ANÁLISIS Y DISCUSIÓN

An early fore-runner - Godly Queen Hester

Before discussing the more important constancy testing plays, it may be as well to consider the early Enterlude of Godly Queene Hester (1527), which I have included in this section because it does deal with testing, which is imposed by the husband rather than by an influence from the outside world. It is a very difficult play to classify, since it originated in an earlier age than most of the homiletic plays, when women’s education was still concerned with aca­ demic achievement as well as irreproachable upbringing. Accordingly, the testing is of an academic nature: in fact, Hester is subjected to a viva voce examination by the King, in order to determine her suitability as a pros­ pective Queen. Having heard of her proficiency ”in learninge and literature”, he asks Hester

,.. somewhat to proue by communication Her lemynge and her language eloquent

... Howe saye you Hester haue you aught reade or seene Of vertues that be best and fittest for a queene.(35)

Here the King is setting a well-known topic, one parti­ cularly familiar from Christine de Pisan’s account in her Livre des Trois Vertus of the qualities needed by a princess. Hester’s answer shows that she is well informed on all the main issues, one of which is that since

... it may chaunce at sundrye season The kynge wyth hys councell most parte of all

From this realme to be absente, when warre doth call. Then the Queues wysdome, sadly muste deale,

By her greate vertue, to rewle the common weale. ^6)

It was generally thought that a queen should be able to deputise for her husband: Sir Thomas Elyot praised

Zenobia’s skill in this respect in his Defence of Good Women, and Christine de Pisan felt that royal ladies should be able to hold their own in council and to be well-inf­ ormed on all state issues. Furthermore, says Hester,

sometyme more for loue than for awe , . The king is content to be counselled by the queene”, '3//

and, as Ruth Kelso points out, tact in "the bestowal of counsel when wifely wisdom sufficed” was a quality nec­ essary to wives of all social levels. Hester concludes that

as many vertues be there muste ( .

Euen in the Quene as in the prynce, '38/

convincing Assuerus that she is a worthy queen. She con­ firms the wisdom of his choice by immediately acting as intercessor for the poor of the kingdom, an office which Christine de Pisan considered most important of all for a Christian princess.

In general, Godly Queene Hester, d,espite its educational theme, is less concerned with the ideal of the perfect wife than any of its successors. Firstly, despite the brief homily on wifely behaviour delivered by Mardocheus, the educational standard of the play is one of nobility and culture, rather than the more classless and domestic ideal which became prevalent later. Furthermore, Hester’s achievement in the play is as a patriot rather than a wife: her marriage is the means by which she performs the feat of saving her people, not her life’s work. The first play completely concerned with the behaviour of a perfect wife was, appropriately, a dramatisation of the traditional story of Patient Grissill.

The archetype - Patient Grissill

Since there was such an upsurge in the popularity of this old story during the Renaissance, it is illuminating to study early versions of it, and especially the comments of the storytellers on its purpose. Boccaccio includes the tale in the Decameron (cl350), and makes his narrator comment that Gualtieri’s actions ’’were remarkable... for their senseless brutality" and adds the caution "Nor do I advise anyone to follow his example, for it was a great pity that the fellow should have drawn any profit from his conduct". On the contrary, the storyteller concludes the tale with the reflection that it would have served Gualtieri right if he had had the sort of wife who, if cast off in destitution as Griselda was, would promptly find another husband to support her.

Chaucer’s clerk, and Chaucer himself as narrator, also show disapproval of the husband’s behaviour, and deny that the story is intended to suggest real standards of behaviour for wives. Uneasy with Walter’s motivation for continuing to test so virtuous a wife, Chaucer reflects that he must have had an obsessive nature, for

ther been folk of swich condicion

That when they have a certain purpos take . . They kan nat stynte of hire entencion. '39)

He also makes two additions to the story, one from the Clerk who- tells it, and one from the narrator. The Clerk, as befits a religious man, explains that

This storie is seyd, not for that wyues sholde . Folwen Grisilde as in humylitee,

For it were inportable, though they wolde;

But for that every wight, in his degree, * Sholde be content in adversitee

(40) For sith a woman was so pacient

Unto a mortal man, wel moore us oghte Recyven al in gree that God us sent.

This religious interpretation is followed by the humorous Lenvoy de Chaucer, in which the narrator advises

No wedded man so hardy be t’assaile His wyves pacience in trust to fynde Grisildis, for in certain he shal faille. 0 noble wyves, ful of heigh prudence Lat noon humilyte youre tonge naille, Ne lat no clerk have cause or diligence To write of yow a storie of swich mervaille As of Grisildes pacient and kynde

Lest Chichevache yow swelve in hire entraille!

