Abstract
Among Shakespeare’s plays revolving around the theme of love, Anthony and Cleopatra and The Taming of the Shrew develop an un-romanticized attitude by focusing on carnal realities, reinforced through the imagery associated with Cleopatra and Katherine as well as the banquet occasions. In these two plays, the theme of love acquires a carnivalesque approach through which debasement is experienced as a part of love rapports. This paper discusses grotesque representations of love and feasting in the plays by employing relevant viewpoints of the ‘grotesque,’ mainly those theorized by Mikhail Bakhtin. Accordingly, Bakhtinian idea of ‘grotesque realism’ and carnival as well as the concept of degradation related to bodily life are highlighted in their association with carnal realities as portrayed in the selected works. The aim of the study is to demonstrate how the theme of love is un-romanticized through the idea of grotesque. Furthermore, since Bakhtinian analysis targets the comic and regenerative in the grotesque, the elaborate choice of a comedy and a tragedy for this study is assumed to be an illuminating endeavor. Grotesque and its implicative denotation revolve around the concept of language and the discourse carried out by the intention of the characters. The elaboration of linguistic discourse in this study goes along with love ideology in a dramatic text. Thus, Bakhtin's conceptualization of grotesque facilitates the dramatic orientation of love in Anthony and Cleopatra and The Taming of the Shrew , whereby the theme of love gets un-romanticized in these plays.
Highlights
This paper examines two works of Shakespeare, namely Anthony and Cleopatra and The Taming of Shrew from the grotesque lens
References to bodily life and physicality are mainly manifested through food imagery, feasting, and sensuality. These images are compatible with Bakhtin’s notion of ‘grotesque realism,’ which he discusses as a fundamental characteristic of Renaissance literature as well as folk culture and carnival.v Bakhtin “conditionally” uses the term “grotesque realism” to speak about the presence of images concerning body especially lower stratum in the literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.vi He refers to Shakespeare as a playwright whose work is rich in carnivalesque features comprising representations “of bodily lower stratum, of ambivalent obscenities, and of popular banquet scenes.”vii In this regard, the above mentioned images are traced in some parts of both plays to demonstrate the grotesque realism portrayed in them
According to Bakhtin’s discussion on banquet imagery, liberation of human speech results from the “power of food and drink.” (Bakhtin, p.296) This “prandial libertinism,” which is typical of the “democratic spirit” in the Middle Ages and the works of Rabelais is somehow echoed in the “English prandial tradition” of Shakespeare and some of his contemporaries.viiiAs such, the ideal, the mystic and the abstract are debased through the grotesque materialism of this liberating type of speech.ix The speech liberation gained through food and drink in the spirit of festivity in the two plays under consideration is compatible with the notion of debasement reinforced through material realism
Summary
This paper examines two works of Shakespeare, namely Anthony and Cleopatra and The Taming of Shrew from the grotesque lens. Both plays epitomize mature, consenting adults’ relationship and highlight feasting as a medium to portray the couples’ carnal pleasures. Within the framework of Bakhtinian’s “grotesque realism”, the selected plays are somewhat stripped from the traditional “romanticized” love story and the heroines’ characters are further enhanced in the current analysis. The analysis as supported by Mirmusa should “neither cherishes the authority of males, traditionally-believed superiors, nor reounces the power of women who are conventionally accepted as inferiors” (Mirmusa 2014, p.142). The carnivalesque approach towards the love story in both plays is seen as a unique and innovative way in understanding the dramatic trend in Shakespeare’s plays
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