Home Essay Samples Literature William Shakespeare The Image of the Rebellious Wife in Elizabethan England in Shakespeares Play The Taming of the Shrew. 2019 Jul 10 [cited 2023 May 1]. And I, seeing this, came thence for very shame. That at the parting all the church did echo. This manifested itself particularly in two ways. The public communal practice of disciplining rebellious women, both that was acted out and imagined differs from the disciplining that was private and domestic and something that was being argued in perspective literature. History of Punishment and Torture. A third device used to control women and their speech during Shakespeare's day was the scold's bridle, or brank. +44 (0)20 7611 2222info@wellcomecollection.org, Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence, show credit information for image 'William Shakespeare: profile. Petruchios extremely awkward getup proves that Katherine has absolutely no control or power over what he decides to wear to how he chooses to behave. Hext reported that thefts were prevalent, most of them carried out by criminal vagrants who would rather steal than work. Soldiers were normally recruited from the rougher elements of society, and the experience of soldiering in late 16th-century conditions did little to soften them. The practice of torturing women sexually extends back to Roman times (and surely even before then). 1720. Mercado San Miguel: Busy. 2007. Other names included The Virgin and, in German, Jungfer. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned . Lucent Books, 1995. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? Some branks featured decorative elements like paint, feathers, or a bell to alert others of her impending presence. Western women have made monumental strides since the era of Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare. Yet there was, it seems, nothing average about 1597: in that year, around twice as many Londoners were buried as baptised and the seasonal pattern of the burials indicates that famine was the cause. William Keach, Elizabethan Erotic Narratives: Irony and Pathos in the Ovidian Poetry of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Their Contemporaries (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1977), p. 153. The victim was tied to a beam on the top (the horse's "back"), facing up. She also shows how later editions more explicitly define the poems central act as a rape. And as her reign came to craft a sense of national identity that had not been found before, so she came to embody our best selves: courageous, independent, eccentric, amusing, capricious and reasonable, when reason was all. Tomas de Torquemada: Architect of Torture During the Spanish Inquisition. You weren't likely to die from their use, but they created unendurable agony. The subiect of his tyrannie: Women and Shame in Elizabethan Poetry. system. The social dislocation caused by the bad harvests of the 1590s was exacerbated by warfare. To dress like this, that he normally doesnt, was all part of one of his strategies with the aim of taming Katherine by acting like an extremely domineering person and being so erratic. The victim would be tied to the wheel, and then swung across some undesirable thing below fire was always a good choice, but dragging the victim's flesh across metal spikes also worked well. Franklin Watts, 2007. It is alternately referred to as Skeffington's gyves. But this was not the case. Yet, says James Sharpe, for thousands of people life was anything but golden, blighted by violence, vagrancy and crushing hunger. There were many grounds for torture during the Middle Ages religious fervor and criminal punishment come to mind but why would a person take the time to invent a device designed to maim? She faced the wrong way to symbolize the transgressive reversal of gender roles. This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before, Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts. Having an excess of one humour could be a bit of a vicious cycle: it both causes and is caused by your behaviour. One of the plots was Throckmorton Plot, which tried to restore the Catholic Church. Like women who suffered through charivari and cucking stools, women squeezed into the branks were usually paraded through town. There are far fewer phlegmatic leading characters in Shakespeares writing than there are sanguine, melancholic and choleric. He also complained that there had been food riots, with rioters declaring that they must not starve, they will not starve. In this article, we will explore a collection of the most heinous torture devices ever invented. Other courts simply tortured people to get them to confess to the crime. Gradesfixer , The Image of the Rebellious Wife in Elizabethan England in Shakespeares Play The Taming of the Shrew., The Image of the Rebellious Wife in Elizabethan England in Shakespeares Play The Taming of the Shrew [Internet]. In 1597, that rocketed to 117. The History of Torture. Others who won the crowd's favor by refusing to pay unjust taxes or mocking government officials were showered with flowers or rescued from the pillory outright [source: Kellaway]. Instead of brushing off Petruchios tactics and strategies as a mutual game being played between two equal players or as farcical, it