On the contrary, he rallies wives to stand up to their hus­ bands and ’’dreed them not”, concluding that rather than live in virtuous sorrow like Grisilde, they had better

Be ay of cheere as light as leef on lynde, , . And lat hym care, and wepe, and wrynge and waille! (^4)

It seems that in mediaeval literature, the story of Grissill was not likely to be taken literally, especially not by men with Boccaccio’s ’’obvious adoration of women” and Chaucer’s sense of realism and humour. Stage presen­ tations, however, seem to have taken a different approach. The first recorded Griselda play, the French secular romance L’Estoire de Griseldis(1395) , was subtitled ”Le miroir des dames mariees”, and added long discourses on wifely duties to the story. The early Renaissance saw an upsurge of interest in the story, and particularly in its instructive potential. C. R. Baskevill notes that seven other Griselda plays were produced in England, Germany, Italy and Holland during the fifteenth and sixteenth cen­ turies. These included one by Hans Sachs, and one in Eng­ lish which pre-dates the versions which survive today, written by schoolmaster Ralph Radcliffe in cl546.(^3) The story became regarded as an exemplary illustration of

wifely duty, particularly appropriate to the current view of women because of its stress on Grissill’s humility and obedience (she never ceases to regard herself as her hus­ band’s servant), and because it was consistent with the current belief that some virtues were appropriate to women of all classes. Guazzo wrote that although both are quali­ ties a peasant might possess, ’’the two virtues of chastity and good management of the household, well-joined, are enough to ennoble a woman truly to be called honoured”. Obviously a story in which the heroine’s success depended on her transfer of the piety, industry, obedience and humi­ lity appropriate to a feudal serf to the manor house fitted well with the idea that one code of conduct should suit all women.

John Phillip reveals his didactic purpose in the title of his play of 1559, which advertises

The Commodye of pacient and meeke Grissill, wherein is declared,

the good example of her pacience towards her Husband: and lykewise, the due obedience of Children, toward their Parentes.

As I have already mentioned, Grissill’s behaviour to her parents is exemplary, and suggests that her wifely conduct will be equally submissive and humble, so Gautier's eulogies of his married bliss come as no surprise. As ever, the question of what motive such as a happy man could have for tormenting his wife arises, and John Phillip tries to solve this problem by recourse to dramatic convention. He introduces a Vice named Politicke Persuasion, who may be a development from the scornful courtiers Boccaccio's Gualtieri invented as an excuse for testing Griselda, or, as Cyrus Hoy suggests, a representation of the evil present in flatterers and courtiers. He also puts forward the idea that Phillip may be drawing on mediaeval stage convention for an effect of great psychological subtlety, and that

Politicke Persuasion may be a personification of the cynical, cruel and evil aspects of Gautier1s own character, although I have my doubts about this. Certainly there is no indication elsewhere in the play that Gautier is to be regarded as anything other than a god-like figure.(44)

Politicke Persuasion is crudely misogynistic, and tries to dissuade Gautier from marrying by regaling him with horror stories of feminine vice, particularly vanity and shrewishness. He warns Gautier that "the pride of some dames make the husband beare an empty purse", and that

moast wyues are so knappish and cutted now,

that they will be knowen to beare rule I saie to yow, Rule quoth I, yea and more than reason doth require, Yea and espesyally after that to mastership they aspire.

(45)

He warns that some women try to achieve mastery by violence and "oft times they conquer their husbands in battell", others by nagging or by feminine wiles, in which

... they will counterfait a kind of hipocrisye,

And symper lyke a fyrmentie pot, the finger shal be in there eye Theyle saie, loue is forgotten though my loue be showne, I see you loue another better then your owne,

Tush, tush, I know full well theire meaninge and intent They be the craftiest cattell in Cristendome or kent.

(46)

Gautier’s wedded bliss seems to disprove this view of women, so Politicke Persuasion, influenced by scorn for Grissill’s humble origins, wants to prove that even she is flawed. When he finds Gautier singing her praises, he sets him at ease with a cunning admission

If your wyfe be so vertuous as nowe ye import, Surelie, surely shee is worthy commendacion,

Shee may be made a saynte for her good conuersation: But harke my Lorde nay nowe harken in your eare, Try hir that waye and by myne honestie I sweare, You shall see hir decline from Vertues so rife,

And alter topsie turuie hir saintish lyfe: Hir pacyence quicklye shall chaunged bee I warrant your honor will say it is not shee.

The word ’’warrant” is important, since Gautier seems to embark on the testing of his wife in the spirit of a bet, rather like the Biblical contest between God and Satan over Job’s patience, which comes about in exactly the same way. According to the Book of Job,

the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?... But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

Gautier is like a God to Grissill: she fears him, must obey and love him, and since she owes almost all that she has to him, she is practically his creature, with whom he may do as he wishes.

