Veiling an Indian Beauty: Shakespeare and the hijab \(2\/2\) Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare 26 | 2008 Costume et déguisement dans le théâtre de Shakespeare et de ses contemporains Veiling an Indian Beauty: Shakespeare and the hijab (2/2) Richard Wilson Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/shakespeare/1483 DOI: 10.4000/shakespeare.1483 ISSN: 2271-6424 Publisher Société Française Shakespeare Printed version Date of publication: 20 December 2008 ISBN: 2-9521475-5-8 Electronic reference Richard Wilson, « Veiling an Indian Beauty: Shakespeare and the hijab (2/2) », Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare [Online], 26 | 2008, Online since 20 December 2008, connection on 19 April 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/shakespeare/1483 ; DOI : 10.4000/ shakespeare.1483 © SFS http://journals.openedition.org http://journals.openedition.org http://journals.openedition.org/shakespeare/1483 Costume et déguisement dans le théâtre de Shakespeare et de ses contemporains a c t e s d u C o n g r è s organisé par la S O C I É T É F R A N Ç A I S E S H A K E S P E A R E les 13, 14 et 15 mars 2008 textes réunis par P i e r r e K A P I T A N I A K sous la direction de J e a n - M i c h e l D É P R A T S COUVERTURE : Edouard Lekston, W illiam en carton et ses habits à d écou p er , 2008 edlek@free.fr conception graphique et logo Pierre Kapitaniak © 2008 Société Française Shakespeare Institut du Monde Anglophone Université de Paris III – Sorbonne Nouvelle 5 rue de l’École de Médecine 75006 Paris www.societefrancaiseshakespeare.org Tous droits de traduction, de reproduction et d’adaptation réservés pour tous les pays VEILIN G AN I N D IAN B EAU TY: S H AKES P EAR E AN D TH E H IJ AB Rich ar d WILSON Th u s orn am en t is bu t th e gu ilèd sh or e To a m ost dan ger ou s sea, th e beau teou s scarf Veilin g an In dian beau t y ; in a wor d, Th e seem in g tru th wh ich cu n n in g tim es pu t on To en tr ap t h e wisest. The M ercha n t of Ven ice (III.ii.97-10 1) assan io’s su spicion of th e ‘beau teou s scar f / Veilin g an In dian beau ty’ as an object of both d an ger an d d esire appears to explain wh y in The M erchan t of Ven ice h e prefers the casket of ‘m eagre lead’ to ‘pale an d com m on ’ silver or ‘gaudy gold.’ Th is reverse Epiph an y seem s to belon g to an Or ien talist tr adition in wh ich th e Muslim hijab altern ates as a sym bol of eith er eroticism or violen ce. Devised, per h aps, for Sh r ovetide, th e ‘casket scen e’ th ereby typifies Car n ival aggr ession , with its th r ee guests n o lon ger gift-bearin g kin gs bu t r ecipien ts of th eir h ost’s discr im in ation .1 So Bassan io’s r ejection of orn am en t plays to th e prejudice of Portia’s test, wh ich en d s wh en ‘The curtain is draw n aside’ (SD:1;10 1), an d a tru e Eu ropean beau ty is d isclosed with th e sam e eye-to-eye logic as th at with wh ich th e Duke or der s Sh ylock to ‘stan d befor e ou r face’ (IV.i.15). For all th eir love of m asks th ese Ch r istian s lon g for th e face-to-face open n ess of a gift culture fast bein g d estroyed by th e self-in terest for wh ich a J ewish 1 Th e Revels accoun ts r ecor d two per for m an ces of The M erchan t of Ven ice dur in g Sh r ovetide 160 5, th e secon d com m an ded by Kin g J am es h im self. For th e Car n ival con n ection s, see Ch r is H assel, R en aissan ce Dram a an d the En glish Church Year (Lin coln : Nebr aska Un iversity Press, 1979), pp. 113-18 . For a r ecen t discussion of th e am biguity of the veil as a sign of both er oticism an d violen ce, see Faegheh Sh ir azi, The Veil Un v eiled: The H ijab in M odern Culture (Gain esville: Un iver sity of Flor ida Pr ess, 20 0 1). But for a pr oposed em en dation of Bassan io’s lin es, see Lisa H opkin s, ‘“An In dian Beauty?” A Pr oposed Em en dation to The M erchan t of Ven ice,’ Shak esp eare N ew sletter, 50 (20 0 0 ), 27. H opkin s ar gues for a pun ctuation of th e lin es as ‘th e beauteous scar f / Veilin g an In dian ; beauty – in a wor d, / Th e seem in g tr uth …’ But th is em en dation dim in ish es th e Or ien talist ‘dark lady’ m etaphor . B 178 RICH ARD WILSON ban ker can be blam ed . Discovered in sid e th e lead , ‘Portia’s coun terfeit’ is th us a m in iature, with h air woven in ‘A golden m esh ,’ to publicise r ath er th an h ide wh at th is ‘fair est cr eatur e n or th ward bor n ’ claim s: ‘You see m e, Lor d Bassan io, wh er e I stan d, such as I am ’ (II.i.4; III.ii.115, 149). In m asques ladies of th e En glish cou r t wer e likewise d raped in veils of such tran sparen t gauze th eir id en tity was n ever in dou bt. Yet h er e th e tr avel con ceit with wh ich Bassan io en visages the hijab veilin g a ‘dan gerou s sea’ rem in ds u s h ow to play th is guessin g gam e h e h as availed h im self of a veil sim ilar to th at of th e In dian h ou r i, th e ‘over -weath er ’d r ibs an d r agged sails’ of h is in fatuated An ton io’s ‘scar fèd bar que,’ n ow ‘Vailin g h er h igh top lower th an h er r ibs,’ as th e effem in ised m er ch an tm an is ‘H u gged an d em braced ’ on ly to be ‘ren t an d beggar ed by th e str u m pet win d’ (I.i.28 ; II.vi.14-19). An d wh at the sim ilar ity of sails to veils r eveals is th e r u b th at th is belly-dan cin g tr ade is all in favour of th e East. As Ros Ballaster explain s in Fabulous Orien ts, a ‘Dark Lad y’ d iscourse em erges at th is tim e in wh ich ‘th e veiled an d h idden wom an of th e seraglio’ em bod ies both th e superficial softn ess of In dian com m er ce an d its un d erlyin g d an ger, as th e en tire subcon tin en t com es to be un derstood as an em asculatin g h arem : ‘a kin d of abyss,’ in th e report of Colbert’s agen t, ‘for a great part of the gold an d silver of th e world , wh ich fin d s m an y ways to en ter th ere, an d alm ost n on e to issu e h en ce.’2 So if th e Muslim veil sh ould be ren t in th is text, we are warn ed at the start, th at ‘d an ger ou s sea’ wou ld expose th ese ‘tr adefu l m er ch an ts’ to th e h idden violen ce of th e ‘dar k lady,’ an d reveal th e treach ery of th eir own secret d esires at a tim e wh en ‘In d ia’s econ om y is still m or e pr odu ctive… Eu r ope’s lead is lim ited to sh ips… [an d] Eu rope im ports Asian m an u factu res, n ot th e reverse’:3 2 Ros Ballaster, Fabulous Orien ts: Fiction s of the East in En glan d, 1662-178 5 (Oxfor d: O.U.P., 20 0 5), p. 18 -19, 69, 8 9 & 267-68 ; ‘Letter to Lord Colber t,’ quoted p 268 . Cf. Lisa J ar din e an d J er ry Br otton , Global In terests: R en aissan ce Art Betw een East an d W est (Lon don : Reaktion , 20 0 0 ), p. 18 4-5: ‘In th e fifteen th an d sixteen th cen tur ies, East an d West m e on m uch m or e equal term s… East m et West in str en uous an d con str uctive com petition .’ For th e politically ch ar ged sem iotics of silk, see also Roze H en tschell, ‘Tr eason ous Textiles: Foreign Cloth an d th e Con str uction of En glish n ess,’ Jou rn al of M ediev al an d Early M odern Studies, 32 (20 0 2), 543-70 . 3 ‘Tr adeful m er ch an ts’: Edm un d Spen ser, Am oretti, 15:1; Ph ilip Cur tin , Cross-Cultural Trade in W orld H istory (Cam br idge: C.U.P., 198 4), p. 149. For th e con n ection between the ‘dark lady’ con ceit an d colon ial econ om ic en coun ter s, see also Kim H all, Thin gs of Dark n ess: Econ om ies of R ace an d Gen der in Early M od ern En glan d (Ith aca: Cor n ell Un iver sity Pr ess, 1995), p. 70 -1 & 8 0 -1; an d J oel Fin em an n , Shak esp eare’s Perjur’d Ey e (Ber keley: Un iver sity of Califor n ia Pr ess, 198 6), p. 34. VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 179 Sh ou ld I go to ch u r ch An d see th e h oly edifice of ston e An d n ot bet h in k m e str aigh t of dan ger ou s r ocks Wh ich , tou ch in g bu t m y gen tle vessel’s side, Wou ld scatter all h er spices on th e str eam , En r obe th e r oar in g water s with m y silks… (M er cha n t, I.i.29-34) If th e ‘beau teou s’ veil of Bassan io’s ‘dar k lady’ is som e ‘r ich scar f’ of silk (Tem p est, IV.i.8 2), like th ose car r ied in th e belly of An ton io’s car avel, th e con fu sion it cau ses r epeats th e th r ill of illicit desire silk pr om pts th rough out th e plays, wh ere a sen suous relish for th e sh eer sh een of th e de luxe fabric cu es disgu st at th e ‘taffeta pu n k’ (All’s W ell, II.ii.19), as opposed to ‘r u sset yeas, an d h on est ker sey n oes’ (Lov e’s, V.ii.413), wh en ever ‘sim ple truth ’ is ‘abused / With silken , sly in sin uatin g’ lies (R ichard III, I.iii.52). Th is association of ‘chan geable taffeta’ (Tw elfth, II.iv.75) with ‘silken term s precise, / Th ree-piled h yperboles’ (Lov e’s, V.ii.40 6), was keyed to th e in flated pr ice of silk, n ot farm ed in En glan d u n til 160 4, wh en it cost 14 shillin gs a yar d.4 Bu t it was th e pliability of its soft