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"HIPPOLYTUS" (EURIPIDES), "KING LEAR" (SHAKESPEARE) & "'TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE" (JOHN FORD).
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Compares treatments of themes of illegitimacy & incest in three plays, focusing on [Hippolytus].... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Compares treatments of themes of illegitimacy & incest in three plays, focusing on [Hippolytus].
Paper Introduction:
This study will explore the themes ofillegitimacy/legitimacy and incest in three plays, Euripides's Hippolytus, Shakespeare's King Lear, and John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. The study will focus on Hippolytus and the several illegitimate children in that play, followed by comparisons of that play with the latter two. The argument of the study will be that the issues of illegitimacy and incest have more to do with love rather than sex, or even with morality, and, therefore, investigation of those issues will focus on the roles which illegitimacy and incest play in the expression of love and in the obstacles to love.
Hippolytus is the illegitimate son of Theseus, but an obsessively virtuous man who incurs the wrath of Aphrodite because of his rejection of her and his alliance with Artemis, a
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Hewishes for the death of his son. I'll hate you women, hate and hate and hate you,/ and never have enough of hating (Euripides 188, 19 ). The gods in this play are merely extensionsof the same imbalance, although they have more power than human beings. Two important factors are present in the tragedies of both Edmund andHippolytus. . Despite the wrongs done them by their fathers, they end theplays and their lives in a state of forgiveness and/or repentance andreconciliation. In hislast moment of life, he professes his love for her: O, I bleed fast./ Death, thou art a guest long look'd for; I embrace/ Thee and thy wounds; O, my last minute comes!/ Where'er I go, let me enjoy this grace,/ Freely to view my Annabella's face (Ford 98). Phaedra makes good on her pledge to kill herself (Euripides 195). As Edgar, Edmund's legitimate brothersays, "The gods . Again, as in Hippolytus, the issue at the root of these father-sonand illegitimate son-legitimate son feuds is not simply the morality of sexout of wedlock and the children born thereof,but rather the terrible difficulties human beings must endure as theystruggle to find love. . The gods are inevitablyinvolved in these tragedies and certainly Hippolytus is a prime example.The jealousy of Aphrodite is the source of the tragedy, but the Goddess'splot could not have been fulfilled had not Phaedra left the lying noteabout the rape, and if Theseus had not been predisposed to expect the worstfrom his son, apparently because of Hippolytus's illegitimacy. However, Phaedra leaves Theseus a letter in which she claimsHippolytus has raped her. This rant may be in partjustified, of course, because of what Phaedra does to him with her letter.Still, Hippolytus is a virtuous character certainly in part because of hisillegitimacy. To the end, he remainsvirtuous, except perhaps when his misogyny is exposed in his long andbitter rant against women and the evil they do. Edmund despises his father for his own illegitimacy, whileGloucester is revealed as either exceedingly cruel and/or daft in the veryopening of the play. Aphroditeherself is manipulated by her own emotions of love for Hippolytus and/orjealous anger at Artemis. The case of Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester,in Shakespeare's King Lear, is more blatant and direct than that ofHippolytus. Oris the note simply another element of Aphrodite's control over her and nota matter of Phaedra's free choice at all? Edmund, on the other hand, responds to his illegitimacy with the mostpure hatred, rage and dedicated to the destruction of his father. gave both of us life and birth;/ are we not therefore each to other bound/ So much the more by nature, by the links/ of blood, of reason--nay, if you will have't,/ Even of religion--to be ever one,/ One soul, one flesh, one love, one heart, one all? . However, once again, what seems to beemphasized in the play is the paramount role of love in the affairs ofhuman beings, incest or not. To the contrary, ithas to do with the love of his father from which Edmund feels himselfalienated solely on the grounds of his being born out of wedlock.Everything he does, until the very end of the play, is designed to punishhis father and his brother for the love of which he feels they havedeprived him. He does,however, rebuke his father for having believed such a lie about him, forhaving doubted him at all, and declares that the king's legitimate sonsshould be as virtuous as he himself is. . Gloucester's reference to "sport" has a double meaning, and both aremockeries of Edmund position as an illegitimate son in life. However, the fact that those "pleasant vices" arepresent before the gods intervene shows that these human beings in theiroften twisted search for love have some measure of responsibility for theirown tragedies. Hippolytus says, "Now at home the mistress plots themischief, and the maid carries it abroad" (Hippolytus 19 ). You have ruined her and me and all thishouse" (Euripides 179). Whereas Phaedra never evenaddresses Hippolytus directly in the play at all, much less with respect toher love for him, the mutual