is important to take Petruchios civilized strategies very seriously. Hext was not, it seems, a lone doom merchant. England was continually at war between 1585 and Elizabeths death in 1603 in the Netherlands in support of the Dutch Revolt; in Normandy and Brittany in support of French Protestants in that countrys wars of religion; on the high seas against the Spanish; and, most draining of all, in Ireland. Expecting a handsome reward for his creativity, Perillus instead became the first person placed inside the Brazen Bull. Throughout history, charivaris have also been staged for adulterers, harlots, cuckolded husbands, and newlyweds. Available from: https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/the-image-of-the-rebellious-wife-in-elizabethan-england-in-shakespearespplay-the-taming-of-the-shrew/. See Harry Berger, Jr., Kidnapped Romance: Discourse in The Faerie Queene in G. Logan and G. Teskey, eds Unfolded Tales: Essays on Renaissance Romance (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989), pp. For the attempted rape of Belphoebe and its relationship to blazon, see also Betts, who argues that this scene suggests the problems inherent in a political rhetoric that celebrated a commitment to virgin authority through the metaphor of sexual service (p. 162). Shame we couldn't antagonize those Puritans more with these online gambling sites in the UK. I argue that the assumptions made by many critics of this play who praised Shakespeares modifications of the sources of shrew-taming without taking into account the politics of dominance, obedience and discipline in the play. The second half of the answer is provided by the increasing social polarisation that accompanied Elizabeths reign. Hed probably agree with fellow phlegmatic Sir Toby Belch: I am a great eater of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit.. Thus, the portions of the food were generous enough. Some courts used torture to determine if someone accused of a crime was truly guilty. Unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of leaping houses, and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of day.. The basic provision for feeding them was bread paid for by a county rate, a rate that did not increase in line with grain prices. The pillory could be accompanied by other punishments, such as flogging or mutilation. Sasha Roberts discusses the editorial apparatus and marginalia of editions of the poem to emphasise the disjunction between dominant and dissident readings of Lucreces innocence. It came in many forms, but here's the basic idea: The victim was tied down while some mechanical device, usually a crank or turning wheel, tightened the ropes, stretching the victim's body until the joints were dislocated. 3656. Drawing, c.1793.'. The very same culture that supported or felt good about burning witches, dunking scolds, and flogging whores was, during the Elizabethan period became increasingly sensitive and was very much concerned about husbands beating their wives. Finally, the wheel would be attached to the top of a tall wooden pole and left out in the sun for days. It usually took about a half an hour before the victim lost consciousness, but if it was windy and the fire was blowing away from the victim, he or she might have to endure up to two hours of being slowly burned to death [source: Bachrach]. It can be argued that the play indicates a shift toward an improved and modern method of carrying out the subordination of disobedient or shrewish wives by legitimizing dominance and abuse provided that it is not physical. Blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile: the body's four humours were believed to control your personality in Shakespeare's day and influenced the way the Bard created some of his most famous characters. The play "The taming of the shrew" is inspired by many ballads, folksongs and folktales about shrewish wives being tamed by their husbands to be obedient, which were very popular in England at that time. Beccaria, Cesare. At the heart of the problems confronting Elizabethan England was the challenge of feeding its soaring population. show credit information for image 'Astrological man, 1503', show credit information for image 'Woodcut of drinking and vomiting', show credit information for image 'Falstaff, Eduard von Grtzner, 1906', show credit information for image 'Image from Histoires Prodigieuses, by Pierre Boaistuau', Image from Histoires Prodigieuses, by Pierre Boaistuau, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. The Arundel Harington Manuscript of Tudor Poetry (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1960), pp. Yet it not only provides an alternative perspective on what life was like for ordinary men and women in the 16th century, far from the glittering court of the Virgin Queen, but also deepens our understanding of how the regime functioned. The community would stage a charivari, also known as "rough music," a skimmington, and carting. 11024. In tragedies, the characters usually start out with a normal excess of their temperamental humour, but thru their actions and reactions their excess is built up, leading to more and more extreme behaviour until all hope of restoring balance is lost. 22 December 2008. The phlegmatic and sanguine temperaments have a lot in common. 