{"id":242,"date":"2018-04-17T12:28:21","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T11:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/?page_id=242"},"modified":"2018-06-21T16:23:04","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T15:23:04","slug":"trust-vs-tragedy-girlsrule","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/trust-vs-tragedy-girlsrule\/","title":{"rendered":"Trust vs. Tragedy: #girlsrule"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jasmine Jade Plumpton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Yup. Even back then.<\/p>\n

In an article detailing the ways in which Catharine Trotter transforms Aphra Behn\u2019s 1688 novella, Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love<\/em>, Dawn M. Goode lays down how #feminist Trotter\u2019s adaptation is.[1] We know by now that the play\u2019s central relationship is between Princess Constantia and Agnes, and Goode argues that the triumph of this womance<\/strong> (which is the \u2018clean\u2019 alternative to the female equivalent of \u2018bromance\u2019, by the way) is indicative of \u2018homoerotic desire and moral transcendence\u2019.<\/p>\n

Well we know what that first bit means, but \u2018moral transcendence\u2019? We\u2019re guessing by that she means that the girls, in their love and unwavering trust of each other, transcend the messy, vengeful world of tragedy. You can read more about how Constantia is a misfit in the world of tragedy in our post\u00a0here! <\/a><\/p>\n

But Constantia and Agnes are not the only gals in this tragedy, and we can\u2019t say the same morale is followed by the plotting Elvira and Bianca! What Trotter achieves then, is a play in which the tragic action is both instigated and resisted by women, affording them most of the agency in the play. In this play, \u2018[n]o Monarch\u2019s pow\u2019rs so vast, as Woman\u2019s Empire, \/ The Conquerors of the World, submit to them.\u2019 (Act II, Scene I)<\/p>\n

In other words, girls rule.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Goode reminds us that despite the entire plot revolving around attempts to put the two in \u2018rivalship\u2019 with one another, Constantia doesn\u2019t doubt Agnes for long before concluding that her BFF just wouldn\u2019t go there. This is a key difference from Behn’s novel, in which ‘Constantia doubts Agnes’ loyalty and dies of grief’.[1] (Act III Scene I) This progression might well be interpreted as Trotter championing trust over tragic action: enter Elvira and Bianca to yank this play back into the realms of tragedy.<\/p>\n

Bianca probably describes Contantia’s unaffected attitude best when she furiously feeds back to Elvira about how the letter plot goes down:<\/p>\n

I’ll give it her th’ unwary Princess said.
\nAnd took it with an Air so unconcern’d,
\nAs plainly shew’d she fear’d not what she found,
\nAnd that a friendly Freedom made her read it,
\nNo Spark of jealous Curiosity. (Act III, Scene I)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clearly, Constantia is sure of Agnes\u2019 love for her enough to not be concerned about her potential emotional infidelity (this is one of the reasons she makes a rubbish tragic hero!) and her motivation for reading the letter was not out of malicious hope of catching Agnes out. Instead, it seems to be because of a sense of \u2018friendly Freedom\u2019, which we reckon means she knows Agnes so completely that she knows she\u2019d have her permission to read the letter (you know, like when your best friend has your Facebook password but it\u2019s cool because you know they won\u2019t tag your ex in a poop emoji meme<\/a>?)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to forget that this play has two central female relationships (I mean, the second is the evil duo we\u2019d like to forget.) The above quote shows how Elvira and Bianca are attempting to pit jealousy (a primary motivator in tragedy) against trust, and trust is clearly winning. What\u2019s interesting is that even this scheming duo have a trusting bond broken only by death. Bianca even tries to cover for a delirious Elvira when she blurts \u2018She [Constantia] says I\u2019ll own myself her Murderer; \/ Who\u2019ll be the Fool then? No body saw it.\u2019 (Act V, Scene I) It\u2019s only when she\u2019s on her deathbed due to Elvira\u2019s fatal mistake, that she admits \u2018Justice\u2019 is \u2018punishing my Crimes by her who caus\u2019d \u2018em\u2019 (Act V, Scene I).<\/p>\n

So there you have it, for better or for worse, these ladies stick together, and Trotter does a fantastic job of emphasizing the #girlpower<\/strong> in the narrative. The key difference between these two duos then, is the values on which the trust is founded, which brings us back to this \u2018moral transcendence\u2019 malarkey. As the passive, loving relationship between Agnes and Constantia is so \u2018anti-tragedy\u2019 (because, you know, tragedies rely on someone<\/em> seeking revenge and\/or getting stabbed!) it\u2019s interesting to consider how the second female relationship is functioning to pull an otherwise hunky-dory play into the realm of tragedy.<\/p>\n

Since one of our protagonists pops her socks pretty early on, we might say that Elvira best fulfills the role of the tragic hero as we follow her through her pursuits and schemes, although Bianca also fulfills certain features of it. Bianca does, after all, admit that her \u2018avarice\u2019 led her to obey Elvira, and Elvira is clearly motivated by jealousy. What Trotter’s adaptation perhaps does best then, is celebrating the power of trusting friendships between women, whilst showing them to be strong enough both to resist fatal temptation, and to revel in it!<\/p>\n

Top of Page<\/a><\/p>\n

[1] Dawn M. Goode, \u2018Enlightened Female Homoeroticism and Social Transformation in Catharine Trotter\u2019s Agnes de Castro<\/em>\u2019, Restoration: Studies in English Literary Culture<\/em>, 1660-1700, 37:1 (2013), p. 20.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0Catharine Trotter,\u00a0Agnes de Castro (1696) <\/em>– Available online,\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
By Jasmine Jade Plumpton.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jasmine Jade Plumpton Yup. Even back then. In an article detailing the ways in which Catharine Trotter transforms Aphra Behn\u2019s 1688 novella, Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love, Dawn M. Goode lays down how #feminist Trotter\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6002,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-242","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/242\/revisions\/336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}