To What Extent Are Early Modern Texts Obsessed With Bodily Desires Essay

Introduction

The early scholars and writers (poets, researchers, scholars etc.) have used their texts to boldly express their value and the worth of physical beauty. The dimension of the early modern texts has openly used erotic language to praise the sex and sexuality of the bodily desires for human beings. These modern texts are often based on the writer's or authors own experiences and bodily desires. From the evidence of the literature printed during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the scholars focused on how the gazers and the gazed (the males and females respectively) viewed their respective genders in terms of visibility and good looks (Korhonen, 2009). The concentration of their languages was basically on how the physical beauty of each gender should be in order to attract the opposite sex. In most communities, the role of the males is to always react to the beauty and the physical features of the females while the females' role is to ensure that they are the center of attention and attraction, e.g. in London (Korhonen, 2009). However, the most important aspect of the texts is that their purpose is to help express and help people relate to the desires of the human body by covering topics like politics, religion, marriage, and culture apart from romance/love. Essentially, the power of imagination has always been the sole determinant of what impact or message the text is to bring to the public.

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In this essay, the question on "to what extent are the early modern texts obsessed with bodily desires" will be answered and discussed in details. The main focus of the discussion will be the following three texts: Philip Sidney: Astrophil and Stella, Elizabeth Carey: The Tragedy of Mariam and Christopher Marlowe, Edward II. The three texts are perfect examples of the early literature that display unquestionable language and information on the extent to which early modern literature is obsessed with bodily desires. The texts information centers on the most common issues that affect and impact the society in one way or another. For instance, marriage, political power, and rule of authority, love and romance between genders, religion and other cultural practices in every community. Therefore, the three pieces of literatures and their characters become the main illustrations of the extent to which the early modern texts have become obsessed with bodily desire because they discuss basic and simple issues affecting people and the society as a whole. Furthermore, they not only show the life choices and struggles of the characters due to the bodily desires, they also show the also show specific impacts that those actions caused on the individual, family, and community.

Text summary

The poem, Astrophil and Stella by Phillip Sidney, commences by declaring "loving in truth and fain in verse my love to show", which indicates the poet's desire to show and receive love in a literal manner. The primary function of the poem is to allow the reader to see "Stella", with the help of a perfect imagination and description of her physical features and appearance. Sidney simply gives praise to "Stella's" beauty by describing the perfection of her face (the nose and mouth) and her hair, but with the exception of her skin and eyes, the reader lacks any clue of knowing who she is. The poem concentrates on how Astrophil himself views Stella as he admires her and wants her for himself. He reviews her beauty in his mind and imagination over and over and every time he sees her perfection (Sydney, 2018). On the other hand, in Astrophil and Stella, Sydney tries to depict his very own love life and his experiences in romance. Historically, "Stella" is represented by "Lady Penelope" who was to become Sydney's wife but the two failed to get married, instead, they both ended up marrying different people; Penelope was married to Baron Robert Rich while Sydney married Frances Walsingham. Penelope and Phillip had met in Essex when Phillip accompanied Queen Elizabeth for a visit; the marriage proposal was the dying wish of Penelope's father. Despite the failure of the anticipated marriage, Sydney still viewed Penelope as one of the most beautiful beings which was proof of his bodily desires. Sydney uses the poem to enlighten the readers the power of the bodily desires by expressing his romantic feelings and desire to marry the most beautiful woman by indirectly discussing the topic on marriage, religion, lore/romance, politics and culture (Sydney, 2018). All of these topics are the main aspects that provide direction for people to respect, accept and follow their bodily desire after discovering them.

The text by Elizabeth Carey, the Tragedy of Mariam; the Fair Queen of Jewry is a Jacobean literature drama that helps integrate issues that impact the society by indirectly describing and understanding the major topics related to those issues, like marriages, religion, politics and rule of authority, gender, law, love/romance, family and other cultural practices of a community like divorce, sex, betrayal and murder. The Tragedy of Mariam was the first literature to be published under Elizabeth Carey's own name in 1613. The story depicts the issues affecting the Jewish people and the especially the impacts that King Herod brings to his family as a result of his tyrannical rule. This is especially the consequences of not trusting his second wife, Mariam, and murdering her under questionable circumstances (Cary, 2018). His rule in power is showed to be flawed and his character is that of an evil being who lacks empathy and enjoys pain and suffering for his enemies. He also fails to trust anyone else and considers betrayal unforgivable action even with no actual prove (Cary, 2018). The story's main focus is on family relations, romance and love, marriage, political power and many other things that people desire in their life. The text and its characters shows a clear example of the extent to which the early modern texts are obsessed with bodily desires. For instance, King Herod, Mariam, Salome, Doris, Silleus and Constabarus to name a few. All of these characters have a certain degree of and type of bodily desire ranging from power and authority, love, family, revenge, betrayal, marriage, religion and other cultural practices of the Jewish community.