4, 312, in The New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse, ed. This crisis of the 1590s illuminates serious tensions in Elizabethan society far removed from the stereotypes of Glorianas triumphant reign. Hence, the disobedient and shrewish wife becomes a focus of public attention and is embarrassed by the husband as a lesson to be taught and that too on purpose. As in the commedia dell'arte, these . My falcon now is sharp and passing empty. Let's fix your grades together! Here the lover is foiled by his fear of her anger, but chides himself for no more taking (28). By adopting a post-colonial reading practice, Shakespeares arguably contentious [], "Iago, you have done well that men must lay their murders on your neck" . Palgrave Macmillan, London. The Inquisition. The strength of public discourse and discussion on wife-beating typify a culture at work reconstructing permissible and impermissible methods for men in the family, mainly husbands, to keep control of the politics in a household without questioning the goal. Being burned at the stake was usually the last stop for torture victims, because this form of torture was invariably fatal. stage. Download preview PDF. Research the structure and function of thehuman body through our anatomy archive, Immerse yourself in the medieval past and explore what we have in common with the Middle Ages, Architecture affects our health in profound ways. During the Elizabethan era, women had very few rights. Save 70% on the shop price when you subscribe today - Get 13 issues for just $49.99 + FREE access to HistoryExtra.com, Enjoying HistoryExtra.com? The beam was mounted to a seesaw, allowing the shackled scold to be dunked repeatedly in the water. A Scottish man brought a set home with him and introduced them to the United Kingdom. King Henry IV himself is melancholic, Prince Hal sanguine, Sir Harry Hotspur choleric and the knight Sir John Falstaff is phlegmatic. The horrifying nature of the punishment was meant to deter other criminals. The first feminist monarch, perhaps? If you fit this description, you can use our free essay samples to generate ideas, get inspired and figure out a title or outline for your paper. All rights reserved. Lily B. Campbell (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1946); Thomas Lodge, The Complaint of Elstred, appended to Phillis (1593) in Works, ii. This crisis has rarely featured in popular accounts of Elizabeths reign. Torture was often included as part of a judicial sentence against a criminal. A cucking or ducking stool featured a long wooden beam with a chair attached to . Just because Petruchios doesnt use physical strength to abuse Katherine, or hits her, or whip or flog her, or wraps the salted skin of his horse around her, as such practices were very common during those times to make unruly wives obedient and compliant including forcing a disobedient wife or the shrew to wear a scolds bridle and the metal pronged attached to the bridle, when inserted into the mouth would depress the womans tongue and make it impossible for the woman to talk, doesnt necessarily mean Petruchios treatment of Katherine in the play The taming of the shrew was any better or less abusive than if he had. 778. During the early part of the 16th century, there were two distinct types of theatre in England. He is currently working on a new history of violence in England, This article was first published in the March 2016 issue of BBC History Magazine, Enjoying HistoryExtra.com? An E-collar. The Elizabethan era believed that black men have animal-like and sexual nature and Iago uses this notion to make Brabantio fear about the mixed marriage and persuade him to stand against Othello. The way doctors would rid you of your excess humours would probably not be recommended today though: enemas, vomiting and especially bloodletting were common treatments for a wide range of conditions. Resembling a horse's bridle, this contraption was basically just a metal cage placed over the scold's head. During her five-year reign, from 1553 to 1558, 300 people were burned to death for their religious views. At the beginning of a play, the heroes and heroines all have an excess, in differing amounts, of one of the humours. Clothes in the Elizabethan era (1558-1603 CE) became much more colourful, elaborate, and flamboyant than in previous periods. Initially, Katherina is unwilling to marry Petruchio, however, through various psychological and mental torments like not letting her eat or drink until she becomes an acquiescent, obedient and a desirable wife, thus, successfully tames her. Perhaps the poor who during those years resorted to theft, were reduced to vagrancy, rioted or were indicted for seditious words had achieved something after all. By some reports, Phalaris himself became an eventual victim of the bull when his subjects grew tired of his mistreatment [source: Gallonio]. The pear was inserted into the vagina, anus or throat, depending on the nature of the crime committed: The oral device was reserved for heretics, while the anal and vaginal pears were used on homosexuals and witches, respectively. The entire apparatus was usually placed on a stage in a public place the entire point was to humiliate and shame the victim for his or her crimes. More recently the Michael Hirst/Shekhar Kapur Elizabeth movies concluded that, under Elizabeth, England became the most prosperous and powerful nation in Europe. To add to the abject horror of it all, two spikes were positioned specifically to penetrate the eyes. When parliament met in October 1597 many of the county members would have had experience of interrogating thieves, placating rioters and fixing grain prices in their local markets, while many borough MPs would have been very aware of the pressure put on their towns poor relief systems. Visit our corporate site at https://futureplc.comThe Week is a registered trade mark. Future US LLC, 10th floor, 1100 13th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005. 