love of sister Annabella and brother Giovanniis the central issueof the play and of their every encounter. Theseus in an amazing statement, even for a man livingin a culture which believes in such destiny, "Do not bear a grudge againstyour father./ It was fate that you should die so." Then, however, the kingdeclares in anguish, "And so you leave me, my hands stained with murder"(Euripides 22 ). Complete Works. In other words,because he believes, perhaps, that he is the product of an illicitencounter, he is therefore determined to live the most purely virtuous lifehe can imagine in order to counteract his origins. Although Theseus himself makes scant reference to thatillegitimacy, it seems to be a dark force running through his relationshipwith his son, judging from his willingness to immediately believe thatHippolytus had raped Phaedra. One might argue that Hippolytus's great virtue, and even hisdevotion to his father, are responses to his illegitimacy. Hippolytus is gravely wounded leaving the city in banishment imposedby his father, apparently the victim of Poseidon and the curse called uponhim by his father. (Shakespeare 987). He is a man dedicated to living a life of chaste love for hischosen goddess of virtue Artemis, and for his father who made him abastard. If Phaedra is manipulated by Aphrodite, oreven the puppet of the goddess, then her feelings of incestuous longing forher stepson are less a matter of morality then of tragedy. But your wife fearing/ lest she be proved the sinner wrote a letter,/ a letter full of lies; and so she killed/ your son by treachery; but she convinced you (Euripides 215). When Hippolytus appears, Theseus declareshis belief that Hippolytus has raped Phaedra and hurls the issue ofillegitimacy in his son's face: What oath that you swear,/ what speech that you can make for your acquital,/ outweighs this letter of hers? . Whywould she leave such a note implicating the completely innocent Hippolytus?Could it be that she was in love with her stepson after all, and the curseof Aphrodite was merely a spur for what already existed? Certainly hehas no sympathy for Phaedrus's terrible plight, nor for her nurse who,against Phaedrus' wishes, carries the message of Phaedrus's lust,essentially doing Aphrodite's dirty work, if inadvertently, in order tostir up trouble. drove [Phaedra] with love's sharp prickings to desire/ your son. . Hippolytus, good and honorable man to the end, forgiveshis father, "No, for I free you from all guilt in this." Theseus finallyrecognizes the profound virtue of his illegitimate son, and Hippolytussays, "Yes, pray to heaven for such legitimate sons" (Euripides 221). Why bastard? Hippolytus makes only a few references to his own illegitimacy, andseems to have become reconciled to it, at least in comparison to hisfather. Certainly part of the message here is that the cure is worsethan the disease--Could it have been worse for all concerned if society hadblessed instead of condemned the sibling lovers? You cannot/ expect that I hear horror and stay silent. Giovanni's arguments may not be the most rational or persuasive, butFord certainly does not intend to portray this brother-sister love assomething vile, evil and disgusting. That is not enough for Aphrodite, however: "I will reveal the matterto Theseus and all shall come out. Gloucester seems to revel in rubbing Edmund's nose in the fact thatthe latter is illegitimate, even though, obviously, Gloucester isresponsible for that illegitimacy and not Edmund at all. (Ford 6). The argument of the study will be that theissues of illegitimacy and incest have more to do with love rather thansex, or even with morality, and, therefore, investigation of those issueswill focus on the roles which illegitimacy and incest play in theexpression of love and in the obstacles to love. . There was also "sport at his making" in thatEdmund was openly ridiculed for being a bastard. She tried to overcome her love/ with the mind's power. . wherefore base?/ When my dimensions are as well compact,/ My mind as generous and my shape as true,/ As honest madam's issue? Thegods merely take advantage of human weakness which already exists, whetherit be an attraction between stepmother and stepson which one or both mightbe slightly in denial about, or whether it be the lust which producedHippolytus out of wedlock, or whether it be Theseus's unexamined hatredtoward his son (and/or toward himself) for his illegitimacy. I would not wish/ on any of my friends a bastard's birth"(Euripides 2 7). New York: Garden City,1936. Gloucester answers, "His breeding, sir, hath been atmy charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazedto it." Apparently, Edmund is in part responsible for the cruelty of hisfather toward him for his illegitimacy, because Edmund seems to take nooffense whatsoever at the insults hurled his way so blatantly. He certainly includes moral elements--the Friar's warnings, the repentance of Annabella who then tries toconvince Giovanni to repent. However, another god enters the play--Artemis--the good god of thework, and she informs Theseus of the truth: . Edmund as much as declaresthis twisted love, and denied love, is the root of the problem, grounded inhis illegitimacy: Well, then,/ Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:/ Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund/ As to the legitimate: fine word, 'legitimate'!/ Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed/ And my invention thrive, Edmund the base/ Shall top the legitimate. of our pleasant vices/ Make instruments to plague us"(Shakespeare 1 22). Hippolytus and his father and wife are the victims ofAphrodite's bitter jealousy, although one can fairly argue that Phaedramade the choice herself to leave behind the letter of lies about the rape. He rages at the fact that Edgar should bethe heir to his father due to the single fact that Edgar is legitimate andhe himself is not: Wherefore should I/ stand in the plague of custom, and permit/ The curiosity of nations to deprive me,/ For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines/ Lag of a brother? . (Shakespeare 987). Works CitedEuripides. . [Hippolytus], just man, did not fall in with her/ counsels, and even when reviled by you/ refused to break the oath he had pledged./ Such was his piety. King Lear. What is clear is that in their sometimes imbalanced need forlove, human beings become horribly entangled in complications which bothadvance and thwart that love. This study will explore the themes ofillegitimacy/legitimacy andincest in three plays, Euripides's Hippolytus, Shakespeare's King Lear, andJohn Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. Of course, he has killed Annabella himself, after having impregnatedher, because she is about to marry Soranzo, whom she does not love, at thebidding of the Friar who is trying to save the siblings' souls by thwartingtheir love. Gloucester, on theother hand, is shown to be openly cold and cruel toward the illegitimateEdmund, while Edmund is openly obsessed with his illegitimacy and the curse-like pall it has put on his life. One might assume that her love for her husband is inpart the cause, driving her mad with fear of exposure of the longing forher stepson. Immediately, then, one sees that the role of the gods is paramount inthe incest theme of Hippolytus. Hippolytus examines both incest and illegitimacy, showing incest tobe a curse sent by a jealous Goddess, and illegitimacy a curse which isunfair, yet capable of producing such a virtuous man as the protagonist.Edmund and Gloucester, on the other hand, in King Lear, give illegitimacy abad name. With Aphrodite using all of hercruel goddess's power to drive Phaedra to long for her stepson, Phaedra ishelpless to resist the feelings of longing, but she exhibits full awarenessof the "shame" and "madness" of those feelings (Euripides 173). In the Prologue, Aphrodite admits arranging the initialattraction of Phaedra, Hippolytus's stepmother, for Hippolytus: "That wasmy work" (Euripides 164), says Aphrodite. After all, if asTheseus suspects, his son has had sexual relations with his wife, the lovebetween father and son has been irreparably shattered. In both cases, Gloucestercruelly belittles his illegitimate son right in front of Edmund. The split between father and illegitimate son, caused by the falseclaim of incest, desired by the jealous Aphrodite, has been accomplished.Hippolytus blames his illegitimacy for his father's quick leap to belief inhis guilt: "Unhappy mother mine, and bitter birth-pangs,/ when you gave meto the world! . In all three cases, the underlying motivation of the characters,with respect to incest or illegitimacy, is the human search for love, oftenin all the wrong places. Hippolytus's curses fall on all women, blaming that gender for thecurrent situation and, apparently, for all evils in the world. Ford seems to be saying what Shakespeare and Euripides are saying--that love is the glue which holds humanity together, but that glue oftenincludes ingredients such as madness, danger, tragedy, taboo, perversion,and violent death. Edmund's obsession with ruining his father's life, then, should comeas no surprise. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1966.Shakespeare, William. One doesnot need to be a psychoanalyst to recognize that Edmund's hatred for hisfather and his legitimate brother has little really to do with land orpower or great armies of nations clashing in the night. There could not be two characters who exhibit greater differencesthan Hippolytus and Edmund in terms of their responses to theirillegitimacy. From that point forth, the love,or lust, of Phaedra for Hippolytus will be a plague haunting Hippolytus. From Hippolytus's first words in the play, it is obvious that therewill be no incest taking place, whatever Aphrodite's powers, whateverPhaedra's feelings: O Mother Earth! You are somethingstronger than God if that can be. You'll say, to be sure,/ she was your enemy and that the bastard son/ is always hateful to the legitimate line (Euripides 2 2). There was"sport at his making,' in that Gloucester took pleasure in having sex witha woman who was not his wife. Gloucester appears blind to the damage his belittling of Edmundhas done to his son, while Edmund seems to have no conscience whatsoever inhis own plotting, until the end of the play when his repentance istragically late. That most hated Goddess,/ . I grow; I prosper:/ Now, Gods, stand up for bastards! And Giovanni and Annabella, in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore,portray incest as a powerful love which the world condemns and thusdestroys. . Still, the issueis not theoretical ethics, but love--involving primarily the goddesses, thestepmother and stepson, and the son and his father. Certainly thatillegitimacy plays the central role in Theseus's swift acceptance of thetruth of Phaedra's letter. This last statement is a clear rebuke to the father he has