The text, Edward II by Christopher Marlowe, is a play that illustrates the consequences that certain bodily desires (like a desire for political power, romance, and love, stable family, marriage, betrayal and revenge among others) can have on the society, family and individual's lives. The play starts by giving a description of the relationship between King Edward II and his favorite and close friend and confidant, Piers Gavestone (Marlowe, 1995). This start may seem to lead the readers or audience towards believing that Edward II and Gavestone are in a gay relationship which therefore makes the play a dimensional text; dealing with same-sex romances, political power, cruelty, manipulation, religion and law among other things (Chan, 2009). This is because the play centers on this friendship and the consequences that the kingdom and the families will experience. Gavestone uses Edward's desire for him to manipulate him and get his way, including openly insulting other people in power. The characters in the play are good examples of individuals with certain bodily desires which force them to act upon those desire to get their way at any cost. For instance, King Edward II has the desire for love and romance as well as for political power. He feels attracted to Gavestone who is a peasant and low life compared to Edward (Marlowe, 2018). However, Edward uses and tests his power and authority by awarding Gavestone with certain titles and allows him to act irresponsibly in front of his earls and barons (Chan, 2009). On the contrary, Gavestone has the desire to be noticed and to have power as well, therefore, he uses Edward's desire for his love and attraction as a manipulation tool to get things he otherwise would not get (Marlowe, 2018). Other characters with various bodily desires are Isabella of France and Sir Roger Mortimer. All of these characters and the play itself indicate the impacts of the actions and the especially the reign of King Edward II on the individuals and the society. It explores the changes of an old world and customs to the new one of self-expression, liberalism, and individual freedoms.

Cultural desire

The early texts have a clear illustration of what the cultural practices of a community should entail. Most of these cultural practices most often arise from a person's bodily desires or eventually become the cause of a person's bodily desire. Most common cultural practices and beliefs of most communities rely on customary practices in marriage, divorce, family values, the rule of power/political rule, sex and sexual choices, murder and punishments, betrayal and love to name a few. These aspects become the main determinants of a communities cultural practices and, therefore, act as the differentiating factors from a community to another. However, they clearly depict the bodily desire for the people of that community and are used as a way to attain those desires. For instance, a man with a sexual desire or attraction towards a woman can fulfill their desire by marrying the woman legally; hence allowed to be sexually intimate with her without any regrets or worry. By doing this, the man performs his religious practice, implements his traditional believes, family values and other values taught in the community as customary for the males to obey. In the case of Astrophil and Stella by Phillip Sydney, Sydney's (represented by Astrophil) view and praise for Penelope (represented by Stella) as a very beautiful lady, indicates his desire for love and romantic attraction for her. Astrophil's praises for Stella gives the reader the idea that Sydney's imagination for Penelope was not just physical but also sexual, which he wanted to curb by marrying her; a cultural practice. In Elizabeth Carey's text, The Tragedy of Mariam, the desire to fulfill the cultural desire for the character is indicated by Miriam herself becoming a second wife of King Herod (Scribd, 2018). Also, the women in the community were supposed to be calm and obedient to their husbands according to the community customs. This means that they should not lift their voices to protest, rule or give orders; they should not be heard no matter what. Most of the women struggled to adhere to these customs except for Mariam who was killed for doing the opposite; protesting for her grandfather's and brother's murder by her husband, King Herod (Raber, 1995, pg.322). In Christopher Marlowe literature, Edward II, the cultural practice was for the King's son to succeed them after death, and that is what Edward II did after Edward I died. Also, the king was to be protected, guarded and advised by some of his loyal subjects, the earls, barons and religious leaders which Edward II seemed not to entertain (Al-Mutawa, 2010). The King has the power to grant titles and awards to the person of his choice and customary for the subjects to follow his directions. The extent to which the early texts are obsessed with bodily desires originates from the desire to obey the cultural norms and practices which are indicated in the three texts.

A desire for love/romance

This is one of the most common desire in various early modern kinds of literatures. The authors/writers of the texts use imagination to represent their actual life experiences when it comes to love. The scholars use the texts as a way to express their rom...