《无事生非》中母亲缺席的研究

A Study of the Maternal Absence in Much Ado
about Nothing
《无事生非》中母亲缺席的研究
温惠越
【摘要】威廉•莎士比亚，英国文学史上最杰出的戏剧家，1600年左右出版的《无事生非》凭借其中鲜明的人物塑造和狡黠的台词，成为莎翁浪漫爱情喜剧代表作品之一。

本
文着重关注《无事生非》中希罗母亲缺席的现象，从南希•乔德罗母亲角色再生理
论的角度分析《无事生非》中希罗母亲在场的缺席对希罗认识性别身份和性别关系
的影响，从而指出女性的自我认同和性别平等的实现，需要从女性自身自我意识觉
醒开始，比如对母亲角色和性别身份在母女关系中再生的反思。

通过莎士比亚及作
品《无事生非》，阐明了目前的研究现状，阐释了南希•乔德罗母亲角色再生理论。

探究希罗在母亲缺席的情况下对女性角色的认识。

分析希罗在母亲缺席中对男性角
色的认识。

分析希罗在母亲缺席中对性别关系的认识。

总结出《无事生非》中的母
亲在场式缺席对希罗的影响.揭示了性别角色和性别关系在母女关系中继承和再生，
呼吁对此进行反思，从女性自我意识觉醒开始去实现女性的自我认同和性别平等。

【关键词】莎士比亚；《无事生非》；母亲缺席
[Abstract]William Shakespeare,the most prominent dramatist in British literature,is famous in the world for his38plays and154sonnets.Published approximately in1600,Much
Ado about Nothing is one of the master romantic comedies of Shaskepeare for the
well-portrayed characters and witty lines.The present absence of Hero's mother is
emphasized in this thesis from the perspective of Nancy Chodorow's mothering
reproduction theory to analyze the influence of such maternal absence on Hero's
recognition of gender roles and gender relationship,thus indicating that the
achievement of self-identification and gender equality needs to start from female's
self-awareness,such as the introspection of mother's role and the inheritance of
mother-daughter identity.The thesis consists of five parts.The first part is a brief
introduction to Shakespeare and Much Ado about Nothing as well as literature review,
including an explanation of Nancy Chodorow's mothering reproduction theory and the
significance of this study.The second part analyzes the female roles in the maternal
absence.The third part focuses on the male roles in the maternal absence.The fourth
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part addresses the gender relationship in patriarchy.Based on the analysis hereinbefore,
the fifth part concludes that by analyzing the influence of maternal absence on Hero it
is revealed the inheritance and reproduction of gender roles and gender relationship in
mother-daughter relation together with the introspection of this phenomenon and
female self-awareness are demanded in order to achieve self-identification and gender
equality.
[Key Words]Shakespeare;Much Ado about Nothing;maternal absence
Introduction
In the past four hundred centuries,William Shakespeare has been widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and one of the most extraordinary dramatists in the world, being famous for his38plays,154sonnets,two long narrative poems and a few other verses. Among his comedies,Much Ado about Nothing is an outstanding one for its witty dialogue and romantic story as well as impressive characters.This play tells a story that when Don Pedro,a Spanish prince from Aragon,returns from a successful battle and visits Leonato,the governor of Messina in Sicily,with his soldiers Claudio and Benedick,Claudio falls in love with Leonato's only daughter Hero while there is a kind of merry war between Benedick and Beatrice,Hero's cousin.Then Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other,by hearing others,talk about the other deeply falling in love with him and her respectively,while Claudio is tricked into rejecting Hero at the wedding ceremony on the erroneous belief that she has been unfaithful,resulting in that Claudio vows to humiliate Hero publicly.In the end, Benedick and Beatrice join forces to set things right,and all people celebrate the marriages of the two couples.
During the recent fifteen years,more than one hundred and forty researches on Much Ado about Nothing have been done domestically,more than one hundred and twenty researches overseas, according to the statistics on CNKI.Most of them focus on the linguistic aspect,such as"On(Im) politeness of Discourses in Much Ado about Nothing，,and on Shakespeare's realization of love, such as"An Exploration of the Love Stories in Shakespeare's comedies".
