Desire for women equals danger.
Why? Because there is an imagined loss of control and the irresistible physical need in desire undermines the male conception of independent spirit.
These fears were propounded by the ancient Greeks; the early Christians and the medieval intelligentsia or the Elizabethans.
The rants against women are well aired, and have a long historical backdrop. From Hesiod and Homer, St Paul, Bernard of Cluny, Shakespeare and Swift. To validate this point listen the case to Lear railing against ‘the sulphurous pit’, Milton moaning about ‘this fair defect of Nature’, Swift sniffing about ‘all her stink’ and Yeats complaining that ‘Love has pitched his mansion in the place of excrement’. All men, all 'thinkers' and one could argue all terrified of women
An extract from Hamlet
[…] Then if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
Laertes warns Ophelia against premarital sex and tells her to guard her "chaste treasure" – not because he's interested in chastity as a moral issue, but because he believes Ophelia's virginity will determine her marriage offers. Since Laertes believes a marriage to the prince is out of the question, Ophelia's honour must remain intact. Laertes may mean well but words have a dangerous and damaging effect: They suggest that Ophelia is defined merely by her sexuality.
In Shakespeare's day, there were plenty of handbooks on this matter, including Juan Vives's Instruction of a Christian Woman, which says a maid "hath within her a treasure without comparison." (Vives's handbook was translated from Latin and published in English in 1592.) Another handbook called A Godly Form of Household Government (1603) says that a woman's virginity is "the best portion, the greatest inheritance, and the most precious jewel" of her dowry.
Why all this talk of treasure? Well, in the 16th and 17th centuries, eldest sons inherited all their fathers' wealth, titles, and lands (this is called "Primogeniture"). A man's marriage to a virgin was considered a necessity that would insure that a man's children were legitimate and that the family wealth could be passed on from generation to generation. Here, Laertes makes Ophelia's treasure a matter of family business.
.
Why? Because there is an imagined loss of control and the irresistible physical need in desire undermines the male conception of independent spirit.
These fears were propounded by the ancient Greeks; the early Christians and the medieval intelligentsia or the Elizabethans.
The rants against women are well aired, and have a long historical backdrop. From Hesiod and Homer, St Paul, Bernard of Cluny, Shakespeare and Swift. To validate this point listen the case to Lear railing against ‘the sulphurous pit’, Milton moaning about ‘this fair defect of Nature’, Swift sniffing about ‘all her stink’ and Yeats complaining that ‘Love has pitched his mansion in the place of excrement’. All men, all 'thinkers' and one could argue all terrified of women
An extract from Hamlet
[…] Then if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
Laertes warns Ophelia against premarital sex and tells her to guard her "chaste treasure" – not because he's interested in chastity as a moral issue, but because he believes Ophelia's virginity will determine her marriage offers. Since Laertes believes a marriage to the prince is out of the question, Ophelia's honour must remain intact. Laertes may mean well but words have a dangerous and damaging effect: They suggest that Ophelia is defined merely by her sexuality.
In Shakespeare's day, there were plenty of handbooks on this matter, including Juan Vives's Instruction of a Christian Woman, which says a maid "hath within her a treasure without comparison." (Vives's handbook was translated from Latin and published in English in 1592.) Another handbook called A Godly Form of Household Government (1603) says that a woman's virginity is "the best portion, the greatest inheritance, and the most precious jewel" of her dowry.
Why all this talk of treasure? Well, in the 16th and 17th centuries, eldest sons inherited all their fathers' wealth, titles, and lands (this is called "Primogeniture"). A man's marriage to a virgin was considered a necessity that would insure that a man's children were legitimate and that the family wealth could be passed on from generation to generation. Here, Laertes makes Ophelia's treasure a matter of family business.
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