In English Renaissance drama, the focus on the body is apparent with the female tragic protagonist. Revenge tragedies tap into fears of female sexuality, relating more broadly to issues of to female agency. Women’s roles, their power, and the destruction of their sexual morals can often be linked to the societal and patriarchal control of their bodies. From Annabella from ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore to Gloriana from The Revenger’s Tragedy, control of women’s agency through manipulation of their bodies is profoundly evident. Revenge tragedy is a feminine genre in spite of the fact that the revenge protagonists are usually male and female characters appears to play more passive roles (Findlay 49). It is interesting then that the women of these plays brutally die. In this paper, I will exploring these issues of control over women’s bodies in Renaissance tragedy, analyzing how it effects their agency as free-minded individuals, as well as examining the condemnation it presents of female sexuality.
To begin with, in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (1633) by John Ford, the female protagonist, Annabella, has an incestuous sexual relationship with her brother, Giovanni. After Giovanni and Annabella make love for the first time, Giovanni reflects on why the losing of one’s virginity is so important (2.1. 1922). Annabella justifies that it is not important to him because he is a man. Here in lies one of the first instances of the sexual double-standard in the play, as emphasis on virginity for women- virginity being directly correlated with social status, and hence possible grounds for punishment if proven otherwise. Giovanni refers to them as a “double soul” (1.2. 1919). He builds her up almost as divine, as his twin by fate. She becomes an object of worship for him, and by doing so he gives her power. However, the power that is given to her is due to him and him only. The power rests within her body and how she can make him feel.
All the while, Annabella is being pushed into marrying Soranzo, a man she despises. Eventually, Annabella’s biology betrays her and she becomes pregnant by her brother, Giovanni. In an attempt to cover up the scandal, she and Giovanni decide it best that she marry Soranzo after all. Once her pregnancy is discovered however, Soranzo is very enraged that his new bride was not a virgin, feeling cheated out of owning that part of her body- which speaks larger to how social class and virginal statuses of women are correlated so deeply in this society.
As secrets unravel and the truth comes out, Giovanni impulsively murders Annabella to keep her from other men, since he, as her brother, will not be aloud to be with her as her lover and husband. It reinforces the notion that acting on inappropriate sexual urges is followed by tragedy. When he rips out Annabella’s heart in the climatic scene in Act 5, her body becomes symbolic of lust and death. In this way, he violates her body, claiming ownership over her body. He expects the “double soul” to resurrect itself on his terms.
The fact that he Giovanni appears with Annabella’s heart in hand and confesses to all, it symbolizes that she was killed because of sexual desire. After she’s dead, he admits that he killed her to prevent Soranzo the satisfaction of killing her instead. This loudly speaks to the ownership and possession men in Renaissance society felt they rightly had over women and their right to do what they wish with women’s bodies. Annabella’s sexual passion is finished by her body being mutilated. Her story ends only with tragedy, with an indirect message being sent that female overt sexuality is worthy of punishable by death.
Annabella and most of the other female characters in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore are portrayed as being guilty of lust and of being unfaithful. Both Hippolyta and Putana’s sexuality are emphasized and their destinies are tied to the males they are associated with. They are punished for their indiscretions, whereas the men are not really. Soranzo and Hippolyta have an affair, and since he refuses to marry her, she becomes obsessed with the need to vindicate being wronged by him ending their relationship. She seduces Soranzo’s servant, Vasquez, with her body. After a failed attempt at revenge, Hippolyta, not counting on Vasquez remaining loyal to his master, drinks a poisoned drink. She is not only poisoned, but her body is mutilated as her eyes are taken out as she dies. She dies cursing Soranzo, “cruel, cruel flames” (4.1. 1948), which engross her body and her heart is burned to ashes. She dies shamed.
The minor female character, Philotis, the niece of Hippolyta and Richardetto, is the only female to escape demise. She accepts her uncle’s decision to move to a convent and become a nun. Being a nun, her sexuality is controlled in a convent. Richardetto even says to her, “who dies a virgin lives a saint on earth” (4.2. 1949). Interesting, that Richardetto sends her to the convent directly after Hippolyta’s death, suggesting that he acknowledges the fate of women are largely based on their sexual expressions, but also to save her soul and get her out of a corrupt society. Philotis is the only female who is not punished for being lustful or revengeful and remains alive.
The halting of sexuality of the female characters seems to be controlled for the most part through the mutilation of women’s bodies. All of the female characters who are sexual eventually suffer. Putana is blinded, Hippolyta is poisoned and put to death, and Annabella is murdered and has her heart ripped out (literally) by her brother/lover. Annabelle is also objurgated as the whore. Putana’s overt sexuality and approval of the incestuous relationship condemns her to a violent death. Annabella becomes a symbol for sin or lust, “My conscious now stands against my lust with depositions charactered in guilt,” (5.1. 1956).
