Shakespeare's Propertied Bodies

This thesis examines four of William Shakespeare’s plays that ‘property’ bodies and dehumanize characters, and uncovers how these two processes interact. Close readings of the plays and analyses of bodily props are contextualized in criticism on early modern material culture and theories about the human body, as well as research on properties, players, and performance on the Renaissance stage. Chapter 1, ‘Titus Andronicus: The Body as Food’, considers Chiron and Demetrius’s meat-pie. I discuss how warfare and vengeance cause the Romans and Goths to treat each other as food to be consumed. I explore the ways that, in this play, revenge is a hunger that is fed by Alarbus’s execution and Lavinia’s rape and mutilation, before Tamora cannibalizes her sons. Chapter 2, ‘The Merchant of Venice: The Body as Currency’, considers Antonio’s ‘pound of flesh’. I explore how a risky and ruthless mercantile economy causes characters to be viewed as investments, bets, and potential currency. I analyze Portia’s position as the prize of the hazard, Jessica’s absconding from her father’s house with his wealth, and the trial scene during which Antonio’s flesh might be forfeit to repay his debt. Chapter 3, ‘Othello: The Body as Textile’, considers Desdemona’s handkerchief. I explore how Othello’s misogyny causes him to see his wife’s chastity and fidelity as indicated by a handkerchief rather than her word. I expand the reading of textiles to other fabrics that frame characters’ bodies, including costuming and bedclothes. Chapter 4, ‘The Winter’s Tale: The Body as Artwork’, considers Hermione’s ‘statue’. I explore how anxieties surrounding female sexuality and reproductive power compel men to capture them in things, including the treasures that surround the infant Perdita. I analyze Leontes’s attraction to the statue that seems to freeze time, and Hermione’s use of this art object to come back to life.