fibr e th at also m ade it syn on ym ous with th e h arem , as ‘Silk cou ld be spu n in to th r ead of var yin g th ickn ess, an d woven in to fabr ic of differ en t appearan ces, fr om fin est gauze (“cyprus”, “sarcen et”, used in lin in gs, an d “tiffan y”, u sed for pu ffs), to taffeta, wh ich was n ot so fin e, velvet, plush (a d eeper pile th an velvet), an d satin .’5 Not for n oth in g was Sh akespeare’s fath er a glover, wh ose lin in gs supplied a m etaph or for lin guistic d uplicity – ‘A sen ten ce is but a ch everel glove to a good wit’ (Tw elfth, III.i.10 -12) – an d h is Str atfor d fr ien d Rich ard Quin ey a dr aper sellin g taffeta, skein s of silk an d silk bu tton s, as h is texts flau n t appr eciation of silk’s ver satility in all its var ieties of ‘sad cypr ess’ 4 Per cy Macquoid, ‘Costum e,’ in Shak esp eare’s En glan d: An Accoun t of the Life an d M an n ers of his Ag e, ed. an on . (2 vols., Oxfor d: Clar en don Pr ess, 1916), vol. 2, p. 10 1. For m or e r ecen t h istor ies of fash ion in ear ly m oder n En glan d, see J oh n Brewer an d Roy Por ter, Con sum ption an d the W orld of Goods (Lon don : Routledge, 1993), pp. 274-30 1; Elizabeth Kowaleski-Wallace, Con sum in g Subjects: W om en , Shop p in g, an Busin ess in the Eighteen th Cen tury (New Yor k: Colum bia Un iversity Pr ess, 1997); Bever ly Lem ir e, Dress, Culture, an d Com m erce: The En glish Clothin g Trade Before the Factory , 1660 -18 0 0 (Basin gstoke: Macm illan , 1997); Len a Or lin (ed.), M aterial Lon don , ca. 160 0 (Ph iladelph ia: Ph iladelph ia Un iver sity Press, 20 0 0 ); Dan iel Roche, The Culture of Clothin g: Dress an d Fashion in the An cien R egim e, tr an s. J ean Bir rell (Cam br idge: C.U.P., 1994); Su san Vin cen t, Dressin g the Elite: Clothes in Early M odern En glan d (Oxfor d: Berg, 20 0 3); an d Lor n a Weath er h ill, Con sum er Behav iour an d M aterial Culture in Britain 1660 -1760 (Lon don : Routledge, 1996). For an im por tan t discussion of wom en an d con sum er society, see also Kar en Newm an , ‘City Talk: Wom en an d Com m odification in J on son ’s Ep icoen e,’ En glish Literary H istory , 3 (198 9), 50 3-18 . 5 Liza Picar d, Elizabeth’s Lon don : Ev ery day Life in Elizabethan Lon don (Lon don : Weiden feld & Nicolson , 20 0 3), p. 154. 18 0 RICH ARD WILSON (Tw elfth, II.iv.52), ‘green sarcen et’ (Troilus, V.i.26), ‘flam e-colour ’d taffeta’ (1H en ry IV, I.ii.9), ‘peach -colour’d satin ,’ or ‘th ree-piled velvet’ (M easu re, I.ii.33; IV.iii.9).6 In d eed , with The Lod ger Ch ar les Nich oll situ ates th e dr am atist at th e h ear t of Lon don ’s silk in du str y, in th e r oom s h e r en ted in th e 160 0 s fr om Ch r istoph er Moun tjoy in Silver Street, Cripplegate, writin g above th e atelier wher e th e Fren ch tirem aker operated th e spin n in g wh eels on wh ich filam en ts of silk were twisted in to th r ead kn own as ‘sleaves,’ wh ich were th en braided with wires upon oth er wh eels to form th e gold ‘tissue’ from wh ich rose ‘tires’ or ‘toys for th e h ead’ (W in ter’s, IV.iv.317). Train ed in Crécy, lon g a cen tr e like Arr as for silk tapestr y, Mou n tjoy was a m aster of the m yster y of wor kin g su ch ‘Ven ice gold’ (Tam in g , II.i.346), th e ‘sweet com m ixtur e’ (Lov e’s, V.ii.296) of ‘r ed an d m in gled dam ask’ (As You , III.v.124) also n am ed from Dam ascus, wh ere th e tech n iques of dam ascen e ‘cloth a’ gold… lac’d with silver ’ (Ad o, III.iv.19) h ad been d eveloped . It was in Silver Street th at Sh akespeare d oubtless saw th e exor bitan t workm an sh ip of th e bizar r e ‘sh ip-tir e, th e tir e valian t, th e tir e of Ven etian ad m ittan ce’ (W iv es, III.iii.48 ), th at liter alised th e veiled lady as a sh ip of war. So, th ough Nich oll peers in to th e Moun tjoy h ouse to catch th e poet with Mar ie as h is r eal ‘Dar k Lady,’ th e sem iotic wor ld of exotic textiles in wh ich h e asks u s to im agin e Sh akespeare weavin g h is own texts to th e rh yth m of th e loom is sed uctive en ough to accoun t for h is h yper sen sitivity to th e su btle secr ecy of silk: In on e part of t h e sh op an app r en tice sits at a ben ch , dr awin g wir es of gilded silver th r ou gh die-h oles to m ake t h e fin e wir e su itable for gold th r ead. Th ere ar e h am m er s an d r oller s to flatt en th e wir e in to st r ips r eady for spin n in g in to th r ead. In an oth er par t of th e sh op bu n dles of r aw silk ar e bein g separ ated in to ‘sleaves’. A th ird per son is wor kin g th e ‘twistin g wh eel’, tu r n in g th ose sleaves in to silk th r ead, an d silk t h r ead in to sparklin g Ven ice gold … Metal fu m es h an g in th e close air of th e wor ksh op, th e sm ell of glu es an d d yes… J u st ou tside… is a well-d r essed gen tlem an of m iddle age wh o m igh t be a m er ch an t or m er cer , bu t wh o is in fact th e tir em aker ’s lodger … h e is a sh adow in th e doorway, a footstep on th e stair s… [bu t] wh at h e sees an d h ear s is stored away… to be u sed in tu rn as r aw m aterial in th e m an u factu rin g of m etaph ors… in “Sleep th at kn it s u p th e r avelled sleave of car e” (M acbeth, II.ii.36).7 6 Edgar Fr ipp, Master Rich ar d Quyn y Bailiff of Str atfor d-upon -Avon an d Fr ien d of William Sh akespeare (Oxford: O.U.P., 1924), pp. 8 3-4. 7 Ch ar les Nicholl, The Lodger: Shak esp eare on Silv er Street (Lon don : Allen Lan e, 20 0 7), p. 164-5 & 247. VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 18 1 ‘For h er own per son , / It beggared descr iption . Sh e did lie / In h er pavilion – cloth of gold, of tissue’ (An ton y , II.ii.20 3-5): Sh akespeare’s report of th e voyage of th e ultim ate ‘Dark Lad y’ ech oes Marlowe, wh ose Did o likewise h ad galleon s with ‘tacklin g m ade of riven gold .’ Both are seen as ‘th e tailors of th e earth ; com fortin g’ th eir m en ‘th at wh en old robes are worn out th ere are m em bers to m ake n ew’ (I.ii.149-50 ). But wh ereas th e Queen of Carth age boasted ‘sails of fold ed lawn ,’ th e Egyptian surpasses lin en with d yed ‘purple sails’ of ‘silken tackle’ wh ich swell with ‘tou ch es of th ose flower -soft h an ds’ (199; 215).8 A wh ole cr isis in Eu r opean textile pr odu ction lies beh in d th is switch from wool to silk as th e gold stan dard of econ om ic prowess, a r evolution Mar lowe r egistered with h is J ew of Malta’s ‘ar gosy fr om Alexan d ria… Lad en with rich es an d exceed in g store / Of Persian silks.’9 An d Fern an d Brau del provided a global con text for th is am biguou s n exu s of sails an d veils swirlin g abou t a belligeren t ‘In dian beau ty’ wh en h e n oted h ow in th e 1590 s alm ost ‘ever y sin gle letter fr om Ven etian m er ch an ts car r ied som e r efer en ce to silk,’ an d in ter pr eted th is fixation as an in d ex of the in security when th e value of bulk good s like En glish lead, tin an d woollen textiles exported East was sh am ed by th at of th e silk, ch in tz an d oth er ligh t fabr ics im por ted in r etu r n .10 Th us, th ere was ‘a sort of super-dem an d’ as ‘th e r ich for sook gold an d silver for silk, wh ich as it becam e available to m ore people em erged as a sym bol of social m obility’ for a n ew con su m er age. With th e m ass m ar ketin g of In dian , Per sian an d Ch in ese silks, Braud el recoun ted , ‘qu ick ch an ges in fash ion cr eated ar tificial bu t im per ative “n eeds” wh ich m igh t van ish over n igh t on ly to m ake way for oth er equ ally fr ivolou s passion s,’ for wh ile ‘people still spu n an d wove at h om e,’ th e su d d en availability of silk m ean t th at ‘it was n ow fash ion an d th e lu xu ry trad e th at d ictated d em an d .’ Eu ropean govern m en ts legislated 8 Ch r istopher Mar lowe, Dido Queen of Carthage, 3,1,115-124, in Christop her M arlow e: The Com p lete Play s, ed. Fr an k Rom an y an d Rober t Lin dsey (Lon don : Pen guin , 20 0 3), p. 31-2. For im agery of re-cloth in g in Dido Queen of Carthage, see Rich ar d Wilson , ‘Tragedy, patr on age, an d power ,’ in Patr ick Ch en ey (ed.), The Cam bridge Com p an ion to Christop her M arlow e (Cam br idge: C.U.P., 20 0 4), p. 20 8 -12. 9 Ch r istopher Mar lowe, The J ew of M alta, 1,1,44-5;8 4-7, ibid. p. 251 & 252. 10 Fer n an d Br audel, The M editerran ean in the Age of Philip II, tr an s. Siân Reyn olds (Lon don : H arper Collin s, 1992), p. 40 2. For the Lon don en d of th is tr an scon tin en tal tr affic, see in par ticular G.D. Ram say, ‘The Un doin g of th e Italian Mer can tile Colon y in Sixteen th Cen tur y Lon don ,’ in N.B. H ar te an d K.G. Pon tin g (eds.), Textile H istory an d Econ om ic H istory : Essay s in hon our of M iss J ulia de Lacy M an n (Man ch ester : Man ch ester Un iver sity Press, 1973), p. 22-49, esp. p. 24. 