However,little research has been made about the phenomenon of maternal absence in this play. It is widely accepted that in Much Ado about Nothing Hero is an obedient and virtuous lady because she is a woman in high class at that time,concluding all the causes of personality formation to the environmental elements,like social convention and moral principles,in the16th century and neglecting that Leonato,Hero's father,has a silent wife named Innogen(Shakespeare2014:7)who does not have a single word in this play and forms a kind of maternal absence.
Besides,a great number of feminism theories focus on the relation between mother and daughter and its influences.For instance,taking its cue from psychoanalytic object relations theory, The Reproduction of Mothering.Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender(1978)by Nancy
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Chodorow indicates that relying on the foundation of taking a prior place in family,females as mothers have the significant influence on the next generation in the aspect of identity,personality and other realization materially and psychologically in a reproduction way,and a daughter has more recognition about the mother image in many perspectives.Specifically,Chodorow explains her ideas in this profound book:“Women's mothering is central to the sexual division of labor. Women's maternal role has profound effects on women's lives,on ideology about women,on the reproduction of masculinity and sexual inequality,and on the reproduction of particular forms of labor reproduction.M(Chodorow1978:11)
Therefore,by analyzing the influences of maternal absence on Hero in Much Ado about Nothing from the perspective of Nancy Chodorow's mothering reproduction theory,it is revealed that the achievement of self-identification and gender equality needs to start from female's self-awareness, such as the introspection of mother's role and the inheritance of mother-daughter identity.
1The Female Roles in the Maternal Absence
As a well-known saying goes"like father like son",the influences of parents on children are too significant to be ignored.Nancy Chodorow believes that''Externality and internality,then,do not follow easily observable physiological boundaries but are constituted by psychological and emotional processes as well(Chodorow1989:103)."And here"intemality"一Hero's understanding of female roles(mother,daughter and wife)is under the circumstance of maternal absence.
1.1Inactive Mother
Most of the readers and audiences of Much Ado about Nothing realize that there is a phenomenon of maternal absence in this play,but hardly know that Hero's mother does exist.Many people notice that the heroine Hero seems to have no mother and her cousin Beatrice seems an orphan,never observing that Hero has not only one parent Leonato in this play,because there is not any word or diction of her mother but"Innogen,his silent wife"four words in the list of characters. Consequently,indeed many a stage or film adaptations of Much Ado about Nothing even does not have an actress to play Hero's mothe匚
There is no single letter in the plot that can trace what Hero's mother might think or do. Chronologically she meets her future son-in-law Claudio,knowing that they make efforts to make her niece Beatrice and Benedick,a close friend of Claudio,fall in love with each other,attends her daughter's wedding ceremony while witnesses that her only child is framed up and insulted of adultery,falsely announces her daughter's death,sees all the misunderstandings ironed out and joins the dance on the two・couple's wedding ceremony.For people who are living,it is impossible to feel nothing when encountering all sorts of events.Nevertheless,during the whole story there is no slight evidence of her reaction.
Hero's mother becomes a present absentee in the play.It is totally fine with everyone in this
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play that Hero's mother is silent about everything,given the fact that no one has an idea to ask what she may feel or for her help,which is an evidence of patriarchal culture:females,personal thoughts cannot be expressed and have no importance.This kind of well・accepted phenomenon can be supported by Luce Irigaray,a French feminist,philosopher,linguist,psycholinguist, psychoanalyst and cultural theorist.She gives a bold perspective that the establishment of western culture is based on matricide:to found the primal horde and to establish a certain order in the polis,matricide is more archaic than patricide that Freud describes and theorizes as the root (Irigaray1991:36).
