Kind tyranny: Brother-sister relationships in Renaissance drama.

• Main Author: Warnock, Jeanie E.
• Other Authors: Makaryk, Irene
• Format: Others
• Published: University of Ottawa (Canada) 2009
• Subjects: Theater.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/9116; http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-7650

The study focuses on the social, literary, and psychological significance of the brother-sister relationship to a broad range of Renaissance tragedy and tragicomedy. After a brief historical analysis of siblings, the thesis considers the brother-sister relationship as an important means for dramatists to explore questions of identity, of gender conflict, and of differing understandings of family. It also examines the relationship as a developing literary tradition in the drama of the Stuart period, a tradition which culminates in the works of John Ford. The first half of the study surveys a large range of non-Shakespearean revenge tragedy and tragicomedy. In revenge tragedy, violent brother-sister strife serves as a symbol of the self in turmoil, as an image of a disordered family and society, and as a focal point for tension over the nature of women. Brothers also subvert traditional family roles in their relationships with their sisters. The avenging brother and sister, joined in shared loyalty to their house, mount a legitimate challenge to the authority of husband and king; pandar brothers become diabolical inversions of father and husband. Proceeding to tragicomedy, the thesis analyzes the brother as a figure of illegitimate authority and considers the privileged position gained by royal sisters, whose noble blood renders them the equal of their brothers. The latter half of the dissertation reinterprets the plays of John Webster and John Ford. In The Duchess of Malfi, the royal siblings' similarity, close blood tie, and high rank overturn gender difference and affirm the intimate connection between the sexes. The study considers the importance of blood family to the Duchess' self-conception and examines Ferdinand's attempts to create identity by usurping the place of his sister's husband. Ford's two plays 'Tis Pity She's A Whore and The Fancies Chaste and Noble stand as the culmination of dramatic treatments of idealized and antagonistic brother-sister relationships alike. Both works contrast the opposing nature of physical and familial love and elevate asexual love above sexual passion, presenting a sibling tie which undermines the bond between husband and wife.