan ideas, woven into the scenes. First, in the skull of Gloriana, we see the classic example of the memento mori, an object for contemplating death and the afterlife. The scene mirrors the graveyard scene (5.1) in Hamlet, where Hamlet considers that everyone will end up just like Yorick, as a skull. The audience of The Revenger’s Tragedy is invited to this image immediately, and it is an allusion they would recognize from Shakespeare’s play. Vindici, however, does not really use the skull in the same way, even as he alludes to it. Andrew Sofer discusses how Vindici turns the skull into an object of sexual desire (63). He describes the skull, “When two heaven-pointed diamonds were set / In those unsightly rings – then twas a face” (1.1.19-20). In describing the skull, Vindici is not talking about a set of bones, but he is also not really talking about a person, either. He refers to the eyes as diamonds, something much desired and hoped for, saying they are looking towards heaven. This imagery suggests a picture of a praying woman, someone gentle and in supplication, someone virginal. But then, he goes further, saying, “That the uprightest man (if such there be / That sin but seven times a day) broke custom / And made it eight with looking after her” (1.1.23-25). Vindici says that this skull is so arousing that it would make a man erect, even after he was already spent from intercourse. This turns Gloriana into an object of desire and also a prop (Sofer). Vindici gives great significance to the skull, indicative of the idea of the body’s importance for Anglicans. However, the skull is only important to Vindice because it was that of Gloriana; it was part of a vessel that contained Gloriana’s soul, and so when Vindici uses it to take her revenge, the skull gains even greater significance.
When Vindici dresses up Gloriana to take revenge on the Duke, he makes it known that it is not just any prop, “I have not fashioned this only for show / And useless property; not it shall bear a part / E’en in it own revenge” (3.5.99-101). It is important to Vindici that Gloriana plays this role in her own revenge. Sofer even postulates that it is Gloriana who is directing the revenge act, and that it is her own devices that she uses Vindice, that he is subject to her whims and her revenge (65). Once the Duke kisses the poisoned skull, Vindici cannot wait to tell him who it was, “Duke dost know / Yon dreadful vizard? View it well; Tis the skull / Of Gloriana, whom thou poisonedst last” (3.5.147-149). Vindici is almost giddy with this news of revenge, and he takes great joy in the demise of the Duke. It is a brutal death for the Duke, as his lips and teeth are eaten away by the poison, but Vindici wants to make sure he suffers even more, “and make his eyes like comets shine through blood / When the bad bleeds, then is the tragedy good” (3.5.198-199). Vindici wants his eyes to see a worse pain than his mouth, his own wife in her incest. He also ends with a metatheatrical line—the play is good when the bad, the villain, bleeds, but also when tragedy occurs in the play.
One last aspect of The Revengers Tragedy that subverts Anglican ideas about death comes during the final scene in the courtroom with the deaths of Piato, Lussurioso, and the other brothers. The stage directions in this scene indicate very specific movements. There are masked revengers, dancing through the court towards their final death. Their movements are reminiscent of the Danse Macabre, or the Dance of Death. The Danse Macabre is a theme that runs through many paintings and woodcuts of the time in which Death is portrayed as a caped skeleton that meets people to bring them to their deaths. It happens to all people of every class, as Death greets the rich and poor in the same way. This artwork, like the memento mori, is meant to induce contemplation on the passing of life and the meaningless of sustained wealth in this world. The Danse is mirrored in other areas of the play, including the final scene, especially when Vindici dresses up the body of the Duke to represent Piato, a character Vindici himself created earlier in the play as a disguise. In this scene, Vindici plays Death, as well as one of those being summoned, “That’s a good lay, for I must kill myself. Brother that’s I that sits for me, do you mark it? And I must stand here to make away myself yonder. I must sit to be killed and stand to kill myself” (5.1.3-5). The corpse represents him, and so he takes both roles in the Danse, bringing himself to death, too. Michael Neill says that the last scene is a perfect reminder of the Danse, and for the two sets of revengers, one becomes Death for the other (172). The stage directions read, “The revengers dance; at the end, steal out their swords and these kill the four at the table” (5.3.42 s.d.) and then “Enter the other masque of intended murderers” (5.3.49s.d.). Some productions of the play go so far as to dress the characters up as Death itself. This Danse Macabre, however, is not quite the traditional means for contemplation but is subverted by Middleton, similarly to his usage of the memento mori. Middleton’s use of these touchpoints suggests he intends that the audience will recognize what they traditionally represent, but also that he demonstrates how the ideas are changing.