Furthermore,American feminist sociologist and psychoanalyst Nancy Chodorow has some ideas in common:"We find the notion that having a child is enough to kill a woman or make a woman into a murderer.Being a mother is a matter of life and death;having a child destroys the mother or the child(Chodorow1989:87-87)/5For years and years the most important mission for women is giving birth,and when the mission is completed they inevitably become unimportant.Yan Liu shares some identical ideas in her book Research on the Identity of Mother in Modern Western Drama\For the male fertility is one of significant values of the female.However,the role and identity of mother are decided,judged and regulated by the male.This identity requires the female giving birth and raising children for the male,reducing the female to simple tool of fertility without independent thoughts.The individuality of the female is destroyed in such a social role(Yan Liu 2004:65).
Thus,the female role that Hero first gets to know is mother,an extremely inactive,silent and submissive image.What a mother needs to do is nothing but giving birth and any other active behavior is unnecessary and unwelcome.
1.2Obedient Daughter
The first gender role for Hero is daughter and from the script obedience is the most outstanding feature of Hero as a daughte匚Her cousin Beatrice says:"it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say'Father,as it please you'(Shakespeare2014:23)."When men plan to trick Benedick and Beatrice falling in love,she answers:"I will do any modest office(Shakespeare2014:23)." And when she is framed up at the wedding ceremony,she does not clarify herself clearly mainly because arguing with others is obviously a disobedient action.She always completes the task appointed by others and never has any quarrel with others.
It is not only merely because obedience is a general merit of a lady in that period,but also maternal absence contributes to her such recognition.Nancy Chodorow demonstrates:both good and bad aspects given by mother or primary caretaker,feelings in caretaking experiences and the mothering relationship together form the self and a relational ego structure through unconscious mental processes that appropriate and incorporate all above.With maturation,these early images and perceived experience fragments are integrated into a self(Chodorow1989:105).
Her mother,the only role model for her to learn how to behave,leaves her a silent and
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submissive image to internalize and duplicate.Hero perceives her silence and forms obedience as a part of her self from this person,the first one whom she knows has the same sex as she does.Thus, unconsciously the obedience becomes Hero's"true self'or"central self\
The first core gender identification for Hero can accord with the further analysis of Chodorow:
It is built upon,and does not contradict,her primary sense of oneness and identification with her mother and is assumed easily along with her developing sense of self.Girls grow up with a sense of continuity and similarity to their mother,a relational connection to the world.
For them,difference is not originally problematic or fundamental to their psychological being or identity.They do not define themselves as"not・men,"or''not-male,"but as T,who am female.(Chodorow1989:110)
Thus,the development of Hero's gender identification stems from her mother due to the sense of continuity and similarity between mother and daughte匚Because of this fundamental interconnectedness,the similarity between Hero and her mother inevitably enlarges from the same sex to the identical gender identity.She identifies her mother's inactiveness and submissiveness and internalizes into her core gender identity:obedience.
1.3Virtuous Wife
Another important role of Innogen is wife,a role that Hero will be in the future and by which she would be influenced,and a prominent feature of wife is virtuous.Based on the analysis on Innogen's inactive role of mother before,there is little possibility that she has any power over her husband or is unchaste.
As a matter of fact,Hero does have such sense of identity of virtuousness and virginity.When she is framed of adultery,she answers to Friar Francis that"They know that do accuse me;I know none:If I know more of any man alive than that which maiden modesty doth warrant,let all my sins lack mercy(Shakespeare2014:71)!"On the one hand,it can be regarded as her explanation of being framed up,on the other hand,it shows that she has such understanding that virginity is the greatest thing for a woman.Furthermore,even after being insulted greatly by Claudio at wedding ceremony,Hero is still willing to marry him,which reveals one of the virtuousness:being faithful to one's husband unto death.
In woman's life,the role of wife seems the one between daughter and mother,containing the obedience as a daughter and laying the foundation of the inactiveness of a mother.A woman holds and cherishes the virginity conventionally ruled by father through the life as a daughter then gets transferred from origin family to another one by her father,still being confined in family and dominated by males.The idea that the virginity is the most important value of a woman and can only be disposed by her husband consolidates in woman's mind when she acquires the role of wife.