18 2 RICH ARD WILSON to pr otect th eir textile in du str ies fr om th is in vasion , Br audel r elated, ‘but all in vain . Noth in g wor ked,’ n ot th e ban n in g of all Asian silks fr om En glan d in 170 0 , n or th e pr ize of 50 0 liv res pu t u p by Par is cloth ier s ‘to strip an y wom an wearin g In d ian fabrics’ n aked in th e street, or else to dr ess pr ostitu tes in In dian silks an d th en u n dr ess th em as exam ples.11 For wh ile defen der s of th e su m ptu ar y laws like Stu bbes th un d ered th at ‘im puden t in solven cy is n ow grown th at everyon e, th ou gh ver y poor […] will n ot stick to h ave silk,’ th e in satiable Eu r opean dem an d for its soft, sleek, sh im m er in g tissu e en su r ed silk becam e wh at Bassan io m akes it, an d Tr oilu s sh ows wh en h e r em in ds th e Trojan s th eir ‘breath bellied h is sails’ wh en Par is stole H elen , an d ‘We turn n ot back th e silks upon th e m erch an t / Wh en we h ave spoiled th em ’ (Troilus, II.ii.68 -73), th e super lative exam ple of th e object wh ich gen er ates its own d esir e: Kate, eat apace; an d n ow, m y h on ey love, Will we r etu r n u n to m y fath er ’s h ou se, An d r evel it as br avely as th e best, With silken coat s, an d caps, an d golden rin gs, With r u ffs, an d cu ffs, an d far t h in gales, an d t h in gs, With scarves, an d fan s, an d double ch an ge of br aver y, With am ber br acelet s, beads, an d all th is kn avery. Wh at, h ast th ou din ed? Th e tailor stays t h y leisu r e, To d eck th y bod y with h is ru fflin g treasu r e. (The Ta m in g of t he Shrew , IV.iii.52-60 ) In Im p erson ation s, h is stu dy of cr oss-dr essin g, Steph en Orgel n otes th e fetish allu r e of fem ale apparel for Elizabeth an m ales, th eir alm ost Lacan ian awaren ess of th e ten den cy of ‘th e im agin ation of a desir able th in g to stir u p th e desir e.’12 An d fem in ists n otice h ow, in episodes such as Petruch io’s cruel fort / da gam e with Kate’s tr ou sseau, wh ere h e scor n s h er ch oice of h at in kitch en ter m s as ‘A custar d coffin , a bau ble, a silken pie’ (8 2), Sh akespeare’s wom en sh ift from bein g prod ucers or con sum ers of textiles to bein g id en tified with th e cloth itself, a r eification testifyin g h ow ‘In ear ly m oder n En glan d it is th e 11 Fer n an d Br audel, The W heels of Com m erce: Civ ilization an d Cap italism , 15th-18 th Cen tury , tr an s. Siân Reyn olds (Lon don : Collin s, 198 2), p. 178 . 12 Stephen Orgel, Im p erson ation s: The p erform an ce of gen der in Shak esp eare’s En glan d (Cam br idge: C.U.P., 1996), p. 34-5; ‘stir up th e desir e’: J oh n Rain oldes, The ov erthrow of stage p lay s (Lon don : 160 0 ), p. 97. VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 18 3 m ater ial of su bjectivity itself.’13 Mar in a typifies th em , weavin g ‘sleided silk’ so ad roitly ‘H er in kle, silk, twin with th e r ubied ch er ry’ (Pericles, 15:21; 20 :8 ). Th u s, as Bassan io’s er otic object slides fr om th e con cealed face to its coverin g veil, th e ‘In d ian beau ty’ Ven etian s crave, h is travail im ager y in sists, is th e car go of ‘silks’ an d ‘spices’ th eir ‘argosies with por tly sail’ deliver fr om th e ‘dan ger ous’ East (M erchan t, I.i.9-31). Clearly, Sh akespeare ‘laugh ed to see th e sails con ceive / An d grow big- bellied with th e wan ton win d ,’ wh en som e freigh ter blown by th e ‘spicèd In dian air ’ tr avelled westwar d ‘fr om a voyage, r ich with m erch an d ise.’ Th ere is a con n ection from th e Latin v elum retain ed in th e Fren ch v oile an d v oila, between v eil an d sa il as opaqu e an d open m em br an es, that en acts, H élèn e Cixou s an d J acqu es Der r ida su ggest in Veils, th e in fin ite recession of veil an d valu e, travail an d travel, an d self an d silk: soi an d soie. Th ere can be n o en d in th is serial h om on ym y to th e Pen elopean labou r of ‘u n veilin g as veilin g.’14 Bu t in h is dan ce of veils set in the capital of Carn ival Sh akespeare ap pears to fret over th e travailin g sailcloth as a figure ‘Markin g th e em bar kèd trad ers on the flood’ (Dream , II.i.124-34) as em asculated by th eir veiled com m erce with Mu slim s an d J ews, an d to be alerted by th e liken ess of th eir vessel’s ‘bellied sails’ (Troilu s, II.ii.74) to th e Islam ic hijab to won der wh o in th e en d will prevail: th ose of oth er faith s wh o m odestly r efu se to ‘th r u st th eir h ead in to th e public str eet / To gaze on Ch r istian fools with var n ish ed faces’ (M erchan t, II.v.31), or th ese cr oss-dr essed clown s wh o h ar ass str an ger s with th eir m asks. So, with h is ‘wisest’ in vestor s ‘tr apped’ by th eir cir cuit of veiled In dian tr an saction s, an d th e bon ds of paper cr edit r equir ed to sustain it, Sh akespeare appears to in tu it wh at Patr icia Fu m er ton an alyses in h er essay ‘Th e Veil of Topicality,’ th at in m asques such as Portia’s alludin g to th is ‘stran ge body’ of overseas trad e, Ren aissan ce th eatre was posin g the cr u cial qu estion for the private Eu ropean self as it en tered th e global m arket of available id en tities an d d an gerous d esires: 13 ‘Th e m aterial of subjectivity’: Edith Sn ook, ‘The Greatn ess in Good Cloth es: Fash ion in g Subjectivity in Mary Wroth’s Uran ia an d Margaret Spen cer’s Accoun t Book (BL. Add. MS 620 92),’ The Sev en teen th Cen tury , 22 (20 0 7), 225-42, h er e 242. For th e ‘silen cin g’ of wom en in th is r eification , see Susan Fr ye, ‘Stagin g Wom en ’s Relation s to Textiles in Othello an d Cy m belin e,’ in Peter Erickson an d Clark H ulse (eds.), Early M odern Visual Culture: R ep resen tation , R ace, an d Em p ire in R en aissan ce En glan d (Ph iladelph ia: Un iversity of Pen n sylvan ia Pr ess, 20 0 0 ), pp. 215-50 . 14 J acques Der r ida, ‘A Silkwor m of On e’s Own ,’ in H élèn e Cixous an d J acques Derr ida, Veils, tr an s. Geoffrey Ben n in gton (Stan for d: Stan for d Un iver sity Pr ess, 20 0 1), p. 39 & 58 . 18 4 RICH ARD WILSON H ow to d ress in orn am en ts th e foreign trad e an d bou r geois bar barou sn ess in wh ich it was in volved so as to su stain th e fiction of gift cu ltu re wh ile allowin g bu sin ess t o con tin u e as u su al? H ow, th at is, to dr ess u p can n ibals an d ban ker s… so as to m ask t h e fact t h at th e “private” self was th e em bodim en t of su ch greed y con su m ption ?15 ‘Nay, wh at are you , sir? O im m ortal god s, O fin e villain , a silken d ou blet, a velvet h ose, a scarlet cloak, an d a copin tan k h at’: th ou gh h is fath er is ‘a sailm aker in Ber gam o,’ in h is silken gar b Tr an io im agin es he passes for a gen tlem an (Shrew , V.i.54-65). As th eir own in vestm en t becom es global, Sh akespeare’s plays are alive to th e reversal in world tr ad e th at disorien ts En glish gift culture in such ways, wh en th e export econ om y gr ou n ded in Eu r opean dem an d for En glish wool is in ver ted in to an im por t econ om y fu elled by En glish con su m ption of ‘orn am en tal’ luxuries from Asia. Secreted by worm s, silk is th us m eton ym ic in th ese texts of th e represen tation al cr isis as ‘steel grows soft as th e par asite’s silk’ (Coriolan us, I.ix.45). For in th is pan ic about sem blan ce an d su bstitu tion ser icu ltu r e is tr u ly th e m edium of a serial betrayal. So wh ile th e am bassadors at th e paradigm Field of th e Cloth of Gold ‘Make Britain In dia’ in th eir silks, ‘Th e cloth iers… put off / Th e spin sters, carders, fullers, weavers, wh o… in d esperate m an n er… are all in u pr oar ’ (H en ry VIII, I.i.21; I.ii.32-7); an d wh at en rages th e cloth ier J ack Cad e are ‘silken -coated slaves’ at cou rt (2H en ry VI, IV.ii.115). Poin s’s vice is th erefore m easured in ‘peach colour ed ’ silk stockin gs; an d H al’s by ‘n ew silk an d old sack’ (2H en ry IV, I.ii.18 0 ; II.ii.14), un til h e leaves ‘silken dallian ce in th e war dr obe’ to r aise ‘silken str eam ers’ (H en ry V, Pro.II.2; Pr o.III.6) again st th e Fren ch , th em selves led by a ‘cocker ed silken wan ton ’ (John , V.ii.70 ). Likewise, Tim on ’s flatter er s ‘wear silk, dr in k win e, lie soft’ (Tim on , IV.iii.20 6), as Cym belin e’s fops ar e ‘r u stlin g in u n paid silk’ (Cy m belin e, III.iii.24). An d for An tiph olus of Syracuse th e h eigh t of orien tal devilry is wh en ‘a tailor called m e in h is sh op, / An d sh owed m e silks’ (Com edy , IV.iii.6). Yet by th e tim e of The W in ter’s Tale th e in ven tory of Au tolycu s, th e pedlar who swam ps th e sh eep-shearin g fair with im ported ‘lesser lin en ’ like ‘in kles, caddises, cam br ics, r ibbon s of all colour s,’ wr istban ds, an d ‘golden coifs an d stom ach er s,’ r egister s th e d ram atist’s own awaren ess n ot on ly of th e com m odity fetish ism h istor ian s call ‘Th e Gr eat Recloth in g’ – th e 15 Patr icia Fum er ton , Cultur al Aesth etics: Ren aissan ce Liter atur e an d th e Pr actice of Social