16/2/07 - English Literature - Renaissance Bodies

Here we will discuss the theorisation and representation of the body in the Renaissance.

1. Physical Bodies

There was the 'one sex' model, or hermaphrodism, based on how the body operated. Bodies of all beings were perceived to be alike in substance, based on degrees of perception. The amount of vital heat generated indicated their position on the axis of perfection. Humans were thought to be the hottest and therefore the most perfect, and also males were hotter and therefore superior. Genitals of the male and female were thought not to be very different, simply placed differently (according to Galin's model). Each female organ corresponded to a male one.

The one sex models privileged men yet there was perceived to be no biological difference between the sexes. There was an anxiety that women might one day become too hot and their genitals would fall outside of their bodies and therefore they could become male.

2. Reproduction

It was considered that both men and women got pleasure from sex.

"But out of all doubt, unlesse nature had prepared so many allurements, baits, and provocations of pleasure, there is scarce any man so hot or delighted in venereous acts, which considering and marking the place appointed for humane conception, the loathsomnesse of the filth which daily falleth downe unto it … but would shun them embraces of women. Nor would any woman desire the company of man, which once premeditates or forethings with her selfe on the labour shee shal sustaine in bearing the burden of her childe nine moneths, and of the almost deadly paines that she shall suffer in her delivery."
[Paré 887]

Here men would experience disgust, and women fear of death if it were not for the pleasure gained during sex. For Galin, climax was essential for both to create enough heat for two seeds to fertilise into a child. However there were arguments over whether each sex produced a seed, whether sex changes were possible and over what importance the clitoris is.

"The Clitoris is a sinewy hard body … and [it] will stand and fall as the Yard doth and makes women lustful and take delight in Copulation, and were it not for this they would have no desire delight, nor would they conceive … commonly it is but a small sprout, lying close hid under the Wings, and not easily felt, yet sometimes it grows so long that it hangs forth … like a Yard, and it will swell and stand stiff if it be provoked."
[(Sharp,1671) 1999, 39-40]

"If the Yard be of a moderate size, not too long, nor too short, it is as good as the Tongue is, but if the Yard be too long, the spirits in the seed flee away; if it be too short, it cannot carry the Seed home to the place it should do."
[(Sharp,1671) 1999, 24]

"The matter is the seed, which may fail three several [different] ways, wither when it is too much, and then the members are larger, or more than they should be, or too little, and then there will be some part or the whole too little, or else the seed of both sexes is ill mixed, as of men and women with beasts."
[(Sharp,1671) 1999, 91]

The above are taken from Jane Sharp's Midwive's Book of 1671. It is often perceived that sex was a taboo subject before the Victorian era but this is not the case.

3. Imagination and Monstrosity

It was thought at the time that the pregnant woman's imagination had an effect on the development of the child. This was the explanation for the 1.77% of intersex children Born each year. This theory was not very well developed but still it was a prevalent thought.

4. Humoural Theory

Parts of the human body were thought to conflict or consent through sympathy. Blood could change into substances such as milk, semen, etc.

The archetypal melancholic was Hamlet. He is one who shows 'unmanly' inactive behaviour that is akin to laziness. Claudius was the typical choler: his emotions rage in the flesh out of anger. The treatment for choleric was bleeding. It changed the balance of fluids against emotions and the body.

Lady Anne Halkett talked at length about letting the blood of Janet. Halkett had had some medical training and had done service to wounded soldiers. She probably used venesection - opening of a vein using a lancet.

"The indisposition that I heard my Daughter [1] was in att Pitfirane all this weeke was a trouble to mee to heare itt[, a]nd so much the more that the Long distemper I haue beene in my selfe (hauing nott these 9 months beene able to ride any where) made mee vnfitt to goe outt to see her. And my aprehensions for her was the greater because rising well outt of her bed shee tooke so sodaine & so violent a paine in her backe & one side yt shee was nott able to stirre butt as shee was caried to her bed. Docter St Clare was sent for & hee nott beeing in Towne & Doctor Halkett nott well himselfe could nott come to her[, a]nd so wanted them when shee had most need[. B]utt itt seemes Dr Halkett beeing informed of her condittion sent word to haue her take 9 or 10 ounces of blood. And this Morning hearing accidentally that shee had sent for Saundus Petry to doe itt[, a]nd hee nott beeing att home{,} I Looked vpon itt as a duty in mee too goe & offer my selfe to performe that seruice to her. [T]hough I had many debates with my selfe whether I should goe or noe[,] [321] first nott beeing well my selfe & then perhaps riding might make mee worse And yn I would nott bee able to performe the thing I went for. Then I considered how many whose imployment itt was to lett blood had had very ill succese with itt so that some had lost the vse of there arme.[2] And if such an accedent should fall outt vnder my hand itt would bee a trouble to mee as Long as I Liued. Butt on the otherside I considered that if any ill consequences should fall outt vpon her nott beeing bled; That on the otherside would trouble mee as much. So in this as in all things els of concerne; I sought the Lord[3] & hee heard mee and deliuered mee from all my feares. [F]or Blesed bee his holy Name I went outt safe & returned in safety And Lett her blood very well And I hope ye Lord will make itt conduce to her recouery. One of my troubles before I went was that this beeing a day of my retirement wch I indeauer to spend in Deuotion that my going outt would bee an interuption to that[.] Butt I considered with my selfe that itt was the retirement [322] of the heart from all vaine & sensuall delight[4] and to abstaine from all apeareance of euill which was the best way to make my abstaince[5] acceptable to God who was in all places, and therfore could make all places & occations contribute to that end for wch I doe deuote ye day to his seruice. I thought perhaps the Lord had giuen mee this occation to goe there this day to stirre vp my owne Deuotion by taking some prudent way to excite good thoughts and reflection in others. And I had the more opertunity to doe itt from the account my Daughter gaue mee of my Lord Newarke[6] who in a moment was choaked & neuer spoke a word. I had allso the sattisfaction of going quiettly into the roome where my Dearest Sr James died where; as I remembred his death (wch was vpon this day of the weeke) with a sencible sadnese So I could not adore & blese & Magnify the Great & holy God for suporting mee then vnder that affliction; And for continung his goodnese to mee vnto this minuiet [sic] vnder all the tryalls & troubles that I haue mett with neere 24 yeare wch none butt himselfe could doe[.] Exalted bee the God of my Saluation[, a]men[.]"
[Lady Anne Halkett, ‘Of Watchfulness.’ 1693/4-95. NLS Ms. 6500. 320-2]

Lecturer's Footnotes:
[1] I.e., Sir Charles Halkett’s wife, Janet.
[2] Although leeches were used in blood-letting in the seventeenth-century, Halkett’s reference to the potential loss of a limb suggests that she was planning to use venesection, which involved opening a vein, usually with a lancet (a small two-edged knife). A false cut could slice a nerve or a tendon (Johnson (1665): 441-4).
[3] psa/34/4.
[4] 1 The/5.22
[5] Sic. Possibly absence or abstain.
[6] Probably David Leslie, second Lord Newark, who succeeded to the title on his father’s death in 1682 (Henderson ‘Leslie’).