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In Nancy Chodorow's mothering reproduction theory,“women's mothering,like other aspects of gender activity,is a product of feminine role training and role identification(Chodorow1978: 31)."Individuals,personalities stem from the structure of the family units in which children acquire gender identities then components the social organization of gender—it is the major feature of the gendered society(Chodorow1978:39).As a daughter Hero is trained to become a wife by growing with a role model like her mother.She gradually understands every aspect of a wife from her mother in the family,such as the view that virginity is the most important part of a woman to be a wife.Therefore,even Hero is not a wife yet she has already acquired all the virtues for a wife: obedience,inactiveness and valuing virginity,never questioning the following path to become a wife or mother just like her mothe匚
2The Male Roles in the Maternal Absence
Correspondingly,Hero also gets to know males under the circumstance of maternal absence, which promotes her understanding of male roles in a traditional way under the patriarchy system. Hero perceives male roles in family mainly from Leonato and Claudio and understands that the powerful statuses and roles in society are males5and they belong to males.
2」Commanding Father
Naturally the first male role that Hero understands is the role of father,a commanding image. In a family where mother has no influential power at all and the only person who is in charge is father,like a great number of families in that period,Hero has acquaintance with the role of father as a commanding leader of the whole family.
Quite a few lines in Much Ado about Nothing can prove the commanding figure of Hero's father Leonato.Having known that Claudio is qualified as his son-in-law,Leonato tells Hero: ''Daughter,remember what I told you:if the prince do solicit you in that kind,you know your answer(Shakespeare2014:23・24).‘‘When Claudio interrogates Hero in the wedding ceremony,he says to Leonato:"By that fatherly and kindly power that you have in her,bid her answer truly (Shakespeare2014:66).''And then Leonato tells Hero that"I charge thee do so,as thou art my child (Shakespeare2014:67)In addition,Hero herself entreats her father by saying:U O my father, prove you that any man with me conversed at hours unmeet,or that I yesternight maintain'd the change of words with any creature,refuse me,hate me,torture me to death(Shakespeare2014: 71)!"It is conveyed that daughter belongs to father and can be disposed by him at his will,and Hero understands as well as accepts it as the convention.
Maternal absence is a greatly influential factor of the male's commanding role of father.It is said in Nancy Chodorow's Feminism and Psychoanalytic theory:"Another important aspect of
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internalized feelings about others in relation to the self concerns a certain wholeness that develops through an internal sense of relationship with another(Chodorow1989:106).''On the basis of continuity and similarity as well as the maternal identification,the lack of speech and action of mother in the relation between Hero's parents,develops the realization of males in Hero's mind, leaving an impression of commanding,august,powerful and dominant.She perceives that in patriarchal system,father,a family supporter and controller,is the lord and commander of the universe who can never be challenged and whose wisdom and rule are absolute and should be obeyed by females with gratitude and respect.
2.2Dominant Husband
The second male role that Hero gets contact with is the role of husband.Still the first impression of husband is from her father,for he combining these two roles and demonstrating in the interaction with her mother though it is an unseen relation in the play.Because there is not any reaction from the wife,it can be concluded as the one-over-the-other marital relation for Hero's parents,which is not unusual under the patriarchy system,constructing Hero's realization of the role of husband.
From Hero's perspective,husband is the principle,dominating his wife.When Claudio insults her tremendously at the wedding ceremony,such as“But you are more intemperate in your blood than Venus,or those pampered animals that rage in savage sensuality",she replies:"Is my lord well that he doth speak so wide(Shakespeare2014:66)?"And the truth that she tells is as pale as paper. Even though they are only engaged at that time,Hero has already regarded Claudio as her lord,her dominator,and cannot speak anything against the judgment of her"new・trothQd lord(Shakespeare 2014:45).”
