VIOLENT ACTS

The verbal violence is related to violent deeds. As Lionel Charles Knights states about Measure for Measure: "La source de toute l'action est l'instinct sexuel"¹¹⁸. Most actions in the three plays are related to the female sexuality or desire and how men want to control it. In 'Tis pity she's a whore, Bergetto's death happens because Grimaldi is Annabella's suitor and Grimaldi wants to avenge himself by killing Soranzo who has married her. Soranzo's wrath appears because he discovers Annabella's pregnancy. Hippolita's death occurs because Soranzo has seduced her and has broke his promises. Thus, she manages to seduce Soranzo's servant, Vasques, and plans to poison Soranzo. However, Hippolita is betrayed by Vasques and is finally poisoned: "Vasques – Know now, mistress she−devil, your own mischievous treachery hath kill'd you; I must not marry you." (4.1.215). In this sentence, Vasques insults Hippolita by calling her a "she-devil". She is punished because she tries to avenge herself and because of that she is considered as a bad woman and a devil.

In The Duchess of Malfi Ferdinand is the main character who uses violence against his sister's sexuality, and kills the Duchess because of her remarriage. The violence also comes from characters such as the Cardinal who plans to kill his mistress to whom he has revealed the role he has played in the death of the Duchess and her children. Julia dies because of her affair with the Cardinal, she is also punished because of her lust.

In Measure for Measure, Angelo surely condemns Claudio to death because Isabella refuses to give him her virginity. Women have to use sex to get what they want, thus, men

118 J-F CHAPPUIT, op .cit., p.264.

exploit them for it, otherwise women are killed because considered as useless. This is a violent act on its own¹¹⁹. The violent acts are crimes of passion¹²⁰.

Moreover, the stage directions clearly show the link between desire and death. For example, the offering of a dagger by Giovanni to Annabella in Tis Pity she's a whore – in Act I scene 2 – has a sexual connotation, as the dagger is a phallus symbol. He offers it to her, then they find themselves sleeping together ("Let's learn to court in smiles, to kiss and sleep", 1.2.178), however it is easy to imagine that this is the same dagger with which he stabs Annabella and her child in Act V scene 5 ("stabs her", p.234). Also, the reaction of Soranzo facing the pregnancy of his newly wife is very violent as he pulls her up and down the floor by her hair. For S. Gorley Putt, this is an open violence that was only revived in his own day, in the 1970s, on the London stage¹²¹.

In The Duchess of Malfi, Ferdinand acts in the same way towards his sister: "Sees Ferdinand who holds a poniard", "Ferdinand gives her a poniard" (3.2.145), he even tells her

"Die then, quickly", and then when the Duchess shows it to her husband she states "His action seemed / To intend so much" (3.2.147). Combine with Ferdinand's words about fire, this image of the poniard is a sign of desire, as it also tends to be a phallus symbol. However, unlike the characters of Giovanni in 'Tis Pity she's a whore, Ferdinand does not kill his sister with the poniard, it means that he does not succeed in having sexual intercourse with the Duchess.

Sexual tyranny is exerted on female characters by the dominant male¹²² as it is in Measure for Measure. With Isabella, Angelo discovers his sexual desire¹²³, even though he acts from the beginning as a puritan hunting fornication outside marriage¹²⁴. He behaves like a sadist¹²⁵ as in Act II scene 4 during the second encounter with Isabella. Trying to show that he holds all the power over her, he offers to free Claudio if she accepts his sexual blackmail¹²⁶ :

"ANGELO – I have begun,

119 M.E SPURLOCK, Sex and Violence: A Way To Hold Women Down. p.3.

120 H. DIEHL, ‘Bewhored Images and Imagined Whores: Iconophobia and Gynophohia in Stuart Love Tragedies’. English Literary Renaissance, vol. 26, no. 1, Jan. 1996, p.132.

121 S.G. PUTT, ‘The Modernity of John Ford’. English, vol. 18, no. 101, June 1969, p.49.

122 H. SUHAMY, Measure for Measure de William Shakespeare. Ellipses, 2012, p.9.

123 Y. THORET. ‘La violence sexuelle dans Mesure pour mesure’. Sillages critiques, no. 15, Jan. 2013, p.2.

124 Ibid, p.1.

125 Ibid, p.2.

126 Ibid, p.2.

And now I give my sensual race the rein.

Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite;

Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes

That banish what they sue for. Redeem thy brother By yielding up thy body to my will,

Or else he must not only die the death, But thy unkindness shall his death draw out To lingering sufferance." (2.4.145)

In this scene, Angelo transfers his responsibility in Claudio's death to Isabella. He tries to play on her beliefs – that as a nun she should be benevolent and generous – to make her guilty for the death of her brother.

These are male violent tricks to dominate the female sexuality and Angelo is suggesting de facto a rape with consent. Along Angelo's blackmailing there is also Claudio's emotional blackmailing. He does not want to die and is ready to pervert his sister in order to stay alive. He acts like Angelo by using her beliefs to make her guilty:

"Sweet sister, let me live.

What sin you do to save a brother's life, Nature dispenses with the deed so far That it becomes a virtue." (3.1.156)

In that scene, Claudio supplicates Isabella to let him live, he tries to convince her that having sex with Angelo to save his life is a virtue and not a sin. Claudio alludes to the same arguments than Angelo.

In The Duchess of Malfi there is one moment in particular that appears as the most horrific and sadistic moment of all, when Ferdinand keeps his sister prisoner and fakes Antonio and her children deaths, giving her a "dead man's hand" (4.1.163) and showing her wax dolls: "A curtain opens. Here is discovered, behind the traverse, the figures of Antonio and his children, appearing as if they were dead" (4.1.163). This scene is violent because we can see how far Ferdinand is going into his madness to have control over his sister and makes her pay because she finally could not belong to him. It is sort of a "if I can't have you, no one will" situation.

Furthermore, the deaths of each play are violent. For instance, in The Duchess of Malfi, Julia, the Cardinal's mistress, is poisoned by the Cardinal himself. This is a paradox as it is known that poison is known to be the women's weapon. Then, Ferdinand wanted the Duchess to kill herself "Ferdinand gives her a poniard" (3.2.145) but her real death happens in Act IV scene 2 ("She dies", p.177). In 'Tis Pity she's a whore, Putana, the tutoress of Annabella, has her eyes put out "Vasques – Sirs, carry her closely into the coal-house and

put out her eyes instantly" (4.3.223). This violent act punishes her because she is aware of what happens between Annabella and Giovanni and does not put a stop to it or even tell someone about it.

In these plays, the stage directions concerning death are important as they appear about seventeen times in The Duchess of Malfi and around fifteen times in Tis Pity she's a whore.

The male sexual instinct results in different forms of violence towards women, from the sexual blackmail to murder, and even when the sexual instinct is actually satisfied, it brings a feeling of guilt that male characters transfer to women. For instance, Giovanni kills his sister because he feels guilty about her pregnancy. Yet, violence towards the female characters is the most common theme that the three plays display.