The importance of sexuality is also a key theme in The Revenger’s Tragedy (1606) by Thomas Middleton. An environment of corruption and lust lays the groundwork for the entire tragic play. Characters are subjected to all kinds of violence in this play, especially sexually. A metaphor of sexual perversions becomes a metaphor of economic morality. The Duke, for instance is sexually corrupted and carnal in nature but also at the economic top of the social classes. This play presents engrossed generalizations about women, their sexuality, and their morality.
It is most certainly a common ideal in revenge tragedy of linking a woman’s worth to her sexuality. By limiting women as objects of desire, it largely reflects the social class norms of that society. The revenger Vindice’s dead bride, takes a passive role. At the beginning of the play Vendice reduces her to an object of desire, “Thou sallow picture of my poisoned love, / My study’s ornament, thou shell of Death, / Once the bright face of my betrothed lady /” (1.1. 1304). She is unable to speak or act for herself, yet her dead corpse plays as a presence in Vindice’s purpose to seek revenge upon her murderer. While also idealizing her virtue, there is also a slight hint of fear that lurks with him in his language that her morality might have possible been an illusion. It is from this that we know of his attitude toward women and his assumptions of corruption with them.
Like in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, similarly, The Revenger’s Tragedy invokes a strong sense of an honour culture, emphasizing one’s right to preserve their social integrity. Unfortunately, women in this society are often the brunt of such a value, with their virtue and sexuality held as virtuous and if tainted, then corruption ensues. There lies a thin line of women of vice and women of non-vice in this play, making women into either sexual corrupted whores or pure, virtuous virgins- representing a virgin/whore dichotomy.
In the opening scene, Gloriana’s skull seems to embody her role (and more largely, women’s) as an object rather than a character. The memory or her living body and her dead skull can both be seen as objects of the male gaze. Both provoke a burning lust for satisfaction in sexual terms in the form of retribution (Findlay 50). Her dead self is objectified as a decoration by Vindice, as he carries it around with him and uses it as a plot, even describing it as an “ornament” (1.1 1304).
Gloriana’s dead female body replaces any outward representation of the self or her identity. Her skull itself is animated and used to seduce the Duke at the end of the play, poisoning him. She is a faceless object without a voice, silenced in character and in death, but transformed into a lethal tool as she is used to kill the Duke. Her skull functions between two spectrums- idealized by Vendice, but also used to evoke fear. She loses all agency by being suppressed as a means to an end. The skull stands as a haunting representation of the narrowness of possibility of female agency- exploited for revenge when necessary.
Gloriana’s physical dead presence casts a powerful political shadow over the play, suggesting not just sexual corruption but also the impossibility of finding justice within the generally corrupt social structure of the court (Tourneur, ix). Throughout The Revenger’s Tragedy, Vindice comments several times on the corrupt nature of women and how they are easily deceived, “Women are apt, you know, to take false money, / But I dare stake my soul for these two creatures, / Only excuse excepted that they’ll swallow / Because their sex is easy in belief / ” (1.1. 1306). He claims they are the moral contamination of society, “Were't not for gold and women, there would be no damnation” (2.1. 1324). And they are not trustworthy, “For honest women are so seld and rare, / 'Tis good to cherish those poor few that are / ” (4.4. 1355). These comments on women from Vindice denote that women are seen as morally weak in this society, but further analysis suggests this notion of moral weakness develops from the corruption of the female body through sexual desire- female vice rising out of loss of chastity. After all, Gloriana is murdered by the Duke because she won’t sleep with her.
Notions of female inferiority and control of women’s bodies in The Revenger’s Tragedy is also evident with Antonio’s wife. She commits suicide after she is raped, suggesting she did so because her moral reputation is now tarnished (among other things) and her fidelity to her husband is shattered. The virginity status is one seen against corruption. Vindice has no ends to what he will do to seek retribution. At one point, while disguised as Piato, he even tries to seduce his own sister by bribing his own mother to prove this point of corruption. Castiza for instance sees her virginity at virtuous, “A virgin honor is a crystal tower, / Which, being weak, is guarded with good spirits; / Until she basely yields, no ill inherits / ” (4.4. 1357). Feminine vice and sexuality are unavoidably connected. All of the female characters alike in the play are not disconnected from their sexuality. The Revenger’s Tragedy portrays women as naturally tainted in their sexuality and the only way for them to repent this is to deny their sexuality and be passive.
In Renaissance tragedy, all characters are usually scorned in some way or another, however the female characters of these plays are punished because of their sexual desires. Their sexual passion is finished by their bodies being mutilated. Hence, reaffirming that acting upon what is considered as inappropriate sexual desire will lead to tragedy and probable death. Sexual transgression, such as honour killings of women in 'Tis Pity She’s A Whore and the scapegoat(ing) of female sexuality as corruption as in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore are normalized in Renaissance tragedy. The women in this play who struggle against their social and sexual restrictions ultimately die. Their bodies are subject to male honour and hence open to violence. ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and The Revenger’s Tragedy both illustrate a woman’s worth is largely based upon her virginity status in Renaissance revenge tragedy.