In Act V, Scene ii of The Duchess of Malfi, Ferdinand engages in a wrestling match with his shadow and attempts to strangle the apparition, crying “I will throttle it,” even as Malateste pitifully remarks, “Oh, my lord, you are angry with nothing!” (V.ii.33-34). In this scene, having already descended into his madness diagnosed as “lycanthropia,” Ferdinand fractures his self and dissociates his physical body from the part unable to reach light; he imagines a struggle with the darker aspect of his person as a means of identifying and coping with the internal beast who ordered the strangulation of his sister. No longer recognizing himself as man, but as man transformed to wolf or wolfman, he creates an externalized out-of-body identity, and surveys the perceptible shadowy figure in the shape of a man—or possibly wolf—as a frightening double self to be captured and used as a “bribe” (as if it were another damned soul) in “Hell” (V.ii.37). This “nothing” self –the invisible creature that the audience witnesses the absence of within this one-sided stagefight—is actually given much significance in a play largely concerned with the double nature of the present character body and its imagined figural body as joint maps of character integrity. The shadowy absence points to the larger theme of the portrayal of the body not only in strange scientific and mathematical terms, but also as a peculiarly doubled entity, constantly watching and dissociated from itself in this play.
The imagined double body is either pictured as a type of dissociative identity such as in the case of Ferdinand and the Cardinal or as a real or imagined piece of art fashioned in human form to act as an imagined self. Ferdinand and the Cardinal are actually dissociated from their physical selves, viewing part of their identity outside of their bodies. Think about the notion of twins, Ferdinands’s shadow, the mandrake, and the Cardinal’s deathly reflection. In contrast, the artistically-modeled identities discussed as other selves are associated with the Duchess, and are particularly moving as comments on artistic creation since they illuminate the multiple identities portrayed in theatrical creation and performance; indeed, the multiple artistic renderings of the Duchess signal the historical figure of the Duchess d’Amalfi transformed into dramatic character, and performed by the actor’s body. Consider the “figure cut in alabaster” in the shape of the Duchess upon her late husband’s tomb, her discussion of herself as “holy relic” and voodoo-like doll, and the wax figures of Antonio and the children.
Indeed, we as audience are also consistently made “doubles,” dissociated from ourselves as spectators as we repeatedly view the characters as audience, voyeuristically watching and listening from behind the “arras” or the “traverse” on stage. In connection with this, consider the significance of the wax figures behind the traverse, offered up as both display and as voyeurs. Also, Ferdinand is thrilled that the Duchess is “plagued in art” (IV.i.109) and it might be interesting to consider how the play is using art to ‘plague’ or disconcert the audience.
One could argue that the dissociative self/or relic self—the recognition of the self outside of the body—is a particularly Catholic idea in the play, bound up with what would have been considered a materialist tradition which idolized icons and relics. As Ferdinand is seen “Behind St Marks Church, with the leg of a man/ Upon his shoulder . . . ,” one is reminded of the holy relics said to be the body parts of saints and the obvious grave-robbing (V.ii.14-5). Similarly, the Echo scene specifically takes place in “the ruins of an ancient abbey.” Why is the ruined abbey—a defunct place of Catholic worship—a perfect echo chamber? Perhaps it is a comment on the way in which the space of Catholic history serves as a great set on which to perform Protestant feeling. However, when thinking about the split self—the self speaking to its own voice—perhaps it is pointing to a sinister spiritualism within the Catholic tradition.
I will elaborate more on the portrayal of character doubleness and disassociation in my class presentation, and if I have time, I will hopefully slightly redeem the much-criticized film, Hotel by comparing the two works' somewhat similar representations of the physical body.
No comments:
Post a Comment