Hero's conception of dominant husband relates to the maternal absence.Nancy Chodorow's mothering reproduction theory reveals that"More generally,women's mothering as an organization of parenting is embedded in and fundamental to the social organization of gender (Chodorow1978:34)."It is partly because as mothers,women give their daughters the mothering capacities and the desire to be mothers that are based on and grow out of the mother-daughter relationship itself(Chodorow1978:7).Chodorow further quotes Robert Jay's opinion that during the growth of a daughter before her marriage the mother remains a girl's“primary figure of confidence and support(Chodorow1989:61)."Therefore a present absentee mother in family becomes Hero's primary figure about the wife image during her growth,creating the corresponding husband image in the dominant position.The husband takes over the commanding position of the father in a woman's life through marriage,continually ruling and disposing the woman after she acquires the new role of wife.Hero's mother exists but generally is invisible, living in a situation dominated by the male,her husband,thus a certain unequal marital relation created and projected to Hero's understanding of husband,which naturally seems an unquestionable moral truth to Hero through the mother-daughter relation and daughter's mature
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process in the maternal absence.
2.3Powerful Social Men
In Much Ado about Nothing,all the powerful characters who have social influences are male. The heroes in this play,Benidick and Claudio are companions to Don Pedro,the prince of Aragon, and together they win a war before the story happening then visit Hero's father Leonato,the governor of Messina.And even the villain in this play is the illegitimate brother of Don Pedro一Don John,who is caught by two funny characters who are constables in charge of the Watch.All female characters,however,are confined within family and lack of influence.It is heart-broking but predictable that Hero fails explaining her innocence on wedding,yet her cousin Beatrice,a woman with some self-awareness,still cannot make men believe Hero's virtue.
Then,what are the social roles for women?Luce Irigaray points out that"Mother,virgin, prostitute:these are the social roles imposed on women(Irigaray1985:186)."And obviously,these are decided by males judging from the usage of female's bodies.Thus,in the play under this discourse system it can be interpreted that as a virgin who will become a mother,Hero confronts with the frame-up of prostitute accusation,showing a process of deciding and disposing by males—a contrast in weak females and powerful males.
Or in other words,apart from the roles in family,there is no place for women in society,which is also an approval for most of women.The conception that all the jobs in society should be done and can only be done by males and females are completely incapable to do them and should not do too,is a general acceptance for both males and females for a long time.Presumably,Hero's mother Innogen is such a believer.She never questions it and nothing(even the malice of slander on her daughter hardly)can change her mind and stop her from being a present absentee.The preconception that all the coils need,should and can only be solved by males eliminates her speech and action through the play.
The direct influence of that is that it is solidly planted into the next generation by growing with a present absentee mother,which exactly is the form of labor reproduction that Nancy Chodorow argues.''Legitimating ideologies themselves...and families which perpetuate ideologies,contribute to social reproduction(Chodorow1989:35)."Certain expectations are created in people about what is normal and appropriate in the society and how they should act-men play the key role in the society while women are confined to the family chores.Therefore,mother's inactiveness causes the reproduction in social division:Hero who inevitably has a second place in the society for the labor division under the patriarchy system and has the recognition of such division,naturally holds the view that those positions in the society belong to males,and never thinks about stepping out of family.She believes that there is no place that is made for females except family and that the well-known pattern of breadwinning men and homemaking women is the indisputable arrangement for the society.
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3The Gender Relationship in the Patriarchy
Facing with and having all the typically patriarchal social statuses,Hero naturally accepts the gender relationship in patriarchy.Approving all the social rules and social roles for both males and females,she never questions the situation of male's dictatorship and discourse power like Beatrice does.Based on the inheritance of mother-daughter identity,she obeys them,enjoys the sisterhood and submits to the male.
3.1Inheritance of Mother-Daughter Identity
Not only Hero's personality and gender identification are influenced by her mother,but also what Hero pursues is quite identical with the life of her mother.As it is discussed above,lack of subjectivity,Hero is obedient and submissive to males,directly inheriting the inactive characteristic of her mother.Besides,the main position for her mother is in the family,leaving Hero no other thought of being outside of family.A significant part of domestic life for a woman is marrying a decent husband,who almost provides security of everything for his spouse at that time,like Hero's father Leonato,the governor of Messina.Therefore,she commonly accepts the arrangement of Claudio,a companion to Don Petro,as her future husband.Out of the sense of maternal identification,inevitably Hero inherits the mind of her mother and pursues the life that her mother has.