Or n am en t (Ch icago: Ch icago Un iver sity Pr ess, 1991), p. 173. VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 18 5 ‘bon d age of certain ribbon s an d gloves’ in a fash ion system wh ere ‘You would th in k a sm ock a sh e-an gel,’ an d th ey wear ‘plackets wh ere th ey sh ould bear th eir faces’ (IV.iv.20 2-15; 228 -36) – but of th e futility of fen cin g En glan d’s wool com m un ities fr om th e global m ar ket, given th e u n iversal availability of th e n ew textiles sh ipped fr om Ben gal, Ceylon , Madras or Persia by ‘the m iracle of lon g-distan ce trade.’16 ‘My tr affic is sh eets,’ leer s th is ‘Master Sm ooth , th e silk m an ’ (2H en ry IV, II.i.29), adver tisin g h is por n ogr aph ic ch ap books, m ade of coar se woollen beddin g, as well as th e lu xu r y ‘wh ite sh eet bleach in g on th e h ed ge’ th is cuckoo steals or sullies in return . But th e ‘fan tastical’ taste for m od ish orien tal ‘en fold in gs’ h e passes on to h is cou n tr y cu stom er s to h ave th em refash ion th em selves as ‘gen tlem en born ’ is as m uch a m etr opolitan m akeover in this r ag-to-r ich es tale of ser ial redr essin g as th e sexu al availability h e proclaim s: Will you bu y an y tape, Or lace for your cape, My dain t y du ck, m y dear-a? An y silk, an y t h r ead, An y toys for you r h ead Of th e n ew’st an d fin ’st wear-a?’ (The W in ter’s Ta le, IV.iv.318 ) ‘If you bargain with Mr Sh akespeare, or receive m on ey th erefore, brin g your m on ey h om e if you m ay. I see h ow kn it stockin gs be sold ; th ere is great buyin g of th em at Evesh am ’: th e on ly survivin g letters n am in g Sh akespeare place h im in th e th ick of th e Mid lan d garm en t trad e, as a backer of Qu in ey in a d eal to m ake a killin g in tr adition al ‘kn it h osin gs.’17 Yet, like th e itin eran t ped lar wh o ‘wore th ree-pile’ velvet suits to serve Prin ce Florizel (IV.iii.5; IV.iv.710 ; V.ii.124); or in d eed the d ram atist h im self, issued four an d a h alf yards of scar let cloth by th e Master of th e Wardrobe to parade as a Groom of th e Ch am ber befor e Kin g J am es; h is actors acqu ired th eir ‘cu t-rate 16 Mar garet Spu ffor d, The Great R eclothin g of R ural En glan d: Petty Chapm en an d the W ares in the Sev en teen th Cen tury (Lon don : H am bledon Pr ess, 198 4), esp. pp. 8 8 -10 5; ‘m ir acle of over seas tr ade’: Br au del, op. cit. (n ote 12), pp. 58 2-60 1; for pen etration of r u r al En glan d, see p. 64-7; cf. Walter Coh en , ‘Th e un discover ed coun tr y: Shakespeare an d m er can tile geogr aph y,’ in J ean H oward an d Scott Sh er show (ed s.), M arxist Shak esp eares (Lon don ; Routledge, 20 0 1), p. 144. 17 Abr ah am Stur ley to Rich ar d Quin ey, October 30 1598 , rpr . in E.K. Ch am ber s, W illiam Shak esp eare: A Study of Facts an d Problem s (2 vols., Oxfor d: Clar en don Pr ess, 1930 ), vol. 2, p. 10 2-3. 18 6 RICH ARD WILSON war dr obe’ of silk fabr ics, we are told, secon d-h an d fr om th e cou r t.18 Th is m ean t ‘th e players appeared in cloth es th at m igh t actu ally h ave belon ged to m em bers of th e aud ien ce;’ bu t An n e J on es an d Peter Stallybrass dedu ce th at by re-cyclin g h an d-down s th e stage also becam e a catwalk for cr owds to copy, a th eor y su bstan tiated wh en th e Com m on er s elbow in to Ju liu s Caesar in ‘best apparel’ (I.i.8 ).19 Sh akespear e’s ear ly plays tu rn on cast-offs fittin g ‘As if th e gar m en t h ad been m ean t for m e,’ as J u lia’s says (Tw o Gen ts, IV.iv.155). But h is later plays am plify the elite alarm over th e self-fash ion in g available wh en , as Stu bbes fu m ed, ‘all per son s dr ess in discr im in ately in silks, velvets, satin s, dam asks, an d taffetas,’ as th ey also ech o th e actors’ an xiety th at ‘our stran ge garm en ts cleave n ot to th eir m ould .’20 Th e lin k between usurpation an d th e upstart wh ose expen sive borrowed cloth es ‘H an g loose abou t h im like a gian t’s robe / Upon a d warfish th ief’ (M acbeth, I.iii.143; V.ii.21-2) is clin ch ed in The Tem p est, wh ere Caliban ’s r ebellion en ds in a ‘fr ipper y’ or secon d-h an d shop, befor e Prospero h im self d isown s as ‘trum pery’ th e ‘rich garm en ts, lin en s, stu ffs,’ th at ar e th e em blem s of h is power (I.ii.164; IV.i.18 6; 224]. So, of 70 in stan ces in Sh akespeare of th e word ‘garm en t,’ 50 are in h is J acobean texts, with 15 in Cy m belin e alon e, th e quick-ch an ge cross- dressed dram a th at, as Stallybrass sh ows, qu estion s m ore th an an y oth er th e fetish izin g of ‘sen seless lin en ’ in a fash ion system th at ju d ges a m an by ‘H is m ean ’st gar m en t’ (I.iii.7; II.iii.128 ).21 ‘I do n ot like th e fash ion of your garm en ts,’ Lear objects: ‘You will say th ey are Persian ; but let them be ch an ged.’ Poor Tom r aves again st ‘the r u stlin g of silks’ h im self. Bu t th e m ad kin g’s an swer to ‘gor geou s’ or ien tal ‘soph istication ’ is to ‘u n bu tton ’ h is ‘len d in gs’ an d strip even ‘looped an d win dowed r aggedn ess’ down to ‘bar e an d u n accom m odated’ tr u th , so th at ‘Th ou owest th e wor m n o silk’ (Lear, II.iv.269; III.iv.8 8 -10 0 ; 18 Sam uel Sch oen baum , W illiam Shak esp eare A Docum en tary Life (Oxfor d: O.U.P., 1975), p. 196; Stephen Green blatt, ‘Reson an ce an d Won der,’ in Learn in g to Curse: Essay s in Early M odern Culture (Lon don : Routledge, 1990 ), p. 162. 19 Stephen Green blatt, Shak esp earean N egotiation s: The Circulation of Social En ergy in R en aissan ce En glan d (Oxfor d: Claren don Press, 198 8 ), p. 9; An n e J on es an d Peter Stallybr ass, R en aissan ce Clothes an d the M aterials of M em ory (Cam br idge: C.U.P., 20 0 0 ). 20 Ph ilip Stubbes, quoted in Macquoid, op. cit. (n ote 5), p. 10 3. 21 Peter Stallybr ass, ‘Wor n wor lds: cloth es an d iden tity on th e Ren aissan ce stage,’ in Margreta de Gr azia, Maureen Quilligan an d Peter Stallybr ass (eds.), Su bject an d object in R en aissan ce culture (Cam br idge: C.U.P., 1996), p. 30 8 -10 . For th e acquisition of cler ical vestm en ts by actors, see also Steph en Gr een blatt, op . cit. (n ote 20 ), p. 112-14. VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 18 7 III.vi.73).22 Ch r istoph er H ill th ough t th e Qu aker s wh o str eaked star k n aked th r ough Lon don str eets in th e 1650 s wer e in spir ed by th e n u d ism of Kin g Lear.23 Bu t ‘th e pedlar ’s silken tr easu r y’ (W in ter, IV.iv.350 ] also su pplies th e solu tion En glish con sum ers preferred to su ch an apocalyptic divestm en t, wh ich was to flau n t th e availability of n ew textiles an d fr on t pr ivate desir es with th e pu blic face of fash ion itself: Lawn as wh ite as dr iven sn ow, Cyp ress black as e’er was crow, Gloves as sweet as d am ask r oses, Masks for faces, an d for n oses. (The W in ter’s Ta le, IV.iv.214-17) ‘Masks for faces, an d for n oses’: Sh akespeare’s ‘cloth -d riven th eatr e’ is qu ick to pick u p on th e strategy wher eby J acobean Lon don er s separ ated pr ivate faces fr om public spaces, wh ich was to tr an spor t th e face m ask fr om fan cy dr ess to th e str eet.24 Stowe sh u dder ed th at ‘Wom en ’s m asks cam e in to En glan d abou t th e tim e of th e Massacr e of Par is;’ an d Stu bbes listed am on g obstacles to social or der wom en r idin g with ‘visor s m ade of velvet wh erewith th ey cover all th eir faces, h avin g h oles m ad e in th em again st th eir eyes, wh erewith th ey look.’25 Bu t abou t 160 0 the dr ive to see an d en joy withou t bein g seen to en joy took th e for m of silk ‘m asks for n oses,’ or black h alf- m asks kn own as vizards, cover in g on ly the upper face. In itially wor n as accessor ies to pr otect the com plexion , like th e ‘sun -expellin g m ask’ J u lia h as discar ded ‘sin ce sh e did n eglect h er lookin g-glass’ (Tw o Gen ts, IV.iv.150 ), vizar ds wer e defin ed by J oh n Clevelan d in a 1647 poem , ‘Th e Kin g’s Disgu ise,’ as articles ‘su ch as Ladies wear / Wh en th ey are veiled on purpose to be seen .’26 Wych er ley’s Pin ch wife will th erefore m iss th e poin t wh en h e exclaim s such a visor ‘m akes people in qu isitive an d is as rid icu lou s a d isgu ise as a stage-beard ,’ sin ce 22 For Lear ’s suicidal m an ia for un dr essin g, see Mar greta de Gr azia, ‘The ideology of super fluous th in gs: Kin g Lear as per iod piece,’ in de Gr azia, Qu illigan an d Stallybr ass, op. cit. (n ote 22), p. 24-5. 23 Ch r istopher H ill, The W orld Turn ed Up side Dow n : R adical Ideas Durin g the En glish R ev olution (H ar m on dswor th : Pen guin , 1975), p. 279. 24 ‘Cloth -driven theatre’: Stallybr ass, op . cit (n ote 22), p. 30 0 . 25 J oh n Stowe quoted in M. Ch an n in g Lin th icum , Costum e in the Dram a of Shak esp eare an d his Con tem poraries (Oxfor d: Clar en don Pr ess, 1936), p. 271-2; Ph ilip Stubbes, The An atom y of Abuses (Lon don : 158 3), sig. G.2. 