The path to such violence is progressive in all three of these characters. McEwan shows this especially in Jed, his first phone call to Joe saying ‘I understand what you’re feeling. I feel it too. I love you’ this shows to the reader Jed’s motivation for all his actions throughout the novel. Jed’s infatuation for Joe swiftly develops into an obsession that is later found out to be a disease known as de Clérambault’s Syndrome. McEwan develops this obsession by starting with Jed simply following Joe around; he then dedicates a few chapters to his letters to Joe which gives an insight in to his line of thinking. As the book comes to a climax Jed’s disorder becomes clear to the reader and McEwan reveals how instable Jed is when he tells Joe, ‘If you wouldn’t return my love, I thought I’d rather have you dead’. It is evident that Jed’s love for Joe had driven him mad. This is similar to Ferdinand and Othello after the deaths of The Duchess and Desdemona. However Ferdinand’s insanity can be interpreted as almost comical when in Act V scene V Ferdinand believes he is in the midst of a battle moments before he dies ‘Rally the vaunt-guard, or the day is lost!’’. Webster intended The Duchess of Malfi to be a play and therefore the actor can decide how to perform this scene; others could interpret Ferdinand’s behaviour as very serious since his stability is obviously destroyed from the loss he suffers.
The loss of a loved one is destructive to the widows in The Duchess of Malfi and Enduring Love. Jean Logan expresses her anger at the loss of John Logan; the opportunity to confront him about having an affair is taken away and she is left with a tainted memory. Joe comments on her emotional state, ‘what I was seeing was love, and the slow agony of its destruction.’ McEwan reaches out to the reader by making them sympathise with Jean to show how painful it is to lose her husband. The use of the word ‘raw’ to describe Jean’s upper lip has connotations to pain and this could be interpreted as the detrimental effects to the loss of a loved one. The Duchess on the other hand expresses despair demands Bosola for ‘mercy’ in the form of allowing her to die; ‘If they would bind me to that lifeless trunk/And let me freeze to death.’(A4 s1 l67) This shows that she would rather die than live with her loss; Webster reinforces this by following up with ‘That’s the greatest torture souls feel in hell,/In hell: that they must live, and cannot die.’(A4 s1 l68) The contrast of emotions in Jean’s anger and the Duchess’s sorrow may seem far apart but they suggest that McEwan and Webster both use the destructive nature of love to emphasise the impact of loss.
Love has the potential to destroy one’s good nature. This is expressed in Othello where the events in the play turn the Moor from a well respected General to a violent bully. Othello’s transformation of character is piloted by Iago; Shakespeare shows this in a verbal representation of Iago’s influence over Othello, he does this by making animal imagery a signature of Iago’s and then Othello uses it as he develops into a paranoid and violent ‘beast’ “O devil, devil!/If that the earth could teem with woman’s tear/Each drop would prove a crocodile”. Othello makes this quote after striking Desdemona which therefore proves his decline in good nature. The use of animal imagery Othello uses to describe Desdemona suggests that she is incapable to love him because animals do not know how to love. This is also used in The Duchess of Malfi where Ferdinand talks of the Duchess’ and her children’s deaths ‘The death/Of young wolves is never to be pitied.’ Shakespeare and Webster use this technique to make the Duchess and Desdemona seem inhuman and incapable of love. Bosola’s love for power affects his good nature in the same way as Othello; he was forced to be an instrument in the death of an innocent person against his will, ‘Faith, end here/And go no further in your cruelty’(A4 s2 l13). Bosola contradicts his own philosophy of the superficiality of people and how they shouldn’t try to be something they’re not which is exactly what he does when he familiarises himself with Ferdinand, however Bosola claims to be a good person when he realises the guilt of killing her and acknowledges he has merely “painted honour”. When the Duchess stirs he begs her to ‘Return fair soul from darkness, and lead mine out of this sensible hell!’ no matter how desperately he begs to redeem himself, she still dies. Bosola is then led to thinking that the only way he can make up for is evil is to kill Ferdinand. This shows once again a character resorting to violence which had originated from his love for power.
Love destroys relationships with multiple characters in the texts. Othello loses friendship with Cassio, The brothers don’t treat the Duchess like their sister when she falls in love with Antonio; although I think this is because the Brothers see her property of the state, Webster does this by making Ferdinand worry about her reputation, in Act III scene II he recites to her a condescending speech about reputation, “You have shook hands with reputation/And make him invisible. So fare you well. / I will never see you more.” The way Ferdinand phrases “shook hands” could be interpreted and a euphemism for sexual love with Antonio. Webster does this to show that love can destroy your reputation. However we only see Ferdinand threatening her once he thinks she might remarry so this could just be coming from his jealousy. Joe splits up with Clarissa when he is dealing with Jed being in love with him. This shows that love is destructive because if Othello didn’t care about Desdemona he would not have destroyed his relationship with one of his closest friends; similarly to Enduring Love, if Jed hadn’t have pursued Joe then Joe would not have had to experience the tragic events that nearly destroy his relationship with his girlfriend.
Not only is the nature of love destructive, but the lack of love is also destructive. In Act IV of The Duchess of Malfi, Ferdinand tries to “bring her to despair”(A4 s2 l13) and forces Bosola to break the Duchess’ spirit before he kills her by locking her up with madmen, a severed hand, and showing her wax corpses that she was led to believe were her family. Ferdinand succeeds and the Duchess is distraught by the loss of Antonio and her children. Webster emphasises her grief by saying “That’s the greatest torture souls feel in hell, /In hell: that they must live, and cannot die” this shows the destructive power of the lack of love; since she has no one to love she loses the will to live. Similarly to Jed wanting to kill himself for the same reason; both characters had no one left to love them and therefore they were prepared to die.