It is because the mother's role shows the daughter a female'social statuses and recognition of such identity.Having the same sex,Hero doubtlessly has all the social statuses of a female like her mother does.Moreover,she acquires the recognition of female roles and male roles in the maternal absence.There is a vivid description in The Second Sex(1953)by Simone de Beauvoir,a French existentialist philosopher,political activist,feminist and social theorist:"The mother likes to rule alone over her feminine universe;she wants to be unique,irreplaceable;and now she finds herself reduced by her young helper to the status of one among many who merely perform a general function(de Beauvoir1953:580)."Moreover,to some degree,mother shares the"primary identification(a sense of oneness)"(Chodorow1978:59)with daughter and daughter has sort of recognition with mother correspondingly.The social statuses and identity that once mother has will come to daughter one day,thus daughter becomes“really her double,a substitute for herself,(de Beauvoir1953:580).
Because Hero's mother exists as a present absentee in the family,"a central agent of women's oppression as well as the major institution in women's lives^,(Chodorow1978:13),Hero perceives certain"feminine role training and role identification^^(Chodorow1978:31),which become a certain inheritance and reproduction,in the relationship between mother and daughter.It can be supported by Nancy Chodorow's ideas:
Women grow up to have both the generalized relational capacities and needs and how women and men come to create the kinds of interpersonal relationships which make it likely
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that women will remain in the domestic sphere-in the sphere of reproduction-and will in turn mother the next generation.Women's mothering as an institutionalized feature of family life and of the sexual division of labor reproduces itself cyclically.In the process,it contributes to the reproduction of those aspects of the sexual sociology of adult life which grow out of and relate to the fact that women mother(Chodorow1978:38-39).
Hero's mother sets a fixed life pattern for her."Now she is married,and before her there is no other future,this is to be her whole lot on earth.She knows just what her tasks are to be:the same as her mother's(de Beauvoir1953:444)."She maintains this basic position that is unknown by the society and the culture,given the fact that"the maternal function underpins the social order and the order of desire,but it is always kept in a dimension of need(Irigaray1991:36)."So the family-confined position together with inactiveness and obedience of Hero's mother that accords with the social need is the following path for Hero who inherits all of them and maintains the social order without any interference or change.
3.2Sisterhood Among Females
Hero,an obvious obedient and passive girl,shares a sort of sisterhood with other female characters in Much Ado about Nothing,showing a lively side of her personality.About her cousin Beatrice,she can openly speak her judgment"she is too disdainful;I know her spirits are as coy and wild as Haggards of the rock(Shakespeare2014:45)."Correspondingly,Beatrice can joke with her by saying"Speak,cousin;or,if you cannot,stop his mouth with a kiss,and let not him speak neither(Shakespeare2014:31)."With her gentlewomen Margaret and Ursula,she can freely discuss her dresses together with ornaments and even things about love-making.And in the scene of frame-up on wedding ceremony,even without solid proof,Beatrice chooses to believe in Hero and stands out to defend for her virginity.
"Because women experience themselves as part of a relational triangle in which their father and men are emotionally secondary,or at most equal,in importance to their mother and women^^ (Chodorow1989:71),they need and tend to be intimate with other women.Nancy Chodorow further explains that female self-relationship is a product of development,related to her mother's sense of self,not just to gender identity or gender-role learning.The object-relation-cultural perspective also regards the conscious gender identity and the gender construction or the unconscious meaning of them(Chodorow1989:187).After internalization of the gender relations and the maternal identification,there is a kind of sense developed in Hero,which is a more comfortable feeling when being among women.In patriarchy,the female becomes an oppressed group that shares a united sense of sisterhood:empathy,sympathy,intimacy,dependence and assistance.This sisterhood provides females a room of their own to speak comfortably and freely without any interference from males.Developed in the patriarchal system,the realization of gender relationship of a female naturally circles females in the same camp.Also,out of the identity of the same sex,females feel inclined to relax themselves and behave livelily among females.And in the
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