26 J oh n Clevelan d, ‘Th e Kin g’s Disguise,’ in The Character of a Lon don -Diurn al: W ith sev eral select Poem s (Lon don : 1647), p. 33. 18 8 RICH ARD WILSON accor din g to Ch r istoph H eyl in M asquerade an d Iden tities, th is vir tual disgu ise was in fact design ed to be pen etrated: ‘it was still easy to recogn ise th e wearer… But th is m ust h ave been su fficien t to in tr odu ce n ew oppor tu n ities for playin g with an on ym ity,’ as th ese str eet m asks ‘both obscure th eir wearers an d attract atten tion .’ H eyl therefore views th e vogu e for h alf-m asks in th e 160 0 s as a ver sion of in cogn ito r itu al, in wh ich , if you sign al you ar e in visible, people wh o recogn ise you are con strain ed to beh ave as if you are u n kn own , a perform an ce of suspen ded d isbelief wh ich can be com pared to th e th eatrical asid e. As H eyl r em ar ks, th e vizar d th us n egotiated a separ ation of public an d pr ivate sph er es by tu r n in g its wear er in to an ou tsider ‘in qu otes’: a h azardou s blu ff in th e face-to-face com m u n ity wh ere a stran ger was eith er h osted or expelled , but a kn owin g win k of m u tual com plicity in th e u r ban m etropolis ‘popu lated by people wh o wer e an d r em ain ed stran gers to on e an oth er,’ yet wh o were ‘m ore at ease with an on ym ity th an ever before.’27 It fu n ction ed, th at is to say, accor din g to th e closet epistem ology defin ed by D.A. Miller an d Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick as th e pr actice wh er eby ‘opposition s between public/ pr ivate, in side/ outside, su bject/ object ar e established’ on th e tacit u n der stan din g th at ‘we kn ow per fectly well th at th e secr et is kn own … n on eth eless we m u st per sist… in guar din g it.’28 So, ‘Degree bein g vizard ed ,’ as Sh akespeare’s Ulysses bem oan s, ‘Th e u n wor th iest sh ows as fair ly in th e m ask’ (Troilu s, I.iii.8 3-4). Yet accor din g to th is an alysis, th e r elaxation of su ch sexu al, social, an d r eligiou s discr im in ation was pr ecisely the r ation ale of goin g ‘veiled on pur pose to be seen ’: Th is appar en tly bizar re pattern of beh aviou r d em on strates th at th e privacy of st ran ger s or of p eople wh o n ow wan ted to be treated as stran ger s h ad becom e som et h in g to be resp ect ed… Som eth in g wh ich wou ld h ave been regard ed as a m asqu erade in m ost oth er cou n tries was h er e bein g taken for gran ted as a par t of ever yday life. Th is poin t s to a 27 Ch r istoph H eyl, ‘Th e Metam or ph osis of the Mask in Seven teen th - an d Eigh teen th - Cen tur y Lon don ,’ in Efr at Tseëlon (ed.), M asquerade an d Iden tities: Essay s on Gen der, Sexuality an d M argin ality (Lon don : Routledge, 20 0 1), p. 114-34, her e pp. p. 119-20 & 128 . Th is im por tan t essay is repr in ted as ‘Wh en th ey are veyl’d on pur pose to be seen ,’ in J oan n e En twh istle an d Elizabeth Wilson , Body Dressin g (Oxfor d: Ber g, 20 0 5), p. 121-42. 28 D.A, Miller, ‘Secr et Subjects, Open Secr ets,’ in The N ov el an d the Police (Ber keley: Un iver sity of Califor n ia Pr ess, 198 8 ), p. 192-220 , h ere pp. 195 & 20 7. Cf. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, The Ep istem ology of the Closet (Ber keley: Un iver sity of Califor n ia Pr ess, 1990 ). VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 18 9 level of toler an ce in ur ban En glish societ y wh ich was in deed r em ar kable.29 ‘My visor is Ph ilem on ’s r oof. With in th e h ouse is J ove,’ explain s Don Pedr o (M uch Ado, II.i.8 0 ), allud in g to th e th em e of th e Kin g an d th e Beggar th at provid ed a pretext for th e live-an d -let-live rule practised by Ch arles II, h is un cle Ch r istian IV, an d h is gr an dfath er H en r i IV, in their escapad es of clown in g with th e poor. Th e jest h in ts h ow even in the m asquerades of h is Elizabeth an plays Sh akespeare was attu n ed to th e com in g er a th at wou ld depen d n ot on r evelation an d un veilin g but on wh at th e Span iar d Don Ar m ado lear n s is better th an war s of r eligion : a discr ete veil dr awn over ‘Most m aculate th ough ts… m asked un der such colour s’ (Lov e’s, I.ii.8 3). Of cour se, n o on e was fooled by th e em peror’s n ew cloth es wh en th e Merry Mon arch wen t slu m m in g with Nell Gwyn , h is u n cle slipped u n h er ald ed in to Lon don u n der th e pseu don ym of Captain Fr ed erickson , or h is gran d fath er, dr essed as a ‘wh istlin g’ doorm an , swept th e stage at the Lou vr e to ‘m ake place for th e rascal players.’ H en ri took d ressin g d own so far Louis XIII joked you could always tell h is fath er by h is sten ch .30 An d New H istor icism h as seen th r ough Pr in ce H al’s ‘veil of wildn ess’ (H en ry V, I.i.65). Th eir peasan t togs en act th e sam e fausse n aïv eté as th ose cou r t dresses ‘distr essed’ by ‘slash in g’ to look ‘n ew-fan gled ill’ (Son n et 91), an ar tfu l im postu r e Petr u ch io dem olish es th e in stan t h e glim pses h is wife’s ball-gown : ‘O, m er cy God, wh at m asquin g stu ff is h er e?... H er e’s sn ip, an d n ip, an d cut, an d slish an d slash , / Like to a scissor in a bar ber ’s sh op’ (Tam in g, IV.iii.8 7-91).31 Yet An n e Barton stresses h ow the popularity of th e ‘d isguised kin g’ gen re sym bolized th e fan tasy of ‘h ar m on y, good fellowsh ip, an d m utual un d er stan din g,’ wh ich was n ow replacin g face-to-face d issen t.32 An d wh en Rosalin e m ocks ‘th at visor , th at su per flu ous case, / Th at h id th e wor se an d 29 H eyl, op . cit. (n ote 28 ), p. 119 & 128 . 30 J oh n Gade, Christian IV Kin g of Den m ark an d N orw ay : A Picture of the Sev en teen th Cen tury (Lon don : Cassell, 1928 ), p. 8 0 -4; Leeds Barroll, An n a of Den m ark , Queen of En glan d: A Cultural Biograp hy (Ph iladelph ia: Un iversity of Pen n sylvan ia Pr ess, 20 0 1), p. 143; Sir Rober t Dallin gton (160 4), quoted in Desm on d Sewar d, The First Bourbon : H en ry IV, Kin g of Fran ce an d N av arre (Lon don : Con stable, 1971), p. 164. 31 For th e slash in g vogue, wh ich peaked at th e tim e of Shakespeare’s r om an ces, see Aileen Ribeir o, Fashion an d Fiction : Dress in Art an d Literature in Stuart En glan d (New H aven : Yale Un iversity Pr ess, 20 0 5), p. 32-3. 32 An n e Bar ton , ‘Th e kin g disguised: Shakespeare’s H en ry V an d th e com ical h istor y,’ in Essay s, M ain ly Shak esp earean (Cam bridge: C.U.P., 1994), p. 212. 190 RICH ARD WILSON sh owed th e better face,’ Navar r e h as n o n eed to regret that ‘We were descr ied’ (Lov e’s, V.ii.38 7-9), for wh at th ese exch an ges likewise prove is th e im m u n ity gr an ted by th e in cogn ito r ule. Fr an cois Lar oque h as an alysed th e in terplay of ligh t an d d ark, vision an d blin d n ess, in th e m asqu er ade in R om eo an d Ju liet.33 Bu t Ron ald Kn owles poin ts out th at Sh akespeare ch an ged th e story of h is lovers’ m eetin g, wh ich in th e sour ce occur s wh en ‘All did un m ask,’ becau se ‘for Rom eo to h ave u m m asked wou ld h ave can celled th e h ospitality’ he exploits.34 Th us it is eye to eye con tact wh ich h er e r em ain s taboo. As Capulet affir m s wh en Rom eo asks for ‘a case to put m y visage in ,’ an d don s ‘A visor for a visor’ to gatecrash th e ball, certain th at wh atever ‘cu riou s eye d oth quote d eform ity, / H ere are th e beetle brows sh all blush for m e’, th e virtue of goin g ‘covered with an an tic face’ for th is scopic regim e is n ot so m u ch th e r elease fr om iden tity it con fers on th e wearer, as th e blin d eye of obliviousn ess it dem an d s of th e viewer wh en ever som e spoilspor t Tybalt gu esses the u n der lyin g tr u th (I.iv.29-32; I.v.53): Con ten t th ee, gen tle coz, leave h im alon e. A bears h im like a portly gen tlem an , An d, t ru th to say, Ver on a br ags of h im To be a virtu ou s an d well-govern ed you th . I wou ld n ot for th e wealth of all th is town H er e in m y h ou se do h im disparagem en t. Th er efor e be patien t, take n o n ote of h im . (R om eo a n d Ju liet, I.v.62-6) ‘To be in a m ask brin geth with it a certain liberty an d licen ce,’ th eorised Castiglion e, ‘an d if h e were in a m ask an d th ough it were so all m en kn ew h im , it skilleth n ot.’35 Th e Latin for m ask, p erson a, m ean t th at Rom an law took a m ask at face v alue; an d th e idea of p erson a as p erson ality licen sed Medieval m um m in g, wh ich assum ed a ‘vizard serveth to sm all effect wh en th e Mum m er is kn own .’36 Bu t as Meg Twycr oss explain s in M ask s an d M ask in g, wh en Duke Ercole of 33 Fr an cois Lar oque, ‘“Cover ’d with an an tic face”: Les m asques de la lum ière et de l’om bre dan s R om eo an d Juliet,’ Études An glaises, 45 (1992), 38 5-95. 