This study examines the processes of signification for poisoned fictional objects indicated by the playscripts of all extant English Renaissance revenge tragedies which depict a character's murder by poison on stage. Discussion of these processes involves an understanding of the objects as signs, the methods of denotation and connotation which govern our understanding of such signs, and dramatic methods of manipulating sign-vehicles. In order to arrive at a coherent analysis, this study also examines many of the Renaissance English cultural codes in which poison plays a part. Because highly similar codes may be found in various contexts, four properties of poison take on the appearance of being inherent: invisibility, deception, corruption and poison/antidote duality. Renaissance authors, including the revenge-tragedy playwrights, frequently draw upon these properties in forming analogies to support their moral judgments By combining semiological and historical concerns, this study attempts to analyze the decoding processes of the spectator/participant as she watches the drama unfold and offers several possible interpretations of the dramatic action. Objects of particular interest include the poisoned sword and chalice of Hamlet, Gloriana's poisoned skull in The Revenger's Tragedy, the wine, arrows and incense of Women Beware Women, and, during a brief exploration of metaphorical poison, Desdemona's handkerchief in Othello Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's theological discussion of identity and representation in the Lord's Supper helps to define 'signs' and the drama in a Renaissance context. Cranmer's version of communion incorporates 'dramatic' conventions in manipulating the Eucharist which are similar to conventions used by the revenge-tragedy playwrights, including non-defective verbal explanation to compensate for iconographic incompleteness, and the maintenance of consistency in signification Cranmer and other theologians viewed Catholic liturgical practices as poisonous and idolatrous, and their anti-Catholicism was exploited by some revenge-tragedy playwrights, both to increase the audience's horror at the spectacle and to aid the audience's formation of moral judgments. In such plays as The Second Maiden's Tragedy, Kynge Johan and The White Devil, the anti-Catholicism explored by the manipulation of poisoned fictional objects collates into an elaborate anti-Catholic polemic / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_24703 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Contributors | Houston, Julia Grace (Author) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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