2023 gradesfixer.com. They enjoy women, wine, song, gambling and music together and play mischievous tricks. Sidney thus restages in the Second Song of Astrophil and Stella Musidorus's attempt to rape Pamela in her sleep. People were often tortured to force religious conversions. In the early modern England, domestic abuse was not considered a crime, and it was practiced because a husband was basically entitled to use violence to carry out his patriarchal power and violence was considered in terms of what historian Philippa Maddern called a moral hierarchy of violence, where the head of the family had the moral and ethical authority to employ violence school or discipline those lower than them in the hierarchy, though it was believed that the husbands power couldnt be excessive. An Elizabethan collar, E collar or pet cone (sometimes humorously called a treat funnel, pet lamp-shade, pet radar dish, dog-saver, or cone of shame) is a protective medical device worn by an animal, usually a cat or dog.Shaped like a truncated cone, its purpose is to prevent the animal from biting or licking at its body or scratching at its head or neck while wounds or injuries heal. Because of Petruchio being absent from the wedding and her being temporarily left in Church at the altar, she faces so much public shame which she describes in these words in the play No shame but mine..Now must the world point at poor Katherine. throughout the 1600's. Luckily not with . Many cultural and literary historians, along with feminists, without leaving any margins of doubts, have demonstrated that throughout the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, rebellious and defiant women were always a concern for men in the Elizabethan society. The answer comes in two parts. Worst of all was a device known as the Breast Ripper. By the 1590s, the lot of the poor and the labouring classes was bad enough at the best of times. The Elizabethan era is often painted as a golden age. CrossRef Special Offer on Antivirus Software From HowStuffWorks and TotalAV Security, Top 10 Heads That Rolled during the Reign of Henry VIII, The 'Hanged, Drawn and Quartered' Execution Was Even Worse than You Think. Another reaction to high grain prices was a rash of grain riots across southern England. Philip H. Nicklin, Philadelphia, 1819 (original work published in 1764). The impact of failed harvests on local society is illustrated vividly by the parish registers for Kendal in Westmorland. The wedding is further made into an embarrassing and shaming act through the first kiss. As a result, the Elizabethan period witnessed the emergence of poverty on a new scale. The wheel itself could also have spikes mounted on it, so the pain came from all directions. Some of these deaths resulted from starvation and many famine-induced maladies: the Elizabethan jail was an extremely efficient incubator of disease. The action would supposedly cool her off. The crowd would throw objects at the victim, such as rotten vegetables, dead animals or feces. We know of 12 coroners inquests on prisoners who died in Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex county jails in 1595 and 33 in 1596. For the connection between vision, voyeurism and desire, see Theresa M. Krier, Gazing on Secret Sights: Spenser, Classical Imitation, and the Decorums of Vision (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1990). Hunt, Lynn. Firstly, the price of grain rose disproportionately: while the population of England more or less doubled between 1500 and 1650, the cost of grain wheat, rye, barley, oats increased six-fold. Can it be anything but ironic when the words are spoken in front of a tragic scene of [], Shakespeare weaves an intricate web ensnaring the characters in The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice. Women were regarded as the weaker sex and were taught from birth to cook, clean, and do similar tasks so they could marry and their husbands would be proud (Ram, Pham, Sok, Hamsafar, and Wilhemsen, "Gender Roles in Elizabethan Society."). Carolyn D. Williams, Silence, like a Lucrece knife: Shakespeare and the Meanings of Rape, Yearbook of English Studies xxiii (1993), 93110 (967). Hannah Betts notes that this poems sustained hostility toward virginity was in obvious opposition to the dominant ideology of the late Elizabethan court and that the blazon here is the focus for the texts rapacious attitude toward the virgin body. Stevie Davies, The Feminine Reclaimed: The Idea of Woman in Spenser, Shakespeare and Milton (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1986), p. 72. The