Like Job, Grissill meets the tests on her patience of the supposed murder of both her children, abandonment and rep­ lacement by a younger, nobler and prettier wife with exemplary and incredible resignation. Her response to the murder of her children

This chaunce with pacience, I will sustaine and beare My Lord the Daughter is your owne, with her attempt your

will If it seme pleasant to thy heart, thy pleasure now fulfil

(49)

is highlighted by the more human reaction of the Nurse, who, like Paulina in The Winter’s Tale, asks "Giue me the childe I praye, and saue hir from thes fone/For I will fead and nourishe hir, and take hir as mine own", and when this is refused, defies and reproaches Gautier for his unnatural

cruelty. Grissill’s saintly composure impresses even Politicke Persuasion, who admits

... hir constancie and pacience,

Truly that is wounderful stronge in this inconuenience, But as I haue begon so will I afflict hir still, , s I am kyn to a woman in all poynts ile haue my will.

Although he admits Grissill’s virtue, his general misogyny is unchanged and he continues to try to prove her goodness

superficial. .

Grissill’s next trial is her reception of the news that popular opinion is against her to the extent that Gautier’s social standing and life are endangered. Her first reaction is to wonder if this has been caused by her own inadequacies, and she enquires "Hath wifely troth aye fayled thee, hath dutie bin neglect/Doth anie wight that liueth nowe, of these thinges mee suspect”. She then feels that Gautier would be better off without her and offers to ’’Let thousand wondes by stroak of knives, take Grissill’s life away”. Even Politicke Persuasion is impressed, ..and begins to think that she may be the exception to his general rule, as he wonders

Howe manie such wiues maye a man fynde:

Whiche seeyng their husbands opressed with woe, Would willingly offer their Hues to forgoe,

To mittigate the husbands paine, or ease his greef: . . Not one I coniecture I am so harde of beleef.

Indeed, Grissill’s virtue is so extreme, even superhuman, that it seems inaccessible to ordinary human women, and thus confirms misogyny rather than disproving it: as a solitary perfect woman, she is like the proverbial eel in a barrelful of snakes, which, even if a man is lucky enough to catch ”he hath yet but a slippery eel by the tail”. In

-143-

this Grissill resembles the Virgin Mary, as a woman whose virtue is impossible for any human to emulate.

Gautier, however, explains that literal self-sacrifice is unnecessary: he merely intends to "wed another wife, which shall mine name advaunce,/To top of Fortuns hautie whele my fame shee shall in haunce", and to send Grissill back to her father in the state of nakedness and poverty in which she first came to him. As Politicke Persuasion comments

To be banished so soddainly from hir husbands side, And he to marrye another, clockinge Mistris Bride

Would moue the pacience of a good manye wyues, , I dare saie they had rather be ryd of their lyues,

In fact, this kind of repudiation would have been familiar to the audience, from memory or perhaps from more recent experience. In the late Middle Ages, it was common for wives to be rejected by obtaining an edict from the Church (as Gualtieri claims to have done in Boccaccio’s version), usually on the grounds of hastily-discovered consanguinity, as new and more useful alliances presented themselves. In early Tudor times, such a case was made against Katherine of Aragon, and the fear of ignominious return to one’s father with only the dowry was common among prospective wives at several European courts, particularly since a lady rejected in this way was often regarded as disgraced, and had no hope of an alternative marriage. Since divorce on the grounds of pre-contract or consanguinity was still legal after the Reformation, wives could still be put off in this way, which makes Grissill’s patience all the more striking. Far from feeling herself disgraced, she has always considered herself unfit to set foot in her hus­ band’s house, and is "well contented in my former state to remain".

This is one of the most important points of the story, which can be emphasised by comparing it with the apparently

similar tale of Cinderella. As Peter and Iona Opie point out, the fairy god-mother and the prince do nothing but re­ store Cinderella to her true status: she is, after all, her father’s rightful heir, temporarily usurped by her stepsisters; an aristocrat, not a servant. Grissill, on the other hand, really is a peasant girl, and even when elevated to the aristocracy, never ceases to regard herself as Gautier’s servant, a capacity in which she willingly returns to his house to organise the wedding feast for her successor. She is frequently described as noble, but her demeanour is invariably servile. In fact, the nobility others notice and applaud in her behaviour depends entirely on the contemporary belief that in a wife, uncomplaining acceptance, obedience and other apparently servile quali­ ties are entirely appropriate and therefore noble. Humble Grissill makes a faultlessly noble wife because at this time, a wife is a servant.

Grissill, then, sees no real degradation in her dismissal, and finding her father depressed by it, exhorts him to

Blame not Fortune for my ouerthroe

It was the will of God, that it should be so.

... This Crosse is to trye us, as hee doth his elect.

(53)

Her habit of accepting misfortune as God’s scourge or, more significantly, as His test of their faith, seems to explain Grissill’s reaction when Gautier restores her wedding ring and children, giving the brief and unconvincing explanation ’’this whiche I haue done... Was done for this cause, thy Pacience to trye.” Without a single word of reproach, Grissill simply receives her children with joy, and praises Gautier for his unceasing goodness to' hfer, and to old Ianickle, whom Gautier has at last allowed to come to the court, remarking that ’’Now know I assuredly my Lord doth favour mee". It is interesting to remember that in the Bible "The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before”.

Grissill, like Job, tries to accept the Lord’s actions humbly and without question, and also accepts the actions