Antitheatricalism – Ben Jonson

Antitheatricalism in Light of Ben JonsonsVolpone Com custodytary by Joel Culpepper Crossdressing in England was mostly opposed by the Fundamentalist branch of the Protestant church service known as the puritans. The puritan dogma, much like the concept of transvestism, was forever and a day challenged. prudes found resistance in the religious authorities of the Church of England and the incline government. Before 1536, the Roman Catholic Church was unimpeded and always won over Puritan proposals regarding legislation.Without a cooperative political ear, the Puritans resorted to experimental weird expression by changing their companionable behavior and structuring. Due to these changes, a formidable way of attacking the theaters use of crossdressing was developed- public preaching and pamphlets. other individuals and groups (like the Juvenalians) supported the moral and social reform movement by dissertation and writing essays and books on the subject. Due to the nature the a ctors role in Ben JonsonsVolpone, the play was as well as implicated in this moral battle.The ideology behind the Puritan protest was based on biblical sentiment and the patristic literary tradition of Roman writers like Tertullian and St. Augustine. The Puritans religious banner for combatting grammatical gender viciousness was Deuteronomy 225- The woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man, neither shall a man put on a womans garment (Tiffany 58). In general, pagan myths were also associated with crossdressing. Puritans like William Pryne labeled these actors as beastly manlike monsters that degenerate into women (Tiffany 59).Further, the Puritans feared that men dressing as women caused the men in the audience to lust for original females and to form homoerotic desires for the male actors (the reverse was also true for women). The Puritan fear also opposed androgynous Renaissance clothing and womens male hairstyles, as documented in Phillip Stubbes 1583Anatomy of Abus es. Jonson was to a greater extent than aware of these Puritan sentiments. InVolpone, Volpone hopes Celia will submit sexually and have her in more modern forms such as a Brave Tuscan lady, or proud Spanish beauty (Campbell 3. 7. 226, 228). Volpone seems to be conveyor of Jonsons acknowledgment of the actors transformative efficiency a part of the playwrights (and the actors) self concern of the literal drama at heart a play, or metadrama. In Volpones subsequent proposal to Celia, crossdressing is coupled with androgyny. mannish and female spirits are joined in harmony because their lips instill their wandering souls (Campbell 3. 7. 234).Ones point of view might relate this as a matter of homosexual or heterosexual sex. The passage could also (ironically) name to the Puritan sponsored sacrament of marriage- a holy sacrament. It must also be mentioned thatVolpones ending also provides an element of punishment for sins- lust, avarice and deception being among them. Jonsons bla tant use of classical satire as farce relate the feminine male with naivety or aggressiveness that demeans love and advocates the scholarly, strong-minded male identity.The female image in his plays is often manly- true to the actors real physicality and the surrounding male chauvinist population. Interestingly, Jonson allows the head male quality ,Volpone, to be exceedingly great at his craft of deception slice the virtuous Celia adopts an irrational, painful way to keep herself a virgin. Celia vows she will crawfish hot coals rather than submit to Volpones desires. The Puritans homophobia is also apparent inVolpone.Volpone makes certainly (through explanation) that even though he acted the part of Antonias (a supposed lover of a gay king) for the non-heterosexual King Henry III, he is a ladies man. Volpone claims that he attracted/ The look and ears of all the ladies present (Campbell 3. 7. 164). In another reversal of gender, Lady ambitious notices her husband with someo ne she believes to be a female prostitute dress as a young man. After belittling her husband for this by calling him a client of a female devil, she realizes her mistake and apologizes.This perspective supports the possibility that Jonson believed the Puritans were making a mistake (like Lady Would-Be) in ignoring permanent, masculine reality and challenging the temporary ,imaginative, and effeminate role of actors for immorality. Morality, the main finishing of the Antitheatrical movement in the Renaissance, was both supported and denounced by Jonson in respective(a) ways. However, the general perception is that Jonson (unlike Shakespeare) fueled the fires of degradation- implicating women with the weakness, lack of intelligence, and reason they were believed to exude.In the autobiography of theatrical history, Jonsons metadrama could be said to perpetuate this social stereotype. Nevertheless, Jonsons crossing of the gender line and sexual scenes like Volpones flashing of Celi a were enough to have religious, moral, and social commentators screaming blood murder. Two issues demand prominence in the play. objet dart outwardly a play driven by blatant genderless controversy, the in thematic, character-driven nature ofVolponesuggests a conformity and adherence to the intellectual and theological moralism of the time. http//www. english. uga. edu/cdesmet/joel/PURITAN. hypertext markup language