34 Ron ald Kn owles, ‘Car n ival an d Death in R om eo an d Juliet,’ in Ron ald Kn owles (ed.), Shak esp eare an d Carn iv al: After Bak htin (Basin gstoke: Macm illan , 1998 ), p. 44; Geoffrey Bullough , N arrativ e an d Dram atic Sources of Shak espeare (7 vols., Lon don : Routledge an d Kegan Paul, 1964), vol. 1, p. 290 . 35 Baldassare Castiglion e, The Book of the Courtier, tr an s. Th om as H oby, ed. J .H . Wh itfield (Lon don : Den t, 1974), p. 99-10 0 & 10 5. 36 J acques Yver, Le Prin tem p s d’Iv er (Par is: J ean Ruelle, 1572), p. 20 2. VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 191 Fer r ar a wen t guisin g at New Year, lookin g for egg-figh ts an d erotic trysts, th e blur rin g of social categories d epen d ed on ‘th e presen ce of th e m asker ’s iden tity.’ Now ‘th e im por tan ce of m askin g is, an d is ackn owled ged to be, a gam e’ of both give an d take.37 Th is is th e kin d of m or ator ium wh ich gives H en ry VIII its n er vou s r ictu s, wh en takin g th eir cu e fr om h is disgu ise as a sh eph er d at Wolsey’s ball, h is victim s h u m ou r th e kin g by preten din g n ot to recogn ise th e ‘on e am on gst ’em ’ (I.iv.8 1) wh o h as power . So it is sign ifican t th at wh en ever Sh akespeare in clu des su ch guisin g h e str etch es th e r ules of th is r ever se blin d-m an ’s bluff, like Lon don ‘geezers’ takin g liberties by wearin g th eir vizard s ar oun d town . H e tests th e lim its of m u tu al toler ation : eith er to d estruction , as wh en Rom eo an d J uliet fail to m ake th eir m asked en coun ter last, or to trium ph , as wh en th e Prin cess an d h er Lad ies put Navar r e an d h is Lor ds to su ch sh am e th at th ey m ust ‘ever but in visors sh ow th eir faces’ (Lov e’s, V.ii.271). Wh atever th e outcom e, th is ch an ge in focu s fr om display to con cealm en t r eflects a n ew developm en t in th e m ask-face relation , ‘d eliberately flirtin g with id en tity th at is teasin gly h idden bu t n ow n ever qu ite den ied.’38 Th e sh ift was fr om Elizabeth ’s belief in prin ces ‘set on stages in th e sigh t an d view of all the world ,’ to J am es’s par an oia th at ‘all the beh olders’ were ‘ben t to look an d pry’ in to h is ‘secr etest dr ifts.’39 An d so, even as th e court m asques were illu m in atin g the Apollon ian per spective of spectacular power – wh en th e ‘deep tr u th abou t the m on ar ch y’ was un veiled, in Or gel’s wor ds, as ‘th e fiction open ed outward to in clude th e wh ole cour t’ – Sh akespeare was devisin g a con tr ar y for m of th eatr e, in wh ich a kin g’s d esir e to pass at n igh t veiled as ‘a com m on m an ’ is m atch ed, as th e soldier William s rem in d s Kin g H arry, by a subject’s equally available n ew privilege to speak in pr ivate with ou t givin g offen ce:40 37 Meg Twycr oss an d Su san Car pen ter , M ask s an d M ask in g in M ediev al an d Tudor En glan d (Alder sh ot: Ash gate, 20 0 2), p. 61 & 67-8 . 38 Ibid., p. 18 8 . 39 Elizabeth I an d J am es VI an d I quoted in Ch r istopher Pye, ‘The Sovereign , th e Th eater, an d th e Kin gdom e of Darkn esse: H obbes an d the Spectacle of Power ,’ in Stephen Green blatt (ed.), R ep resen tin g the En glish R en aissan ce (Ber keley: Un iversity of Califor n ia Pr ess, 198 8 ), p. 279. 40 Stephen Orgel, The Illusion of Pow er: Political Theater in the En glish R en aissan ce (Ber keley: Un iversity of Califor n ia Press, 1975), p. 39. For th e Apollon ian optic of th e cour t, see also Mar tin J ay, Dow n cast Ey es: The Den igration of Vision in Tw en tieth-Cen tury Fren ch Thought (Ber keley: Un iver sity of Califor n ia Pr ess, 1993), pp. 8 7-90 . 192 RICH ARD WILSON Your m ajesty cam e n ot like you rself. You appeared to m e but as a com m on m an . Witn ess th e n igh t, you r gar m en ts, you r lowlin ess. An d wh at you r h igh n ess su ffered u n d er th at sh ap e I beseech you take it for you r own fau lt, an d n ot m in e for h ad you been as I took you for, I m ad e n o offen ce. (H en ry V, IV.viii.47-50 ) ‘Th e Kin g’s first goin g abroad was privately to visit… h is H ou ses, for n atu r ally h e did n ot love to be looked on ’: when J am es I tour ed h is n ew capital ‘secr etly’ in 160 3, h is cover was blown by the ‘swar m s’ wh o sh ou ted ‘God save th e Kin g’ to ‘h is gr eat offen ce,’ wh en ever he em erged in to th e street.41 Yet the fact th at th e sly r u ler ’s peculiar desir e for pr ivacy was r espected by th ose in th e kn ow m ay be con n ected to th e virtual blin d spot wh ereby, as Orgel poin ts out, th ere are h ardly an y ‘in stan ces in wh ich an yon e sees th rou gh a disgu ise in En glish Ren aissan ce dram a,’ for on th is stage ‘cloth es really do m ake th e m an .’42 Th us, ‘Th e soul of th is m an is in his cloth es,’ sn iffs th e old sn ob Lafeu of Par oles, th e ‘jack-an -apes with scarfs’ wh o ‘had th e wh ole th eor ic of war in th e kn ot of his scar f’ (All’s W ell, III.v.8 5; IV.iii.138 ). ‘A sn ipped -taffeta fellow’ (IV.v.1), Paroles’ iden tity really is boun d up with h is slash ed ‘scarves an d ban n erets’: ‘So, m y good win d ow of lattice,’ Lafeu sn ipes, ‘I look th rough th ee’ (II.iii.197-20 5); an d ‘You ar e un don e, Captain – all but you r scarf, th at h as a kn ot on ’t yet,’ h is captors sn eer. Bu t on e of the twists wh ich m akes All’s W ell That En d s W ell so u n settlin g is Par oles’ deter m in ation th at if a silk cr avat is his un doin g, ‘Sim ply th e th in g I am / Sh all m ake m e live.’ (IV.iv.30 0 -11). H is m uffler h as been so m uch a part of his old pan ach e, wh en h e does wh at Iago despises an d wear s h is h ear t on h is sleeve (Othello, I.i.64), th at after h e is blin dfolded with it the ‘saffron ’ dr ape (All’s W ell, IV.v.2) does seem a win dow in to h is sou l. ‘Mu ffled’ (IV.iii.112) by th e scar f th at bin ds h im , th e m an of words is th erefore as m uch a victim as Malvolio, in h is yellow stockin gs, of th e con strictin g bon d age of costu m e an d in teriority in th e ear ly m oder n fash ion system , th e tigh t fit between wh at J on es an d Stallybr ass call ‘the su per ficiality of cloth in g an d the depth of th e su per ficial.’43 Th e cloth es, in th is view, m ake th e m an . Yet wh en h e con fesses, ‘Captain I’ll be n o m ore’ (30 8 ), wh at we glim pse in Paroles, as h e u n ties that stran gu latin g stock, is an in ward n ess n ot red u cible to 41 Sir Roger Wilbr aham an d Ar th ur Wilson , repr . in Rober t Ash ton , Kin g J am es By H is Con tem p oraries (Lon don : H utch in son , 1969), p. 62-4. 42 Stephen Orgel, op. cit (n ote 13), p. 10 2. 43 J on es an d Stallybrass, op . cit. (n ote 20 ), p. 3. VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 193 such extern al m atrices, a person beh in d th e p erson a, or pr ivate face beh in d th e pu blic m ask; as if in th e wear in ess of All’s W ell That En d s W ell, th is pilgr im play about th e travails of travellin g, Sh akespeare an ticipated Der r ida’s bor edom with th e post-m od ern shibboleth of ‘truth as a h istory of veils’: Voilà, fatigu ed like tru th , exh au st ed from kn owin g it, for too lon g, th at h istory of t h e veil, an d all t h e folds, explication s, com plicat ion s, explicitation s of its r evelation s an d un veilin gs… wh en th ey ar e to d o n ot on ly with open in g on to th is or th at bu t on to th e veil itself, a veil ben eath th e veil, like th e th in g itself to be bu ried … I am weary, weary, weary… of th is opposition t h at is n ot an op position , of r evelation as veilin g… Fed u p w ith v ails a n d sails.44 In All’s W ell Par oles’ loosen ed scar f seem s to flag h is ph ilosoph y th at ‘Th ere’s place an d m ean s for every m an alive’ (IV.iv.316). Likewise, in M easu re for M easu re, An d rew Gurr writes, th e old tag th at ‘Cu cu llu s n on facit m on achu m ’ – th e cowl d oes n ot m ake th e m on k – an d th at in adoptin g Fran ciscan h abit th e Du ke is ‘h on est in n oth in g bu t h is cloth es,’ ir on ises An gelo’s cr iticism of ‘th ese black m asks’ th at ‘Proclaim an en sh ield beau ty ten tim es lou der / Th an beauty cou ld be displayed’: th e visor s wor n by Isabella an d Marian a at th e close wh en Lucio ‘p u lls off the friar’s hood an d discov ers the Duk e’ (II.iv.79-8 0 ; V.i.259; SD,347). An gelo reads su ch a visor as an in citem en t, like th e m ask Cr essida car r ies, sh e sm ir ks, ‘to defen d m y beauty’ (Troilu s, I.ii.242), or th e ‘vir tuous visor’ th e m oth er of Rich ard III fear s h ides ‘deep vice’ (R ichard III, II.ii.28 ). Bu t accor din g to Gu r r th e separ ation of pu blic an d pr ivate sph er es in th is com edy depen ds on th e ver y am biguity wh en m asked wom en are, as Posth um ous rails, eith er ‘for preservation cased , or sh am e’ (Cy m belin e, V.v.21). H ere th e Duke r ejects Lu cio’s excu se th at h e spoke, like William s, ‘accor din g to th e trick’ wh en h e d efam ed h im in private. Bu t a play that spares its h eroin e th e religious veil an d th e con ven t ‘Isabella Rule’ th at ‘if you speak, you m ust n ot sh ow you r face; / Or if you sh ow you r face you m u st n ot speak,’ still en ds h avin g h er wait beh in d a visor un til th e Duke offer s h er a ‘destin ed liver y’ as h is br ide (I.iv.12; II.iv.138 ; V.i.498 ). Th us h alf-m asks in M easu re for M easu re solve ‘th e pr oblem 44 Der r ida, op . cit. (n ote 15), pp. 38 -9. See Kath ar in e Eisam an Maus, In w ardn ess an d Theater in the En glish R en aissan ce (Ch icago: Ch icago Un iver sity Pr ess, 1995), for a sustain ed cr itique of th e idea th at ‘the in dividual der ived sen se of th e self fr om exter n al m atr ices’ in Sh akespearean En glan d (p. 2). 