Dissembling Disability: Performances of the Non- Standard Body in Early Modern England【翻译】

ABSTRACT
The fear of able-bodied people pretending to be disabled was rampant in early
modern England. Thieves were reputed to feign impairment in order to con charity out of
well-meaning Christians. People told stories about these deceptive rogues in widely
circulated prose pamphlets, sung about them in popular ballads, and even recorded their
purported actions in laws passed to curb their counterfeiting. Feigned disability was
especially prevalent—and potent—on the stage. Over thirty plays feature one or more
able-bodied characters performing physical impairment. This dissertation examines the
theatrical tradition of dissembling disability and argues that it played a central role in the
cultural creation of disability as a category of identity. On the stage, playwrights teased
out stereotypes about the non-standard body, specifically the popular notion that
disability was always both deeply pitiful and, simultaneously, dangerously criminal and
counterfeit. Fears of false disability, which surged during the English Reformation,
demanded a policing of boundaries between able-bodied and disabled persons and
inspired the first legal definition of disability in England. Rather than resolving the issue
of physical difference, as the legal and religious authorities attempted to do, the theater
revealed and reveled in the myriad complications of the non-standard body. The many
plays that feature performances of dissembling disability use the trope to interrogate
issues of epistemological proof, ask theological questions about charity and virtue, and,
especially, explore the relationship between the body and identity. Fraudulent disability
also had important literary uses as well; playwrights employed this handy theatrical
instrument to construct character, to solve narrative problems, to draw attention to the
manufactured theatricality of their dramas, and, often, to critique the practices of the
commercial theater. Expanding beyond the medical perspectives offered by the few
studies that have considered early modern disability, I argue that these performances
emerge out of a complex network of literary, religious, and social concerns. For all that
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fraudulent disability may have been itself a type of fraud, trumped up by the state, the
church, and the theater for their own diverse ends, it still wielded enormous influence in
shaping notions of the non-standard body that are still current.
Abstract Approved: ____________________________________
Thesis Supervisor
____________________________________
Title and Department
____________________________________
Date
DISSEMBLING DISABILITY: PERFORMANCES OF THE NON-STANDARD
BODY IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND
by
Lindsey Dawn Row-Heyveld
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the Doctor of
Philosophy degree in English
in the Graduate College of
The University of Iowa
July 2011
Thesis Supervisor: Professor Claire Sponsler
Copyright by
LINDSEY DAWN ROW-HEYVELD
2011
All Rights Reserved
Graduate College
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL
_______________________
PH.D. THESIS
_______________
This is to certify that the Ph.D. thesis of
Lindsey Dawn Row-Heyveld
has been approved by the Examining Committee
for the thesis requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy
degree in English at the July 2011 graduation.
Thesis Committee: ___________________________________
Claire Sponsler, Thesis Supervisor
___________________________________
Miriam Gilbert
___________________________________
Adam Hooks
___________________________________
Blaine Greteman
___________________________________
Douglas Baynton
ii
To the memory of
Huston Diehl
(1948-2010)
iii
I am unable, yonder begger cries,
To stand, or move; if he say true, hee lies
John Donne
“A lame beggar”
iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In completing a project focused on charity, I have received much charity myself. I
offer here poor thanks for the rich generosity of the many people who helped make this
project possible.
First and foremost, Huston Diehl gave life to this dissertation. She encouraged my
first forays into early modern disability studies at the beginning of my graduate career,
provided great insight and enthusiasm as I began to shape the project, and perceptively
guided the completion of the first several chapters. She did all of this with her
characteristic warmth, humor, and sharp scholarly eye, even as my progress through
graduate school paralleled the progress of her cancer. Her unfailing support and
encouragement of me—as a scholar and as a person—is a gift I could not hope to repay
and one that has sustained me even in her absence.
I have benefitted greatly from the hard work and generosity of Claire Sponsler,
who oversaw the final stages of this dissertation; its completion would not have been
possible without her thoughtful assistance and pragmatism. Adam Hooks provided
invaluable advice about my dissertation and my job search. Doug Baynton supplied me
with engaging, challenging perspectives on disability studies throughout my graduate
career. Blaine Greteman graciously agreed to be on my dissertation committee at the last
minute. While she was still at Iowa, Gina Bloom rightly insisted that I could not avoid
Richard III; the paper she fostered eventually grew into Chapter 4 and I greatly
appreciate her help in beginning this project. Above all, Miriam Gilbert championed my
work and challenged my thinking, cheering me on from the very beginning to the very
end. I am especially grateful for her unwavering support and kindness.
David Wood and Allison Hobgood have been great friends and great colleagues
since the moment I met them. I am tremendously thankful for their generosity and their
cheerleading.
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I want to express my ongoing thanks to Brad Shaw and Brian Hartley. I never
would have considered pursuing a career in higher education without the
encouragement—and inspiration—they have provided me.
This dissertation is largely a product of the time afforded me by the
Ballard/Seashore Dissertation Year Fellowship granted by the University of Iowa
Graduate College, and I am grateful for their funding of my work. My thanks extend to
the University of Iowa Department of English for the Freda Dixon Malone Dissertation
Research Scholarship, which facilitated research necessary to complete Chapter 3.
My parents and my brothers have gifted me with their faithful support for years.
They are the ones who first modeled for me a love of literature and a devotion to charity.
Even from thousands of miles away, Joanne Nystrom Janssen invested her time,
intellect, and care in me and in my project. Her generous collaboration is responsible for
the best parts of this dissertation, and her constant encouragement kept me going through
the worst parts of it. I am privileged to be her scholarly partner and her friend.
Because Zachary Row-Heyveld told me that he would break up with me if I didn’t
go to graduate school, I went. And only because of his patience, hard work, and endless
faith in me have I managed to finish. He has taught me more about charity—about love—
than a world of books.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1
CHAPTER
I. ACT THE FOOL: THE TRADITION OF FRAUDULENT DISABILITY
IN JOHN MARSTON’S ANTONIO’S REVENGE AND BEN
JONSON’S BARTHOLOMEW FAIR ..............................................................15
Rogue Revenge: Counterfeiting Disability in Revenge Tragedy and
Antonio’s Revenge ..........................................................................................18
The Dramatic Relationship of John Marston and Ben Jonson .......................37
A Fool and His Money are Soon Parted (by a Madman): Fraudulent
Disability in Bartholomew Fair .....................................................................43
II. FEMINIZED DISABILITY AND DISABLED FEMININITY IN FAIR
EM AND JOHN FLETCHER’S THE PILGRIM ...........................................61
Fictions of Contradiction: Women and Fraudulent Disability .......................65
Fair Play: Fair Em and Disability Drag ..........................................................76
The Pilgrim’s Progress and Regress: Variations on Women
Counterfeiting Disability ...............................................................................89
III. “THIS LAMENESS WILL NOT SERVE”:LABOR, GENDER, AND
DISABILITY IN THE FAIR MAID OF THE EXCHANGE AND
THOMAS DEKKER’S THE SHOEMAKER’S HOLIDAY ..........................104
Men at Work: Disability, Masculinity, and the Labor Economy .................106
“Take my crooked habite”: Disability and Masculine Commerce in
The Fair Maid of the Exchange ...................................................................111
On the Other Foot: Community, Disability, and The Shoemaker’s
Holiday ........................................................................................................137
IV. PLAYING PARTS: PERFORMATIVITY AND DISABILITY IN
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD III AND KING LEAR ..............162
“Dissembling Looks”: The Performativity of Disability in Richard III .......164
“To Feel What Wretches Feel”: Charity and Dissembling Disability
in King Lear .................................................................................................181
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................201
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................206

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