justforgiven, making clear that at the bottom of the father's quick willingnessto believe his son had raped his wife was the issue of illegitimacy. If they are deprived of that love in some way, suchas by the mark of illegitimacy, then their life is altered forever, andthey are also made especially vulnerable to the manipulations of the godswho are themselves jealous and needy creatures. The study will focus on Hippolytus andthe several illegitimate children in that play, followed by comparisons ofthat play with the latter two. . Whereas the incestuous longing ofstepmother for stepson remains long unarticulated in Euripides's play untilthe nurse pulls it out of Phaedra, the love of brother and sister is openlydiscussed between Giovanni and his Friar, the latter trying to talk theformer out of pursuing that love, and the former assaulting the latter withall sorts of reasons why the love should be consummated: Shall a peevish sound,/ A customary form, from man to man,/ Of brother and of sister, be a bar/ 'Twixt my perpetual happiness and me?/ say that we had one father, say one womb/ . Alcestis, The Medea, The Heracleidae, Hippolytus. O Sun and open sky!/ What words I have heard from this accursed tongue! Was she angry atHippolytus's rejection of and horror at the thought of incest with her? 983-1 24.----------------------- 15 He is devoted to acts of hatred and destruction toward hisfather throughout the play, showing how much he is wounded both by hisillegitimacy and by the cruel attitude of his father toward him for thatillegitimacy. Inaddition, she does everything she can to keep the feelings secret, refusingto tell her nurse and the chorus what is so terribly wrong with her.Phaedra even seeks death as an alternative to acting on the feelings,trying to starve herself (Euripides 174). . Theunfulfilled longing for sexual relations with her stepson, and the dangerof that longing being publicized to Theseus and all others, has drivenPhaedra to suicide. However, by the end of the play, just as the lovebetween Hippolytus and Theseus is made clear at the end of Euripides'stragedy, the love between Gloucester and Edmund is revealed and restored. Hippolytus is the illegitimate son of Theseus, but an obsessivelyvirtuous man who incurs the wrath of Aphrodite because of his rejection ofher and his alliance with Artemis, a "Maiden" who cavorts platonically withHippolytus. . In the openingscene of Shakespeare's play, Kent and Gloucester at first speak aboutEdmund as if he were not even present, although he is standing beside themon the stage. That the brother-sister affair ends in tragedyis hardly a sign that the author condemns it, for every love affair in thebook ends in tragedy. Father shall slay son with curses--thisson that is hateful to me" (Euripides 164). 163-221.Ford, John. . Theseus immediately believes the letter and callson Poseidon to fulfill an old promise to grant the king three wishes. Euripides's play compares to Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore in termsof the incest taboo rather than illegitimacy. When the nurse discovers it is Hippolytus whom Phaedra pines for, thenurse's declaration once more emphasizes the paramount role of Aphrodite inthis tragedy: "Cypris [Aphrodite], you are no God. Chicago: U ofChicago P, 1967. The issue of illegitimacy in Shakespeare's play is dealt with at muchgreater length and with much greater emphasis than it is in Euripides'splay. "Is not this you son, my lord?" asks Kent of Gloucester,referring to Edmund. Theseus seems to carry a deep sense of guiltabout it, which he translates into anger toward his son. . She declares, "My honor lies insilence" (Euripides 177). Also, both plays are marked by the acknowledgement of the centralrole of the gods in the tragedies. Again, the role of the gods in this tragedy isemphasized. Whatever Annabella's regrets, Ford certainlydoes not show Giovanni to be repentant of his love for his sister. These dark ingredients, however, do not dissuade loversfrom loving, even if the issue is an illegitimate child, even if the loveis damned by society or God. In response, Aphrodite tempts Phaedra withlonging for her stepson, and the stage is set for tragedy. 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. Gloucestersays, "This knave came something saucily into the world before he was sentfor," and "there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must beacknowledged" (Shakespeare 983). Butunderlying the issues of incest and illegitimacy is the question of love.Human beings in the world portrayed by Euripides are inevitably torn intragedy because of their love for one another, whether or not the love isincestuous, or yields an illegitimate child. The mostmysterious part of the play is the truly evil note left by Phaedra. As Aphrodite describes Phaedra's situation, the longing the goddesshas planted in her heart, mind and body is more a complete curse than asimple temptation: "Phaedra groans in bitterness of heart and the goads oflove prick her cruelly, and she is like to die" (Euripides 164). The answers to these questionsare not clear. Theseus goes so far as to suggest thatHippolytus will use the excuse of his illegitimacy to explain away theletter, although Hippolytus has made no such suggestion, never does, andobviously never had any thought of making such a suggestion. Theseus bemoans his horrible errors, but Hippolytus enters, stillalive, though dying.
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