{"id":93,"date":"2018-02-21T09:40:47","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T09:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/?page_id=93"},"modified":"2018-06-21T16:23:04","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T15:23:04","slug":"ex-boyfriends-are-just-off-limits-to-friends-i-mean-thats-just-like-the-rules-of-feminism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/ex-boyfriends-are-just-off-limits-to-friends-i-mean-thats-just-like-the-rules-of-feminism\/","title":{"rendered":"“Ex-boyfriends are just off limits to friends!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

“That’s just like, the rules of feminism!”<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

As a tragedy, Catherine Trotter\u2019s 1696 Agnes de Castro<\/em> is a play obsessed<\/em> with fervent emotion, and, in particular, that pesky sinker of friendships: jealousy. So obsessed, in fact, that one could quite easily mistake the plot for an early, slightly less hot-pink draft of Mean Girls<\/em><\/a>. I\u2019m serious, the resemblance is uncanny: mysterious, otherworldly outsider arrives and wreaks havoc on the status quo by befriending the popular girl \u2013 ring any bells?<\/p>\n

There are a few key differences, however, with one of them being that the back-stabbing in this play is *spoiler alert<\/strong>* rather more literal. What is interesting, then, is how the absence of this writhing emotion in the Princess is misconstrued, particularly by Elvira (who’s possibly the most afflicted by envy and is basically the play\u2019s Gretchen Weiners<\/a>) as apathy.<\/p>\n

In Agnes<\/em>, the plot is undoubtedly propelled by the acts of envy performed by the characters, who are constantly seeking revenge on one another\u2014the classic conflict resulting from a complex web of unrequited love (sigh<\/em>). Interestingly, Princess Constantia is the only character not to react on impulse with anger and envy in the face of betrayal. Instead she reflects on her situation and, empathetic with the emotional plight of others, informs her reaction with feelings of love (killing em\u2019 with kindness,<\/a>\u00a0Selena Gomez might say). While the Prince begs for punishment to ease him of his guilt, she responds, ‘[o]h Dear Prince! there’s not a part of me, \/ That is not fill’d with softest Love for thee.\u2019 (Act I, Scene II) Granted, it sounds like the inside of a badly written Valentine\u2019s card, but it gets the point across.<\/p>\n

In the world of tragedy, however, the \u2018soft\u2019 love and empathy with which Constantia responds renders her an anomaly. Elvira emphasizes the irregularity of this response in the following passage:<\/p>\n

The Princess is a singular Example
\nOf Apathy, which Stoicks preach’d in vain;
\nFor Nature’s Laws were still more strong than theirs:
\nBut sure Constantia’s of another Kind,
\nNot made of the same Elements with us,
\nOr Nature, forming her, forgot the Fire.\u00a0(Act III, Scene I)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Elvira mentions the \u2018Stoicks\u2019, who were followers of a philosophy called \u2018stoicism\u2019 which preached that the best way of combating evil was with cool indifference (keep calm and carry on, if you will).[1] One might read this as if they were thus equating the root of evil with passionate emotion, and apathy with the water that might douse such flaming temperaments (adds a whole new level of meaning to \u2018the Burn<\/em> Book<\/a>\u2019!)<\/p>\n

This assumption sort of holds up in the world of tragedy, too; those plagued most with envy and rage are, after all, the ones who end up committing murders. Elvira insists that this indifferent approach was ‘preach’d in vain; \/ [f]or Nature’s Laws were still more strong than theirs’, insisting that our envious human nature may not be overridden by such indifference. That is, we are doomed by the ‘[e]lements’ from which we are made up to experience intensely emotional responses to acts of betrayal and wrongdoing against us, igniting a burning desire in us to fight fire with fire.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Elvira accuses Constantia of defying \u2018Nature\u2019s Laws\u2019. Indeed, relationship psychology tells us that jealousy serves a crucial evolutionary function<\/a>, and Constantia\u2019s apparent lack of it may make her one \u2018of another Kind\u2019. While Elvira insists that Constantia is an outlier in the natural world, I\u2019d like to suggest that she is, perhaps, even more of an anomaly in the world of tragedy. While she meets a classic tragic fate, her hamartia<\/em> (i.e. fatal flaw) is not pride or egoism, but rather a deep empathy and tender love which cannot possibly prevail in a realm riddled with revenge and rage.<\/p>\n

Elvira insists that Constantia lacks the natural ‘fire’ which nature instills in us; by this Elvira may be referring to the humor of ‘yellow bile’<\/a> which was believed to be one of the four metabolic agents of the elements in the human body and was thought to represent fire, an excess of which was said to be inflammatory, and thus strengthen and encourage passionate emotions such as anger, ambition and envy. If \u2018Nature\u2026forgot the fire\u2019 whilst \u2018forming her\u2019, what it instilled instead was perhaps not exactly ‘Apathy’, but rather a soft-glowing ember incapable of being fanned to a raging fire by any self-pitying Prince or backstabbing ex-best-friend.<\/p>\n

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

[1] Margret R. Graver, Stoicism and Emotion<\/em>\u00a0(London: Chicago Press, 2007) p.56.<\/p>\n

[2] Ellen S. Berscheid, ed. Pamela C. Regan,\u00a0The Psychology of Interpersonal Relationships<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Routledge, 2004) p. 387.<\/p>\n

[3] Catharine Trotter, Agnes de Castro <\/em>(1696) Available online, here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“That’s just like, the rules of feminism!” By Jasmine Jade Plumpton As a tragedy, Catherine Trotter\u2019s 1696 Agnes de Castro is a play obsessed with fervent emotion, and, in particular, that pesky sinker of friendships: jealousy. So obsessed, in fact, … 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-93","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/93","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=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/93\/revisions\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sel3392-agnes-de-castro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}