SUPERSTITIONS AND DREAM INTERPRETATIONS IN THE DUCHESS OF MALFIAND ALL FOR LOVE
Superstition, a sort of a feeling that takes umpteen number of forms and at times frightens life out of people, takes a special place in the life of a person which might make a person float on cloud nine or perish in dungeons. Superstitions are universal and they do exist even now in the 21st century and the plays before three centuries are no exceptions. The plays during the 16th and 17th centuries were abounding with superstitious beliefs which might seem ridiculous in the present scenario. In this paper we shall see the role of superstitious beliefs and dreams in The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster and All for Love by John Dryden.
The Duchess of Malfi is a revenge tragedy and unlike other revenge tragedies here the villain himself avenges the death of the Duchess. The Duchess is a young widow who is in love with Antonio, the manager of her house hold and is steadfast on marrying him. In spite of the threatening of her brothers she marries Antonio with the aid of Cariola. Ferdinand, one of her brothers employs Bosolo to spy her. Ferdinand apart from eyeing the fortune of the Duchess he also eyes her beauty. But Cardinal, the other brother of the Duchess is worried only about her wealth. Bosola passes the news that the Duchess has given birth to a child and Ferdinand in unquenchable fury banishes the Duchess. Ferdinand with the help of Bosola gains a fake key to the chamber of the Duchess and enters the chamber without the notice of the Duchess and the Duchess oblivious to the fact that Ferdinand is hiding in her chamber reveals her secret and Ferdinand advises her to cut her tongue lest she be betrays her husband. To save Antonio the Duchess calls him a thief and sends him to Ancona. Bosola chides her for doubting a loyal servant i.e. Antonio, at this point she confides her marriage with Antonio to Bosola. Bosola in turn reveals the secret to Ferdinand. The Duchess is captured again and brought to the palace and is laced in the company of mad men whereas Antonio escapes with his first son. The Duchess is then strangulated and Antonio comes to the Cardinal for peace talks but is killed accidentally by Bosola and Bosola kills the Cardinal as he plots against him. Ferdinand in a fit of madness stabs Bosola and he in turn stabs Ferdinand. At last the sole survivor is the first child of the Duchess who is adopted by Delio. Among these Cardinal has an illicit relationship with Julia, wife of Castrucio and kills her.
The whole story is interspersed with superstitious beliefs. Delio in the second act gives a list of bad omens to Antonio. His list consists of salt being spilt, crossing of a hare, a bleeding nose, a horse stumbling and the singing of a cricket. Back then these were considered to be ill omen. Delio says,
“DELIO.How supersticiously we mind our evils!
The throwing down of salt, or crossing of a hare;
Bleeding at nose, the stumbling of a horse:
Or singing of a cricket, are of power
To daunt the whole man in us”
Now the situation pertaining to superstitious beliefs has rather become worse. In spite of the technological developments we still adhere to these. Back then sans technology it is no wonder they were superstitious. Antonio is the sole character in the play who remains superstitious. He beliefs in horoscopes and other such things. When he is informed that the Duchess has given birth to a boy he doesn’t meet the Duchess at once rather he runs to an astrologer to predict the prospects for his son. This superstitious belief of Antonio derails the plans of the Duchess. After seeing Bosola he drops the paper where the astrology was predicted and to his ill luck it is picked by Bosola an d it testifies Bosola’s doubts on the Duchess being pregnant. Bosola after seeing the paper says, “BOSOLA.Antonio here about did drop a paper, Some of your help, false friend: oh, here it is. What’s here? A child’s nativity calculated?”
