르네상스 영문학 장르에 나타난 ‘음란한 과부’ 상투형의 이데올로기적 전용
On Ideological Appropriations of the Stereotype of ‘Lusty Widow’ in Renaissance Literary Genres
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The "lusty widow" stereotype was a highly saleable commodity in the early modern England. It may have owed its popularity to its rags-to-riches fantasy for the poor young men of the competitive capitalist world of London. Literary genres used this motif in accordance with their generic rules and demands of their readers/audience. This paper argues that the stereotype of "lusty widow" was ideologically appropriated in different genres to construct the modern male subject. This process, though, was not linear, opening an unexpected space for the construction of female subject as well in the dynamic and ambivalent world of literary texts. Tragedy as a male-oriented genre constructs the patriarchal male tragic subject by villainizing and punishing the "lusty widow". Titus Andronicus is a tragedy mainly incurred by Titus's patriarchal obsession, but the play blames Tamora for its tragedy and constructs Titus's tragic subject by scapegoating her and thereby validating the patriarchal ideal. Hamlet's tragic subject is also constructed by villainizing and eliminating Gertrude's sex. To him, the ideal patriarchal world of his father is tainted by his mother's lust and she has to be desexualized before he can accomplish his revenge and thereby get his male subject constructed. The Duchess of Malfi probes a possibility of the female tragic subject. Though a lusty widow, Duchess is an autonomous female tragic hero, a rare phenomenon in the male-oriented genre of tragedy. Too dangerous to be a tragic hero, her subversive sexual energy needs to be contained by being placed as a mother and idolized after death, thereby denied her autonomy as a subject in the male dominant world of the play. The widow remarriage comedies appropriate the "lusty widow" stereotype to gratify the fantasy of the male audience. In this fantasy, the spent young man gets money and status by marrying the widow, to get his modern male subject constructed and his masculinity proved, only by his virility. The "lusty widow" stereotype makes this possible by making the widow "lusty" and thereby switches the power relation of the couple, giving the power to the male suitor while rendering the widow as a passive object. The Widow's Tears is a typical example of this fantasy, constructing Tharsalio as a male subject. However, the play leaves a space for the female subject as well by letting Eudora lead Tharsalio and have her desire fulfilled. The Widow, a late version of this fantasy, offers a critical distance to this fantasy itself. With its untypical heroes, this play tries a construction of an autonomous female subject possible only in romantic comedies. Deloney's prose romance, Jack of Newbery magnifies the threats of a lusty widow wife, only to contain them to construct Jack's male subject. As a whole, the novel can be read as a manual of the construction of the middle-class male subject, based on the sex hierarchy, marginalizing and containing women. However, Jack's marriage life with the widow shows that at least during their marriage, it is the widow who has the autonomous power and it is only by her timely death that Jack can be constructed as a male subject.
Abstract
The "lusty widow" stereotype was a highly saleable commodity in the early modern England. It may have owed its popularity to its rags-to-riches fantasy for the poor young men of the competitive capitalist world of London. Literary genres used this motif in accordance with their generic rules and demands of their readers/audience. This paper argues that the stereotype of "lusty widow" was ideologically appropriated in different genres to construct the modern male subject. This process, though, was not linear, opening an unexpected space for the construction of female subject as well in the dynamic and ambivalent world of literary texts. Tragedy as a male-oriented genre constructs the patriarchal male tragic subject by villainizing and punishing the "lusty widow". Titus Andronicus is a tragedy mainly incurred by Titus's patriarchal obsession, but the play blames Tamora for its tragedy and constructs Titus's tragic subject by scapegoating her and thereby validating the patriarchal ideal. Hamlet's tragic subject is also constructed by villainizing and eliminating Gertrude's sex. To him, the ideal patriarchal world of his father is tainted by his mother's lust and she has to be desexualized before he can accomplish his revenge and thereby get his male subject constructed. The Duchess of Malfi probes a possibility of the female tragic subject. Though a lusty widow, Duchess is an autonomous female tragic hero, a rare phenomenon in the male-oriented genre of tragedy. Too dangerous to be a tragic hero, her subversive sexual energy needs to be contained by being placed as a mother and idolized after death, thereby denied her autonomy as a subject in the male dominant world of the play. The widow remarriage comedies appropriate the "lusty widow" stereotype to gratify the fantasy of the male audience. In this fantasy, the spent young man gets money and status by marrying the widow, to get his modern male subject constructed and his masculinity proved, only by his virility. The "lusty widow" stereotype makes this possible by making the widow "lusty" and thereby switches the power relation of the couple, giving the power to the male suitor while rendering the widow as a passive object. The Widow's Tears is a typical example of this fantasy, constructing Tharsalio as a male subject. However, the play leaves a space for the female subject as well by letting Eudora lead Tharsalio and have her desire fulfilled. The Widow, a late version of this fantasy, offers a critical distance to this fantasy itself. With its untypical heroes, this play tries a construction of an autonomous female subject possible only in romantic comedies. Deloney's prose romance, Jack of Newbery magnifies the threats of a lusty widow wife, only to contain them to construct Jack's male subject. As a whole, the novel can be read as a manual of the construction of the middle-class male subject, based on the sex hierarchy, marginalizing and containing women. However, Jack's marriage life with the widow shows that at least during their marriage, it is the widow who has the autonomous power and it is only by her timely death that Jack can be constructed as a male subject.
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