Sexual love is presented as destructive in Enduring Love and The Duchess of Malfi. In chapter twenty-three of Enduring Love Webster gives the reader a chance to see things from Clarissa’s perspective and she lists the reasons to why her relationship failed with Joe “You didn’t want to talk about anything else. Our sex life dwindled to almost nothing.” McEwan adds this factor to Joe and Clarissa’s relationship to show the how the lack of this kind of love can deteriorate the relationship two people have. On the other hand, Webster expresses a completely opposite attitude in The Duchess of Malfi where Ferdinand is talking to the Cardinal in Act II Scene V, “Excellent Hyena! Talk to me somewhat quickly,/ Or my imagination will carry me/ To see her in the shameful act of sin.” Webster makes it seem as if Ferdinand can’t help but think about his sister in the “act of sin” which suggests his despair and disgust as he goes on to say “Happily with some strong-thighed bargeman” this shows Ferdinand has thought about this with some detail and consequently provokes aggression ‘I could kill her now’(A2 s5 l63) This therefore shows that these examples sexual love can be detrimental in both aspects, depending on the perspective of the character.
It is clear that in all three of the texts that love causes key characters to turn insane or emotionally unstable. Ferdinand, Othello and Jed all go insane after dealing with the repercussions of love and lost love; it is arguable that Othello is not strictly insane, because he is not labelled with a condition or disease unlike Ferdinand and Jed. Nonetheless the reader still experiences a change for the worst. It is interesting how Othello is not technically insane but still manages to kill his wife whereas Jed was labelled with a mentally unstable Syndrome and yet he was only wounded. This could be because of Joe’s intervention however the reader experienced Jed’s capacity to do harm to himself whereas Othello is filled with emotion and intention with no one in his way. Ferdinand is different in the way that it is only until after he kills the Duchess that he realises the evil he has committed and consequently develops a case of lycanthropy.
Love compels some characters to take part in acts of protection, even though they can ultimately lead to pain or death. John Logan’s death was later analysed by Joe and he understood that if he did not hang on to the balloon then the child inside the would die; as a father he could understand the pain it would cause the boy’s parents and he therefore held on to the balloon out of the love of his own children. Jed’s obsession with Joe forced Joe to buy a gun to protect him from his potentially dangerous stalker which he eventually uses to stop Jed from using a knife on himself or Clarissa. All of Ferdinand’s actions can be interpreted as one big act of protection of his family throughout The Duchess of Malfi; the brothers see the Duchess as property of the state and their princely blood. Therefore the Ferdinand and the Cardinal forbid her to remarry. ‘No, nor any thing without the addition, honour,/Sway your high blood.’(A1 s1 l288) This is because the brothers fear that people would think her a whore if she were to love another man of lower status; as was the case in Italian court of the sixteen and seventeenth centuries. This would therefore explain the cruel acts that Ferdinand committed to the Duchess since he had to do everything to protect his family’s reputation.
Jed and the Duchess are similar in the way that they share a connection with their religion. Jed’s first interaction with Joe is offering religious comfort in the wake of John Logan’s death. Later in the novel Jed also says to Joe “God’s love […] It’s a warmth, it’s a heat and it can burn you Joe, it can consume you”. This can be interpreted as an innocent statement, however others can interpret this as a threat to Joe; the word consume suggests taking something against another’s will. The close connection to death and religion suggests God’s love can be destructive as the Duchess and Jed both have prerequisites with God before they feel they are allowed to die. The Duchess makes a statement of going on her knees so she can enter heaven in the last moments before her own death. Similarly to when Jed says ‘Please let me have this. I’m going to do it anyway. Let me have this one thing from you. Forgiveness, Joe. If you forgive me, God will too.’
Shakespeare and Webster use the destructive nature of love to help provide structure to each play. In The Duchess of Malfi the play does not stop when the Duchess is dead. Webster continues the play regardless of the main character not being alive; this is because Bosola drives the play on by exacting his revenge for the deaths that the Cardinal and Ferdinand are responsible for. Similarly, Iago drives the play of Othello. He relies on his friendship with the Moor and his jealous character to bring him to his downfall. Without Iago’s sabotage to Othello’s relationship with Desdemona the play would have no structure.
Love is an extremely deep and ambiguous concept. Love itself is a cause for different emotions and motivations. Each of the three texts uses the destructive nature of love to create motivation, ambition and atmosphere through a variety of literary techniques. When considering these three texts individually, the destructive nature of love allows Ian McEwan to create a satisfying climax, Shakespeare to incorporate the power of manipulation and Webster to drive a play on without the protagonist. Without the destructive nature of love none of the main characters of The Duchess of Malfi, Othello or Enduring Love would have the motivation to fulfil the roles in their respective texts.
Word Count: 2,929
Bibliography
Primary Texts
The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster, New Mermaids Edition, edited by Brian Gibbons, 1993
Othello, by William Shakespeare, The Arden Shakespeare Edition, edited by E. A. J. Honigmann, 1997
Enduring Love, by Ian McEwan, Vintage Books Edition, 1998
www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/othello
