Make Room for the Bouncing Belly
The favorite of this week's reading is by far Thomas Carew's Coelum Britannicum (although Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue does have the eternally unmatched line: "Beware of dealing with the belly" (163)). Several themes (not surprisingly) connect these texts--issues of empire, questions of history and its link to/influence on contemporary and future time, a concern with in/corporeality and, specifically, deformity--but I find that Carew's work unites them in more complex and fascinating ways, and he does so primarily (and wonderfully) through the character of Momus.
Coelum Britannicum opens with Mercury informing us of the greatness of Britain's rulers; they are, in fact, so great that through only their illustrious examples of virtue, they have convinced Jove of his own moral reprehensibility, causing him to turn over a new leaf, so to speak. (But more on this later.) In this scene, the imperialists (and by extension, the colonial project) are praised and marvelled at as being things benevolent and kind, majestic faces possessing "imperial brows" unmarred by the "regal circle [that] prints no awful frowns / To fright your subjects" (167). The language continues in ways reminiscent of the sixteenth-century Cult of Love: the sovereigns display calm[ing] eyes that "[s]hed joy and safety on their [subjects'] melting hearts / That flow with cheerful loyal reverences" (167). Clearly in Coelum Britannicum one can be a good colonizer or a bad colonizer, but the term seems not essentially bent one way or the other.
A striking aspect of imperialism in this context (and in that of Jove's court) is its connection with the body. Here, sweet looks (as opposed to, perhaps, the rather inherent nature of authority in the title of "king" or "queen") cause hearts (not minds, to risk reifying the mind/body dualism) to melt and ooze with requited love. The ruled populous appears to possess a type of agency here--a somewhat drippy, passionate agency--that is constructed as desiring such governance, much like "weak-willed but amorous" women are imagined in some misogynistic popular thought to actively desire male sexual dominance. The people are in love with these "glorious twins of love and majesty" (167), though in a way that ultimately rejects the body and its lusts as things unvirtuous.
For as we see in the masque's continuation, corporeal desire is a dominant characteristic of Jove's empire. Whereas the "good" sovereign(s) shed only joy on the puddled hearts of their subjects, Jove sheds clothing, linking sexuality, sexual expression, and sexual violence with notions of "bad" imperialism. "Of old," we are told, "when youthful blood conspired / With his new empire, prone to lust, / He acted incests, rapes, adulturies / On earthly beauties..." (167-168). It is important to emphasize that the pursuit and possession of empire itself is not viewed here as (an) act(s) of gendered/sexual violence, but rather the mixing of "youthful blood" (a very bodily metaphor) with the ability to exercise power over colonized women.
But, as previously stated, Jove has decided to reform. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this confession and repentance is intent to purge and (re)write history, beginning with the "eternal records of his shame / Shin[ing] to the world in flaming characters" (168). Though much could be said about just these few lines, I couldn't possibly do them justice at the moment, and so I'll continue to the best part of Coelum Britannicum: Momus, the "Protonotary of Abuses" (169). A dark and witty historian warring with a hyper-revisionist intent on obliterating the records of his shame inscribed on human (now "natural[ly] deform[ed]" (173)) flesh. Seriously, can it get any better?
Only if you throw in several mentions of female genitalia as "two-leaved book[s]" and Jove as having previously "stretch[ed] his limbs [...] betwixt adulterous sheets" (170). Sheets as in bed sheets? ... Sheets as in book pages? ... Jove as a kind of sexual bookmark? I love this winking ambiguity.
Coelum Britannicum opens with Mercury informing us of the greatness of Britain's rulers; they are, in fact, so great that through only their illustrious examples of virtue, they have convinced Jove of his own moral reprehensibility, causing him to turn over a new leaf, so to speak. (But more on this later.) In this scene, the imperialists (and by extension, the colonial project) are praised and marvelled at as being things benevolent and kind, majestic faces possessing "imperial brows" unmarred by the "regal circle [that] prints no awful frowns / To fright your subjects" (167). The language continues in ways reminiscent of the sixteenth-century Cult of Love: the sovereigns display calm[ing] eyes that "[s]hed joy and safety on their [subjects'] melting hearts / That flow with cheerful loyal reverences" (167). Clearly in Coelum Britannicum one can be a good colonizer or a bad colonizer, but the term seems not essentially bent one way or the other.
A striking aspect of imperialism in this context (and in that of Jove's court) is its connection with the body. Here, sweet looks (as opposed to, perhaps, the rather inherent nature of authority in the title of "king" or "queen") cause hearts (not minds, to risk reifying the mind/body dualism) to melt and ooze with requited love. The ruled populous appears to possess a type of agency here--a somewhat drippy, passionate agency--that is constructed as desiring such governance, much like "weak-willed but amorous" women are imagined in some misogynistic popular thought to actively desire male sexual dominance. The people are in love with these "glorious twins of love and majesty" (167), though in a way that ultimately rejects the body and its lusts as things unvirtuous.
For as we see in the masque's continuation, corporeal desire is a dominant characteristic of Jove's empire. Whereas the "good" sovereign(s) shed only joy on the puddled hearts of their subjects, Jove sheds clothing, linking sexuality, sexual expression, and sexual violence with notions of "bad" imperialism. "Of old," we are told, "when youthful blood conspired / With his new empire, prone to lust, / He acted incests, rapes, adulturies / On earthly beauties..." (167-168). It is important to emphasize that the pursuit and possession of empire itself is not viewed here as (an) act(s) of gendered/sexual violence, but rather the mixing of "youthful blood" (a very bodily metaphor) with the ability to exercise power over colonized women.
But, as previously stated, Jove has decided to reform. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this confession and repentance is intent to purge and (re)write history, beginning with the "eternal records of his shame / Shin[ing] to the world in flaming characters" (168). Though much could be said about just these few lines, I couldn't possibly do them justice at the moment, and so I'll continue to the best part of Coelum Britannicum: Momus, the "Protonotary of Abuses" (169). A dark and witty historian warring with a hyper-revisionist intent on obliterating the records of his shame inscribed on human (now "natural[ly] deform[ed]" (173)) flesh. Seriously, can it get any better?
Only if you throw in several mentions of female genitalia as "two-leaved book[s]" and Jove as having previously "stretch[ed] his limbs [...] betwixt adulterous sheets" (170). Sheets as in bed sheets? ... Sheets as in book pages? ... Jove as a kind of sexual bookmark? I love this winking ambiguity.
posted by alh at 11:14 PM
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