This incident changes the path of the play. If Antonio had seen the Duchess instead of getting the astrology predicted Bosola wouldn’t have put the pieces of the puzzle together. Even before Antonio drops the paper his nose starts bleeding and according to the horoscope his son would be short lived, he comes to a conclusion that something ill is about to happen but ironically in the end it is the first son who remains alive in the whole family. Antonio in the fifth act is haunted by the voice of the Duchess which emanates from her tomb. Antonio is particularly haunted by it, as it does indeed seem to repeat snippets of his speech that have agency and meaning.He thinks that the Duchess is trying to help him and decides to meet the cardinal for peace talks which in the end prove fatal for him. It is because of the superstitious beliefs of Antonio that the Duchess loses her life and Antonio in turn loses his. Ferdinand also has one attribute which can be called a superstitious belief. Widow Remarriage now is a trivial thing but back then it was considered to be wrong and widows however young they were were not allowed to remarry and Ferdinand was a strong believer of this. This can also be called as a superstitious belief. Dreams are not very apparent in The Duchess of Malfi but throughout the play Antonio’s instincts or illusions warn him of an impending danger. He keeps envisioning ill things. All for Love, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is a heroic tragedy which portrays the illicit love affair between Antony and Cleopatra and the ruckus it creates in Egypt and Rome. After the defeat in the battle of Actium, Antony refuses even to look at people and stays isolated in the Temple of Isis. Cleopatra to cheer up Antony tries to celebrate his birthday with pomp and fashion. Ventidius overcomes all the blockades and meets Antony and convinces him to battle. Aleaxs relays this information to Cleopatra and she becomes upset over the changes in Antony. She sends a message via Charmion to see him for the last before he starts for the battle. Antony dismisses her and Alexas meets Antony with a ruby bracelet from Cleopatra and pleads Antony to meet Cleopatra for the last time. The eyes of Cleopatra do wonders in the heart of Antony and he relinquishes the plan of going to battle and also calls Ventidius a blasphemer. To avoid a war with Octavius Antony sends one of his friends Dolabella to appease Octavius. Ventidius arrives with the two children of Antony and he is divided between love for Cleopatra and his duty towards Octavia. At last he decides to move with Octavia and Cleopatra goes to the extent of committing suicide. Ventidius and Dolabella plot to separate Cleopatra and Antony. If Dolabella seduces Antony she will become a whore in front of Antony’s eyes. In the same time Alexas tells Cleopatra that if she starts hitting on Dolabella, Antony would grow envious of Cleopatra and unite with her. The whole planning backfires but at last Cleopatra is compelled to don the role of a whore. Antony is disgusted by the actions of Cleopatra and dismisses her. The Romans and Antony’s own men rebel against him and Alexas in the meantime tries to convince Antony but at last to save him from the wrath of Antony he lies that Cleopatra has committed suicide. Antony comes to know of the steadfast nature of Cleopatra and kills himself when he is about to die he is taken to the palace of Cleopatra and Cleopatra on seeing Antony on the verge of death kills herself. Both Antony and Cleopatra die atlast. Dryden’s All for Love has many attributes of Shakespeare’s play in it. Shakespeare starts most of his plays with ill omens. In Julius Caesar starts with astrologers warning Julius Caesar and Calpurnia dissuading Caesar from going to the Senate house as she had bad dreams. People like Cicero also witness some ill omens in the play. In the same way All for Loveopens with the ill omens which thwart Egypt and the dreams of Serapion, a priest in the Temple of Isis. In the opening scene Serapion tells that Nile has overflowed before the due time and also that there is ceaseless rain and waters from sea taking men to the top of the trees and all of a sudden ebbing away. After ebbing away the bare land has many ill omens like dolphins writhing without water and sea horses floundering in the mud. “SERAPION.Portents and prodigies have grown so frequent,
That they have lost their name. Our fruitful Nile
Flowed ere the wonted season, with a torrent
So unexpected, and so wondrous fierce,
That the wild deluge overtook the haste
Even of the hinds that watched it: Men and beasts
Were borne above the tops of trees, that grew
On the utmost margin of the water−mark.
Then, with so swift an ebb the flood drove backward, It slipt from underneath the scaly herd:
Here monstrous phocae panted on the shore;
Forsaken dolphins there with their broad tails,
Lay lashing the departing waves: hard by them,
Sea horses floundering in the slimy mud,
Tossed up their heads, and dashed the ooze about them.” Serapion also tells Alexas about his dreams. Alexas is deaf to the warnings of Serapion and at last what Serapion predicts becomes true. Last night he had seen a fierce whirlwind opening the tombs of dead and buried kings. The ghosts woke up from their sleep and started groaning and Serapion could bear no more of it. “SERAPION. Last night, between the hours of twelve and one,
In a lone aisle of the temple while I walked,
A whirlwind rose, that, with a violent blast,
Shook all the dome: the doors around me clapt;
The iron wicket, that defends the vault,
Where the long race of Ptolemies is laid,
Burst open, and disclosed the mighty dead.
From out each monument, in order placed,
An armed ghost starts up: the boy−king last
Reared his inglorious head. A peal of groans
Then followed, and a lamentable voice
Cried, Egypt is no more! My blood ran back,
My shaking knees against each other knocked;
On the cold pavement down I fell entranced,
And so unfinished left the horrid scene.”
These ill omen and dreams sort of warn them about the impending nature but are treated indifferently which at last leads to the death of Antony and Cleopatra. In The Duchess of Malfi there is a tragic ending as Antonio was very superstitious but whereas in All for Love no importance was given to ill omens which eventually brought the fall.