-pages 1-5-
<-pages 11-15->
Lindsay Symmonds: Silencing
Female Power
-=Pages 11-15=-
The ritualistic method in which Ferdinand tortures
the Duchess is also very similar to the torture that was systematically applied to the
accused witches during the Inquisition. There is a disturbing artistic quality to the
torture that took place during the witch hunts, and that takes place within Duchess of
Malfi. When Ferdinand announces that he will force a confession out of his sister, his
anxiety has progressed completely beyond her initial betrayal of him. At this point, his
continual torment of the Duchess is an artistic representation of his anger that developed
from her initial denial of patriarchal authority. As mentioned before, Ferdinand uses
waxen figures of the Duchess's family to convince her that they are dead. This method of
torment is used to mock her motherhood and her attempts to control her own life. The
desire to mock maternity and maternal instincts was a goal implicit in methods used within
the witch hunts as well. The power that childbirth gave women seemed dangerous to certain
(if not many) men, and therefore parodying it through torture provides a way of squelching
the power. The water torture (described on page 4) was a method of torture used to mock
pregnancy in addition to causing extreme physical damage. And Ferdinand's artistic,
ritualistic methods are not unlike those methods utilized to force confessions during the
witch hunts, where there was also a distinct need to ritualistically purge women and
create a public spectacle out of their deviance. Through these methods of torture,
Ferdinand has attempted to purge the Duchess of her self-commanding mentality. Although
his actions do not completely parallel the witch hunts by tormenting her physically and
sexually, Ferdinand does constantly refer to her as "slut" and
"strumpet" in an attempt to mentally debase her and shame her into repentance. The fate of the
Duchess is also very similar to the fate met by many of those women who were persecuted in
the witch hunts. Although she refuses to "confess" any wrongdoing, in the eyes
of Ferdinand she has committed a capital sin and must be punished. At the peak of his
hysteria, he orders the Duchess, Antonio, their children and Cariola all to be killed.
Ferdinand's insanity sprung from his sister's assertive behavior and parallels the mass
hysteria that resulted from the witch hunts. Ferdinand's tormenting of the Duchess and the
torture of the accused during the witch hunts are both carried to such an extreme that the
original intentions are lost in the insanity. Although Ferdinand briefly comes out of his
lunacy in the end, Webster never really definitively shows whether or not he fully takes
on responsibility for the illegal death of his sister: "My sister, O my sister!
There's the cause on 't. Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, Like diamonds we are
cut with our own dust" (V. v. 69-71). |
| Although both women do either mentally or
physically buckle under trial, Kate's torment was intentionally mentally damaging, whereas
the Duchess suffered more physical suffering. In both cases, there is no escape for the
women; their tormentors used the most extreme measures possible in order to maintain the
patriarchy and silence female power.The Inquisition was
only one of the many dark periods in the history of the world. However, it represents
conceptual frameworks regarding women that have not altogether removed themselves from our
society today. The majority of those that were persecuted, mentally and physically
tortured and eventually killed were women, women who had committed no crime but that of
being born. The hysteria of the witch hunts eventually reached a point where those accused
of witchcraft very rarely lived through the ordeal: "Once accused, few persons lived
down the label of witch" (Barstowe 37). The judge, scribe, torturers and executioner
were all men, fighting to retain the patriarchy at any cost. The physical and
psychological torture that many of the women were forced to endure was part of the purging
of female power. By stripping women of their sexual capabilities and of their ability to
speak freely, the men were able to silence the power that appeared to threaten their
masculinity at every turn. The male anxiety that was driving the witch hunts importantly
parallels the anxieties revealed within the texts of Taming of the Shrew and The
Duchess of Malfi. Both of these texts basically tell the same story: women who attempt
to control their own lives are silenced by the illogical and brutal persecutions of the
patriarchal society in which they live. Sadly, this is the story of female history - being
born a woman means you start out life already in the hole. |
