Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
Journal issue | 50 | 2016
Research Article | “Let Me Have Claudio’s Head”
Abstract
In an attempt to produce a reconstruction of the genealogy of the sources, this essay investigates the relationship between Measure for Measure and the Gospel of Matthew, examining in particular the possibility that the episode related to Claudio’s supposed beheading is somehow associated with the death of John the Baptist, as recorded in Matthew 14:1-12. In Shakespeare as well as in the Evangelist’s text, the request for the head is charged with a highly symbolic value: it is a visualization of the triumph, the gift that the instigator makes to his own superiority, a narcissistic gratification. It is an expression of personal affirmation; an acknowledgment of one’s own power and of the capacity to make it operative. Doing violence becomes an investigation of one’s own political force. It represents the violation of the corpse, the desecration of the relic. But it is also an appalling solution to put to rest any possible accusation related to immoral or illicit relationships condemned by the law. Moreover, it is a violent act, secretly perpetrated, with neither moral purposes nor royal warning.
Submitted: May 12, 2016 | Accepted: July 6, 2016 | Published Sept. 30, 2016 | Language: en
Keywords John the Baptist • Measure for Measure • Shakespeare • Matthew’s Gospel
Copyright © 2016 Giuseppe Leone. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/2499-1562/AnnOc-50-16-15
Linguistics
Literature, Culture, History
DC Field | Value |
---|---|
dc.identifier |
ECF_article_387 |
dc.title |
“Let Me Have Claudio’s Head”. The Beheading of John the Baptist as a Remote Source in Measure for Measure |
dc.contributor.author |
Leone Giuseppe |
dc.publisher |
Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing |
dc.type |
Research Article |
dc.language.iso |
en |
dc.identifier.uri |
http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/annali-di-ca-foscari-serie-occidentale/2016/1/let-me-have-claudios-head/ |
dc.description.abstract |
In an attempt to produce a reconstruction of the genealogy of the sources, this essay investigates the relationship between Measure for Measure and the Gospel of Matthew, examining in particular the possibility that the episode related to Claudio’s supposed beheading is somehow associated with the death of John the Baptist, as recorded in Matthew 14:1-12. In Shakespeare as well as in the Evangelist’s text, the request for the head is charged with a highly symbolic value: it is a visualization of the triumph, the gift that the instigator makes to his own superiority, a narcissistic gratification. It is an expression of personal affirmation; an acknowledgment of one’s own power and of the capacity to make it operative. Doing violence becomes an investigation of one’s own political force. It represents the violation of the corpse, the desecration of the relic. But it is also an appalling solution to put to rest any possible accusation related to immoral or illicit relationships condemned by the law. Moreover, it is a violent act, secretly perpetrated, with neither moral purposes nor royal warning. |
dc.relation.ispartof |
Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale |
dc.relation.ispartof |
Vol. 50 | September 2016 |
dc.issued |
2016-09-30 |
dc.dateAccepted |
2016-07-06 |
dc.dateSubmitted |
2016-05-12 |
dc.identifier.issn |
|
dc.identifier.eissn |
2499-1562 |
dc.rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License |
dc.rights.uri |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
dc.identifier.doi |
10.14277/2499-1562/AnnOc-50-16-15 |
dc.peer-review |
yes |
dc.subject |
John the Baptist |
dc.subject |
John the Baptist |
dc.subject |
Matthew’s Gospel |
dc.subject |
Matthew’s Gospel |
dc.subject |
Measure for Measure |
dc.subject |
Measure for Measure |
dc.subject |
Shakespeare |
dc.subject |
Shakespeare |
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