194 RICH ARD WILSON of fin din g a m iddle way between fr eedom an d th e law,’ Gur r con cludes, by sh ieldin g Isabella fr om m ale ch ican er y: ‘Disgu ise becom es a m ean s to everyon e’s un casin g,’ as ‘For th e wh ole fin ale (we see) her d ressed in a gen tlewom an ’s face m ask, with all th e freedom it offer ed.’ H oods, m asks, scar ves an d veils h ave r eceived too little atten tion in Sh akespeare studies, Gur r r em ar ks.45 Yet wheth er or n ot the dr am atist was fam iliar with th e Poor Clares, or h ad a great-au n t Isabel who becam e a pr ior ess, h is com edy does seem to ackn owled ge th e Greco- Rom an , Byzan tin e, H in du , an d Islam ic, as well as Cath olic tradition th at respects th e veil as a sign of privilege an d power. M easu re for M easu re dates from a tim e wh en n un s like Mary Ward were ad justin g th e veil to varyin g d egrees of seclusion ; as oth ers, like th e Ven etian n un s wh ose tran sparen t lace ‘attracted rather th an d eflected th e m ale gaze,’ were testin g ‘h ow perm eable con ven t walls, gr illes, an d door s could becom e.’46 So in th is d r am a th e visor seem s, like th e m od ern hijab, a m ean s ‘to n egotiate a sph ere of social freed om .’47 For on ce Isabella is fitted ou t in on e of th e fash ion able silk h alf-m asks of the 160 0 s h er en igm atic silen ce at th e close is keyed to th e epoch -m arkin g ph en om en on th e play explores, th e aversion to bein g studied by ‘m illion s of false eyes’ (IV.i.59) in th e n ew m etropolis where even th e kin g n ow claim ed ‘safe discr etion ’ for h is own pr ivate desir es an d ‘secr etest dr ifts’: I love t h e p eople, Bu t do n ot like to stage m e to th eir eyes. Th ough it do well, I do n ot r elish well Th eir lou d applau se an d av es veh em en t; Nor do I th in k th e m an of safe discr etion Th at does affect it. (M easu re, I.i.67-72) ‘Am on g all par ts of th e wor ld, on ly En glan d h as n ot seen m asked beasts,’ r epor ted Polydor e Ver gil in th e 1490 s, ‘n or does it wan t to, because am on g th e En glish … th ere is capital pun ish m en t for 45 An drew Gurr, ‘M easure for M easu re’s H oods an d Masks: The Duke, Isabella, an d Liber ty,’ En glish Literary R en aissan ce, 27 (1997), 8 9-10 5, h ere 91 & 10 2-3. 46 J utta Gisela Sperlin g, Con v en ts an d the Body Politic in late R en aissan ce Ven ice (Ch icago: Ch icago Un iver sity Pr ess, 1999), p. 141. For Mar y War d an d th e debate about the clausur a, see Elizabeth Rapley, The Dév otes: W om en an d Church in Sev en teen th-Cen tury Fran ce (Mon tr eal: McGill-Queen ’s Un iver sity Pr ess, 1990 ), p. 28 -9 & 54-6. 47 J oh n Bowen , W hy the Fren ch Don ’t Lik e H eadscarv es: Islam , the State, an d Public Sp here (Pr in ceton : Pr in ceton Un iver sity Pr ess, 20 0 7), p. 71. VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 195 an yon e wh o wear s m asks.’48 As an Italian m igran t Vergil h ad reason s for exaggeratin g a Lon d on by-law again st ‘an y fein ed beard s, pain ted visor s, disfor m ed or colou r ed visages, in an y wise.’49 Bu t th e Tu dor resistan ce to street m askin g, cu lm in atin g in a 1511 Act ou tlawin g an y wh o ‘d isguised an d apparelled’ th em selves, or ‘covered th eir faces with Visor s in su ch m an n er th at th ey sh ou ld n ot be kn own ,’ m akes it even m ore strikin g th at Sh akespeare’s stage revolves arou n d th e kin d of ‘m ask’d an d vizarded’ im broglio th at brin gs The M erry W iv es of W in dsor to th e boil, with ‘vizor s’ for th e ch ild ren an d a silk veil for th e Queen of th e Fairies (IV.vi.40 ). Th is is a th eatre wh ere, as Ard en ’s ‘h oodies’ sh ow, wh en th ey dress like Robin H ood an d ‘with a kin d of um ber sm ir ch ’ th eir faces, th ose wh o ‘ou tface it with th eir sem blan ces’ go ‘To liberty, an d n ot to ban ish m en t’ (As You , I.iii.10 6-32). Equally n oticeable, h owever , is th at with th e exception of Sn u g’s Ath en ian lion - m ask, fr om th e lady’s vizar d in wh ich Flu te plays Th isbe (Dream , I.ii.41) to th e h igh waym en ’s visors on visors th at ‘in m ask’ H al an d Poin s (1H en r y IV, I.ii.159), an d th e cagou les th at ‘m ask’ Caesar’s assassin s (Ju liu s, II.i.73-8 1), wh at in tr igues Sh akespeare is n ot th e ‘absolu te m ask’ of an tiqu ity – th e p erson a wh ose ‘face is vizard -like, u n ch an gin g’ (3H en ry VI, I.iv.117) – but th e tan talizin g h alf-m ask wh ich , as Barth es writes, always teases us with ‘th e th em e of th e secret’: as if in th is gam e th e m ask is always in vitin g Falstaff’s r espon se: ‘By the lord, I kn ew ye as well as h e th at m ade ye’ (1H en ry IV, II.v.246).50 As J ean -Luc Nan cy com m en ts, it is th e very fun ction of such a m ask to dr aw atten tion to itself, sin ce its par adox is a ‘self-sh owin g th at with dr aws. Mon str ation occu r s in con cealm en t, an d fr om ou t of th at con cealm en t or d isappearan ce.’51 Th u s for H eyl, th e dialectical fu n ction of th e vizard , as both repellen t an d in vitation , is allied to th e ‘vir tu al disgu ise’ of th e liter ar y pseu don ym , as th e kin d of blin d eye wh ich was turn ed towards its open secret is essen tial to th e ‘strip-tease’ of m od ern au th orial an on ym ity. It m ay n ot th erefore be ch an ce th at in th e liter ar y text wh ich , fr om th e in stan t th e Gh ost m ater ialises with its ‘beaver u p’ 48 Polydore Vergil, Begin n in gs an d Discov eries: Poly dore Vergil’s ‘De in v en toribus rerum ’, tr an s. Ben o Weiss an d Lou is Për ez (Nieu koop: De Gr aaf, 1997), p. 329. 49 Pr oclam ation of 1418 , Lon don : Guildh all Letter Book I, folio 223r , quoted in Twycross, op . cit. (n ote 30 ), p. 331. 50 Rolan d Bar th es, ‘Th e Face of Garbo,’ in M y thologies, tr an s. An n ette Laver s (Lon don : Vin tage, 1993), p. 56. 51 J ean -Luc Nan cy, ‘Th e Masked Im agin ation ,’ in The Groun d of the Im age, tr an s. J eff For t (New Yor k: For dh am Un iver sity Press, 20 0 5), p. 96. 196 RICH ARD WILSON (H am let, I.iii.228 ), dem on str ates m or e th an an y oth er th e ‘v isor effect,’ as Der r ida ter m s it, by wh ich ‘we do n ot see wh o looks at u s,’ the occu lted sen se of secr ecy is associated thr ough out with wh at H eyl m ain tain s was a perception un ique to early m od ern Lon d on , th e revolu tion ary recogn ition th at ‘d ress an d ou tward appearan ce were n o lon ger an in fallible gu ide to statu s’:52 ’Tis n ot alon e m y in ky cloak, good m oth er , Nor cu stom ar y su its of solem n black… Th at can den ote m e tru ly… I h ave th at wit h in wh ich p asset h sh ow, Th ese bu t t h e tr appin gs an d th e su its of woe (H am let, I.ii.78 -8 6) H am let’s ‘an tic disposition ’ (I.v.72) m igh t be seen as a su prem e in stan ce of the in ky textual cloak as fu n ction al equ ivalen t of th e J acobean black m ask: a ruse th at on ly ‘preten ds to disgu ise,’ an d ‘in stead of m akin g on e in con spicu ou s, m akes on looker s m or e in qu isitive.’53 An d in Secret Shak esp eare I suggested such a ‘m asked im agin ation ’ relies on th e sam e closet subjectivity as pain tin gs by Car avaggio, wh ere as Leo Ber san i an d Ulysse Dutoit obser ve, th e in vitation to in ter pr et is its own con cealm en t, for secr ecy is h er e per for m ed by a body ‘at on ce pr esen tin g an d with dr awin g’ its coy availability. Th u s in Caravaggio’s depiction s of boys the h om oer otic pose pr om otes u n r eadability in to a ‘wilfu l reticen ce, as if we were bein g solicited by a desir e deter m in ed to r em ain h idden .’54 Pu ttin g secrecy on d isp lay , Car avaggio cr eates an in scr u tability like th at of th e face- m ask, sign allin g ‘Don ’t ask, d on ’t tell’. It m ay n ot, th en , be ch an ce th at Sh akespeare’s Carn ival com ed y open s trailin g An ton io’s tease, ‘I kn ow n ot wh y I am so sad,’ a m ystification cr itics decod e, as th ey do th e pictu res, as n u d gin g towards a love that d are n ot speak its n am e. For un like m asques, wh ich un veil in th e d iscovery scen e th at, as Orgel n otes, is th eir m ost fr agile poin t, by displacin g illicit desir es on to str an ger s, in th is play th e failu r e to scapegoat Sh ylock m ean s th ose 52 ‘Visor effect’: J acques Der r ida, Sp ecters of M arx: The State of the Debt, the W ork of M ou rn in g, an d the N ew In tern ation al, tr an s. Peggy Kam uf (Lon don : Routledge, 1994), p. 7; H eyl, op . cit, (n ote 28 ), p. 128 . 