BODIES THAT CAN BE POSSESSED

Women's bodies are usually seen through the eyes of the male characters as if they could be possessed. In the three plays under study, women can be seen as pregnant, which is one of the use male characters made of female bodies. Pregnancies are the result of sexual relationships, and thus, they are one of the reasons why women are blamed by male characters. Mostly because it is the sign of the sexual consumption between two lovers as it can be seen with the character of Julietta in Measure for Measure¹⁸⁴. Her pregnancy is the only reason why Claudio is arrested because it is the proof that they have had a sexual intercourse: "MISTRESS OVERDONE - I am too sure of it; and it is for getting/Madam Julietta with child" (1.2.95). Otherwise there is no way to know what they have done. In The Duchess of Malfi and Tis Pity she's a whore, pregnancy condemns the Duchess and Annabella to death because their sexuality can be seen. In The Duchess of Malfi the two brothers cannot know that their sister is married but their spy Bosola finds a way to discover if she is actually married or not, through the surveillance of her pregnancy:

183 A. KOWALSKA, op.cit., pp.23-24.

184 D. LEMONNIER-TEXIER, G. WINTER. op.cit., p.20.

"BOSOLA – I observe our Duchess

Is sick o' days, she pukes, her stomach seethes The fins of her eyelids look most teeming blue She wanes i'th' cheek, and waxes fat i'th' flank:

And, contrary to our Italian fashion,

Wears loose-bodied gown: there's somewhat in 't!

I have a trick may chance discover it, A pretty one; I have bought some apricots, The first our spring yields." (2.1.125)

"BOSOLA – How greedily she eats them!

[…]

I should have discovered apparently

The young springal cutting a caper in her belly" (2.1.127-128)

Bosola has observed the Duchess' behaviour and he notes details about her body such as "stomach seethes", "eyelids look most teeming blue", "wears loose-bodied gown". Her body betrays her pregnancy.

In 'Tis pity she's a whore, it is after Putana announces Giovanni the pregnancy of his sister that Giovanni starts to think of Annabella's death:

"GIOVANNI - Sir, with what speed I could, I did my best To draw this holy man from forth his cell,


To visit my sick sister; that with words
 Of ghostly comfort, in this time of need,

He might absolve her, whether she live or die." (3.4.204)

Thus, the possessed body of Annabella is the main reason why Giovanni is worried about their relationship, because it is the evidence of their incestuous intercourse.

Moreover, women are most likely to be considered as guilty in cases of rapes, as Marion Lomax explains in the introduction to John Ford's Tis Pity she's a whore: "while both men and women are guilty, women are blamed most". And this statement can be applied to the other two plays as in Measure for Measure in which Mariana and Isabella are accused of the bed-trick which has been firstly organised by the disguised Duke:

"DUKE – I now you'd fain be gone. An officer!

To prison with her Isabella is arrested Shall we thus permit

A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall

On him so near us? This needs must be a practice.

Who knew of your intent and coming hither?" (5.1.209)

In this scene, the Duke pretends to arrest Isabella after she has explained Angelo's blackmail, to later expose Angelo as a liar. However, in order to do it, this female character has to be accused.

In The Duchess of Malfi the Duchess is blamed for her marriage: "FERDINAND – The witchcraft lies in her rank blood. This night / I will force confession from her" (3.1.142).

The Duchess is compared as a witch because she hides her marriage. According to Ferdinand, his sister is a witch only because of her sexual freedom.

The affirmation of female sexuality is also contradicted by the position of women in society, as females do not own their bodies through the patriarchal system. The three plays use women as "the focal point of dramatic action"¹⁸⁵. Their bodies are transferable, possessable¹⁸⁶ because they generally go from the father to the husband.

R.W Bushnell in her review of "Horrid Spectacle: Violation in the Theater of Early Modern England by Deborah G. Burks" states that "Burks reads the language of ‘ravishment’

or rape in the context of the seventeenth-century debate over property rights, when ‘English law treated ravishment as a crime targeted at propertied men, through a piece of their property, women'"¹⁸⁷. Furthermore, when men talk to or about women, the vocabulary used is explicitly sexual, this is a way to talk about their bodies and try to control them, for instance the word "with child" is used eleven times in Measure for Measure.

Furthermore, when it comes to the female bodies, women are presented by men as if they were looking for an identification with a male other, it means that female characters cannot be socially respected without a male guardian, the patriarch or the husband. However, the Duchess marries Antonio because her title is not important to him, and most of all, he does not want to control, unlike her brothers: "ANTONIO - Truth speak for me:/I will remain the constant sanctuary / Of your good name." (1.1.122). Isabella, under her nun-to-be appearance, is shown, as manipulative as the Duke in some aspects:

"DUKE – This forenamed maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection. His unjust unkindness, that in

all reason should have quenches her love, hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo, answer his requiring with a plausible obedience, agree with his demands to the point. Only refer yourself to this advantage: first, that your stay with him may not be long; that the place may have all shadow and silence in it; and the time answer to convenience. This being granted in course, and now follows all: we shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go in your place. If the encounter acknowledge itself hereafter, it may compel him to her

185 S.M, STAHL, op. cit., p.1.

186 S.B. MINTZ, op. cit., p.283.

187 In Renaissance Studies, vol. 20, no. 3, June 2006, p. 437.

recompense; and here, by this is your brother saved, your honour untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and the corrupt deputy scaled. The maid will I frame and make fit for his attempt; if you think well to carry this as you may, the doubleness of the benefits defends the deceit from reproof. What think you of it?

ISABELLA – The image of it gives me content already; and I trust it will grow to a most prosperous perfection." (3.1.161-162).

During this scene, the Duke expounds his plan of the bed-trick to Isabella. Instead of refusing the Duke's suggestion because of its immorality, Isabella agrees and looks forward to doing it. Therefore, she does not act charitably and she is ready to pull Angelo's strings.

In 'Tis Pity she's a Whore, Annabella, through her relationship with her brother, is looking for an "interconnection through sameness, a shared identification that does not obliterate the other"¹⁸⁸. She basically is looking for sexual and moral equality in her relationship. Equality that women do not have in the written plays and onstage as they have less lines than men in the three plays. The lesser presence of female characters in general, and the over presence of male characters' dialogues or monologues leave women under-represented.