high officials in Rome, Paris and Madrid tried to kill Elizabeth and made Mary as the queen of England. If the woman floated when dunked, she was a witch; if she sank, she was innocent. Richard Barnfield, The Complaint of Chastitie. Conflict was costly (the government spent 5.5m on war between 1585 and 1603 much of it funded by taxpayers), it was not particularly successful, and involved the raising of large numbers of soldiers. For information about how we handle your data, please read our privacy notice. We will occasionally send you account related emails. In medieval England, differing torture practices were virtually codified: male criminals were hanged, while women faced the "drowning pits" [source: Parry]. Gtz Schmitz lists many of these in The Fall of Women in Early English Narrative Verse (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990). Julia M. Walker, ed. When opened, the victim placed his or her head and arms through the holes. One of the most horrible wheel tortures was akin to crucifixion. During her reign, she re-established the Church of England, ended a war with France, backed the arts of painting and theater, and fended off her throne-thirsty Scottish cousin whose head she eventually lopped off for treason. 192205; John Higgins, Elstride in The Mirror for Magistrates (1574) in Parts Added to The Mirror for Magistrates by John Higgins and Thomas Blenerhasset, ed. As soon as they get married, the supposedly shrewish Katherine is presented with a set of trials and punishments that were aimed at frustrating and thoroughly confusing her and as a result, he compels her to contemplate and re-examine her identity, her expectations from herself and people around her. You leave the restaurant rather full whilst at the same time quite unsatisfied. But in many ways, their independence is still controlled. This is how Prince Hal greets him early on: Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sac, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know. James Sharpe is professor of early modern history at the University of York. Torquemada, the infamous torturer of the Spanish Inquisition, was known to favor a stretching rack known as a potoro [source: Goldberg & Itzkowitz]. Remember: This is just a sample from a fellow student. Clanging pots and pans, townspeople would gather in the streets, their "music" drawing attention to the offending scold, who often rode backwards on a horse or mule. Female victims were given to soldiers to be raped, or sent to brothels. Mercury Books, 2003. Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, ed. 78, in The Poetical Works of Sir William Alexander Earl of Stirling, ed. shall find many young ruffians. We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. By continuing well assume you board with our cookie policy. Since the viewpoints began to change in the late sixteenth and the early seventeenth centuries, petruchios non-violent and non-aggressive reaction as well as Katherines response If you strike me, you are no gentleman to his threat aligns with the changing beliefs and viewpoints of that era. For the function of landscape as origin in Spenser, see David Quint, Origin & Originality in Renaissance Literature: Versions of the Source (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1983), pp. Shame in Shakespeare (London and NY: Routledge, 2002), p. 16. What he should be doing is trying to restore the balance by switching to a warming and drying diet and engaging in warming and drying activities. A lamp shade. This was the Oxfordshire Rising of 1596 when, following unsuccessful petitioning by the poor of the county authorities, five men began to formulate plans to lead a revolt. The Fortune Press, Paris, 1903 (original work published in 1605). S hakespeare's writing is one of the most important sources . What's more, Elizabeth I never married. England's obsession with blood sports continued unabated (nice pun!) You can also search for this author in He changes his character by changing his way of life and transforms into a worthy successor. The thumbscrews were an elaboration of an earlier device known as the pilliwinks, which could crush all 10 fingers and resembled a nutcracker [source: Parry]. As a result, soldiers returning from wars tended to join the ranks of vagrant criminals. If they refused, however, they were simply tortured until they confessed again [source: Innes]. Such torture was known as being "broken on the rack," "racked," or "stretched on the rack." Your time is important. One play really stands out when it comes to the subject of humours. They were arguably the much-feted Elizabethan Ages most important legacy to later generations, and were inspired by the horrors of those harvest failures from 1594 to 1597. For lesser crimes, the victim might instead be placed in stocks, leg irons that restrained the ankles. Thomas Middleton, The Ghost of Lucrece, ed. A global online survey, aimed at owners whose pets wore an Elizabethan collar during the past 12 months, was used to investigate the impact that these collars had on their . The victim might be alive for hours, enduring the agony of his or her mangled arms and legs and the relentless sun, not to mention the attentions of crows [source: Hunt].
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