Book Review: Women Beware Women
I find no wish in me bent sinfully
To this mans sister, or to that man’s wife:
In love’s name let ‘em keep their honesties,
And cleave to their own husbands, ’tis their duties.
Ooo this is a goodie. I mean it’s a tragedy, but still, it’s a delicious one. The thing about tragedy is the we do love watching a train crash happen sometimes. This one by Thomas Middleton is no different. This is an intertwining tale of woe, lust, murder and deception - all the essential ingredients of a good old fashioned tragedy.
Right so the nitty gritty of the plot involves a “stolen” Lady called Bianca. She’s not really stolen because we all know she willingly followed her husband Leantio. She comes from wealth and he does not. To say her parents are pissed is an understatement. But this is not the start of the ensuing mad hack drama. The fact that the Duke of this unknown Italian town spots Bianca and rapes her into becoming his mistress. THATS when shit start to go down. I mean the family of the Duke is a little messed up, but not as much as his sister Livia. Livia starts an affair with Leantio, Bianca’s Husband. Livia then gets her niece to start an affair with her uncle, so that’s incest. And then there’s a young ward who is an idiot and he is betrothed to Livia’s niece. I think you can see why this family is so messed up and why it all ends (spoiler alert) in bloodshed. I mean there’s incest, there’s murder, double murder, ghosts coming back to haunt those who instigated crimes. Like its a hot mess. But a great hot mess. The reason why Thomas Middleton’s play resounds is that its based on a real story. A lady called Bianca who eloped with a poor man and then became the mistress of Duke Fransesco 1 De Medici of Tuscany. And yes Bianca’s first husband died in mysterious circumstances.
But here’s where we need to be critical. Let’s focus on the title of this piece ‘Women Beware Women’. Now is this title telling women to beware other women because contextually the women in this play are the instigators of woe, they begin the plans of murder of deceit. True, they only reached these conclusions because of their place in a society ruled by men. The men in this ply dominated them. However, the Duke had a weakness for women, therefore women would be the linchpin of his downfall. Another aspect of this title of a general warning for the same reasons listed above ‘Women beware women’ could be a warning to others, just because women appear weak- doesn’t mean that their minds are. Livia keeps Bianca’s guardian occupied whilst the Duke whisks Bianca away to be raped. Livia’s niece, Isabella trick, fools and ultimately humiliates the young Ward with her sexuality and her affair with there uncle. Essentially, do not underestimate women. William Congreve said it well “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.”
Although the intertwining tales of woe is a damn good read, and even more exciting to watch (should you get the chance) it does end rather abruptly. Death just keeps coming, not falling like dominoes, but like a wrecking ball in the final act. It is also a little too pious for me, of course the people who cope out of this well are the religious leaders. In this case it's the Duke’s brother, The Cardinal. It's rather trie if you ask me. Of course this play was written in a time just after Queen Elizabeth the 1st had died, there was religious tolerance between the Catholics and the Protestants, although little is known about the plays performance history it has become more important to audiences over the past 60 years. It is seen less as a religious-revenge-tragedy and more of a new-wave feminist struggle against the patriarchy tragedy-thing.
It is a tough play to put on, delicious to read, but its hard to watch. The language is rich, ambiguous and, for its time, daring. I think because of its structure and the need to end it all so quickly it doesn’t always get great reviews. But perhaps if we look at the content rather than the structure then we can see this plays worth. Women Beware Women looks at the monumental strength of women in the face of harsh circumstances, sure sometimes they instigated it and set the scene for their own downfalls. This is no ordinary cat fight, women have always fought to survive. Maybe in a male dominated time it wasn’t received well. Because who knew women could be so frightening.