The Duchess of Malfi elicits other ideas while utilizing the imagery of the past. One such thing is the wax figures that Bosola and Ferdinand use to trick the Duchess into believing Antonio and the children are dead. David Bergeron claims that these wax figures most likely would be recognized as effigies by the audience of the time (335). Making an effigy was part of the funeral accommodations for well-known people so that people attending a parade or event would recognize the dead. In this case, the figures make the Duchess herself want to die: “There is not between heaven and earth one wish / I stay after this. It wastes me more / Than weren’t my picture, fashioned out of wax” (4.1.60-62). The Duchess wishes that this were her own death instead. She then wishes to be tied with her husband to die with him, “bind me to this lifeless trunk / And let me freeze to death” (4.1.66-67). Ferdinand is later quite taken with her despair at the figures of wax, and even as Bosola starts to question what they are doing, Ferdinand takes joy in his revenge. Bergeron also goes on to show that Webster is not only concerned with death, but with its treatment, as well. He questions the use of funeral monuments within this scene, as well as deriding them elsewhere (337). Later in Act 4, the Duchess asks Cariola what she resembles, and she replies, “Or rather like some reverend monument / Whose ruins are even pitied” (4.2.32-33). This remark criticizes those who hold monuments in such high regard, even when they are destroyed, and recalls the idea of putting glory into objects that had been associated with saints. Webster uses that idea, including making fun of it a bit, and directs the audience to move past it, to something new.
The death scenes of the Duchess also contain symbols of death rituals. Bettie Ann Doebler argues that these scenes play out and mirror the ars morendi, or The Art of Dying (204). The Art of Dying concerns a deathbed ritual that allows for the devil to tempt the dying one last time, to make them succumb to their fears instead of clinging to the faith of their place in heaven. Bosola represents the tempter in Act 4, Scene 1, inviting the Duchess to kill herself, and then in Scene 2 transforming into the angel that comforts her. Bosola brings death to the Duchess, and looks to make sure she is ready for it, and at each juncture, she is indeed. When he asks if she is afraid of death, she says “Who would be afraid on’t / Knowing to meet such excellent company / In th’ other world” (4.2.202-204). Doebler notes all the imagery that should make the audience aware of the ars morendi: the deathbed, the crucifix, and, the bellman. The Duchess continues to die well, assured of her place in heaven, and perishes with humility,
Pull and pull strongly; for your able strength
Must pull down heaven upon me.
Yet stay – heaven gates are not so highly arched
As princes’ palaces; they that enter here
Must go upon their knees. (4.2.222-226)
The Duchess knows that she will be in heaven and is consequently not worried about death, but knows she also must continue to die well, filled with humility, not proud or boasting of her great wealth or life. This Puritan idea of humility is incorporated in The Duchess of Malfi into the idea of the ars morendi, as well. Additionally, Robert Watson notes the importance of the ars morendi to both Anglicans and Puritans. He believes that traditions such as those are used to focus on the ritual of death, “the technique rather than the implications,” of death (43). By focusing on the way in which they die, people are able to shift away their view of the total annihilation that death causes. The person is gone, and gone forever, and we are not sure to where. This nothingness is frightening and overwhelming and so these cultural constructions block out this nothingness, and instead put significance into what leads up to the death.
The Duchess of Malfi also gives some ideas about eschatology. Two specific scenes provide the audience with a reprieve from the idea that death is the final act for the body. Watson says that these two scenes with the Duchess allow the audience to deny the simple finality of death (39). The Duchess’s final lines, “Antonio […]. Mercy” (4.2.339; 343), come after she has been strangled and left for dead. At this point, Bosola tells her that Antonio is okay, and only then can she die. This idea suggests that there is something hopeful beyond death. Another related aspect, demonstrated in the scene with Echo, is that beyond death one can still be useful. An echo of the Duchess’s voice outside her grave talks to Antonio. Delio says, “Hark! The dead stones seem to have pity on you / And give you good counsel” (5.3.35-36). Antonio says he cannot talk with her because the spirit is, “a dead thing” (38). Antonio’s viewpoint indicates the finality of death, as contrasted with the death scene of the Duchess, which shows that there is something beyond life. In these scenes, both the Anglican and Puritan point of views are displayed. These two differing ideas about eschatology perfectly encapsulate the transition towards new ideas happening at the time.
Thomas Middleton and John Webster wrote during a new era for religious ideas. The viewpoints surrounding death underwent a historical change during the writing and performances of The Revengers Tragedy and The Duchess of Malfi. Middleton and Webster insert both traditional and newly-formed ideas about death and its meaning into their plays, allowing the plays to serve as a bridge for the thoughts of the time, without giving a final definitive answer about any one ideology. Eschatology, the memento mori, Danse Macabre, The Art of Dying, and ideas about the finality of the body all contribute to the meaning of the symbols and language of the plays, allowing the audience to connect to the plays, as well as to be challenged by these two insightful playwrights.
Works Cited
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