53 Ibid. 54 Rich ar d Wilson , Secret Shak esp eare: studies in theatre, religion , an d resistan ce (Man ch ester: Man ch ester Un iversity Pr ess, 20 0 4), p. 35 & 298 ; Leo Ber san i an d Ulysse Dutoit, Carav aggio’s Secrets (Cam br idge: MIT Pr ess, 1998 ), p. 8 -9. VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 197 ‘fools with var n ish ed faces’ can n ever u n m ask.55 So, wh ile Bassan io th in ks ‘golden locks, / Wh ich m akes su ch wan ton gam bols with the win d ,’ wigs as false as prosth etic beard s on boys, he calls h is own gam ble a quest for ‘golden fleece,’ an d to m arry gold fakes a ‘beard of H ercules’ h im self (I.ii.170 ; III.ii.8 3-94). H er e m asculin ity is fash ion ed, we see, like th e ‘livery’ Lan celot exch an ges for d esertin g th e J ew, in distin ction to th e ‘little scr u bbed boy’ wh o ‘will n e’er wear h air on ’s face’ (II.ii.139; V.i.157-61).56 Wh ile a h appy en din g to th is gam e of open secr ets also depen ds, as Or gel obser ves, on th e ‘star tlin g peder astic fan tasy’ of girls ‘tu rn (in g) (in )to m en ’ (III.v.79), sin ce th ese fem ales are in reality boys ‘Th e seem in g truth ’ th erefore d isgu ises an even d eeper un truth : th at in th ese ‘cun n in g tim es’ of ‘m asked balls’ th ere will be m ask on m ask an d veil u pon veil.57 For th e last ‘In d ian beauty’ to be th e object of su ch passion ate d esir e in both m en an d wom en , we rem em ber, was in d eed Oberon ’s m ysterious but ‘lovely… In d ian boy’ (Dream , II.i.22; III.ii.375). In th is story Bassan io preten ds to prefer Por tia’s ‘golden m esh ’ to a ‘beau teou s scarf.’ Yet in a reversal of h er own en tr y test h is br ide will cr oss-dr ess an d n am e h er self after Balth azar , th e black Magus wh o br in gs m yr r h fr om t h e East. So perh aps Sh akespeare h eard h ow early m od ern Eu ropean travellers to th e subcon tin en t wer e sur pr ised wh en the beguilin g figur e at a Muslim wed d in g wh o em erged wearin g a gold en veil, an d with a silk h an d kerch ief coverin g th e m outh , turn ed out to be th e groom .58 ‘Mislike m e n ot for m y com plexion , / Th e sh adowed livery of th e bu r n ish ed su n ’ (II.i.1-2): as the on ly actu al Mu slim in The M erchan t of Ven ice Morocco’s plea th at h is skin is yet an oth er m ask gain s a fur th er coatin g of path os if, as Patr icia Par ker in fer s, a ‘Moor ish ’ or ‘In dian ’ com plexion is ‘sh adowed liver y’ in Sh akespeare for th e ‘tribe’ of th e 55 Stephen Orgel, The Jon son ian M asque (Cam br idge, Mass.: H ar var d Un iver sity Pr ess, 1967), p. 8 7-8 . 56 For bear ds as sign ifier s of m asculin ity, see Will Fr aser, ‘Th e Ren aissan ce Bear d: Masculin ity in Ear ly Moder n En glan d,’ R en aissan ce Quarterly , 54 (20 0 1), 155-8 7. But for th e pr osthetic con str uction of m asculin ity in false facial h air , see Mark Alber t J oh n ston , ‘Pr osthetic Absen ce in Ben J on son ’s Ep icoen e, The Alchem ist, an d Bartholom ew Fair ,’ En glish Literary R en aissan ce, 37 (20 0 7), 40 1-29. 57 Stephen Orgel, op. cit. (n ote 13), p. 77. 58 Meer H assan Ali, Observ ation s on the M ussulm aun s of In dia Descrip tiv e of their M an n ers, Custom s, H abits an d R eligious Op in ion s (Lon don : H um pr ey Milfor d & O.U.P., 18 32; repr . 1917), p. 20 4: ‘The dress of th e br idegr oom is of gold-cloth , with an im m en se bun ch of silver tr im m in g th at falls over h is face, an d an swer s to th e purpose of a veil… an d to h is m outh h e keeps a red silk h an dker ch ief closely pressed to pr even t devils en ter in g.’ 198 RICH ARD WILSON m ar tyr ed fool Th om as More: a rum ou r h eard wh en h e fin ds a m om en to m ori preserved as if in m yrrh in sid e th e gold en box.59 ‘Th e black m an ,’ as Mor e was called, claim ed descen t fr om th e n egr o Doge Mor o on wh om Sh akespeare based Othello, so m ou n ted an im paled blackam oor on h is cr est. Mor occo’s death ’s-h ead looks, th en , to clin ch a n etwork of crypto-Cath olic m u rm u rs run n in g, by way of Latin pu n s on ‘Th at black word d eath ’ (R om eo, III.iii.27), fr om th e m ural con cealin g Th isbe to th e sy cam ou r Desdem on a lam en ts. Wh at kn its th em all, Parker proposes, is Ovid ian m oralizin g on th e m oro: th e in d elible m ulberry d arken ed by th e blood of Pyram us on w hich the silk w orm feed s. Cr itics h ave lon g seen th e silk h an dker ch ief in Othello as ‘m ore th an ju st a sym bol of m arriage,’ like ‘weddin g sh eets’ by ‘lu st’s blood spotted,’ for a play obsessed by ‘lawn , gown s, petticoats… caps,’ in wh ich th e h eroin e d ies because h er husban d can n ot trust th e in n ocen ce of ‘h er fan , h er gloves, h er m ask, n or n oth in g’ (IV.i.10 5; IV.ii.10 ; IV.iii.72; V.i.44).60 Bu t n ow we are assu red th e reason s wh y ‘Th er e’s m agic in th e web of it’ is th at ‘Th e wor m s wer e hallowed th at d id breed th e silk’ after feastin g on th e ‘More tree’; th at it h as been ‘dyed in m um m y wh ich th e skilful / Con ser ved of m aiden s’ h ear ts’ like th ose of th e Tud or m artyrs; an d th at it was preserved by a R om an y (III.iv.54-73), t h is m or bid facecloth m or p h s in to a r elic beside veils like Veron ica’s, as a m au dlin sign ifier of m ou rn in g for a proscribed religion , an d so join s Th isbe’s m an tle – th e or igin al In dian veil, woven presum ably by Bottom , th e weaver n am ed after a skein of silk – in a tr ue ser icultur e of veiled effu sion s of sh r ou ded gr ief.61 Bein g Ven etian s, th ese ‘Ch ristian fools in varn ish ed faces’ are, of course, them selves all of ‘th e tribe of More,’ Morocco h in ts, wh en he begs th em to ackn owledge ‘Th is th in g of dar kn ess’ th eir s (Tem p est, 5,1,278 ). Sh akespeare th us seem s to pred ict th e ‘qualified in toleran ce’ th at allowed th e En glish to ‘jud ge with out prejudice’ th e ‘Agreem en t of the Cu stom s of th e In dian s with th ose of th e J ews,’ in a n ascen t u n iver salism th at r elativised Cath olics u n der cover of a sen se of 59 Patr icia Par ker, ‘Wh at’s in a Nam e: Mor e,’ Sederi X I: R ev ista de la Sociedad Esp añ ola de Estudios R en acen tistas In gleses (H uelva: Un iversidad de H uelva Publicacion es, 20 0 2), 10 1-49, esp. 131-5; Wilson , op . cit. (n ote 55), p. 155-8 5, esp. p. 178 . 60 Dym pn a Callaghan , ‘Lookin g well to lin en s: wom en an d cultur al pr oduction in Othello an d Sh akespeare’s En glan d,’ in H oward an d Sh ersh ow, ibid, p. 61. 61 For Th isbe’s veil as a featur e of a Babylon ian love stor y an d so th e pr ototype of th e hijab, see Sh irazi, op .cit. (n ote 1), p. 3-4. VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 199 ‘an alogy, sh ared h istor y, an d sam en ess.’62 As th is over determ in ed veil of topicality u n folds m oder n r eader s m igh t fin d su ch a ‘Moor ish ’ subtext r ebar bative, just as Mor occo assu m es we ‘m islike’ a colou r ed skin . Th e violen t ch ar ism a of th e veil m ean s th at it always presen ts itself in th e form of such a ch allen ge. But as Derr ida reflects, as h e pon der s th e war p an d woof of h is fr ayed J ewish tallith in h is essay ‘A Silkwor m of On e’s Own ,’ h owever m uch a softer age m igh t deplor e it, we will n ever get to ‘th e bottom less bottom ’ of the h istor y of violen ce wh ich colou r s such ‘a twist of r otten silk’ (Coriolan us, V.vi.95): I wou ld like to sin g th e ver y solitar y softn ess of m y t allit h , soft n ess softer t h an softn ess, en tir ely sin gu lar … calm , acqu iescen t, a str an ger to an yth in g m au dlin , to effu sion or to path os, in a word to all “Passion .” An d yet … before ever h avin g wor n a tallith or even dream ed of h avin g m y own , I cu ltivated … silkwor m s… In t ru th , th ey n eed ed lot s of m u lber ry, too m u ch , always too m u ch , t h ese voraciou s little cr eat u res… Th is ph ilosop h y of n atu r e was for h im , for th e ch ild I was bu t t h at I r em ain still, n aiveté itself, dou btless, bu t also th e tim e of in fin ite appr en ticesh ip, t h e cu ltu re of th e r ag tr ad e… (so) th e wor d m u lber r y was n ever far fr om r ip en in g an d d yin g in h im , th e m u lber r y wh ose colou r h e war ded off like everyon e in th e fam ily, a wh ole h istor y an d war of r eligion s.63 ‘If you h ave tears, prepare to sh ed th em n ow. / You all d o kn ow th is m an tle’ (Julius, III.ii.164): J on es an d Stallybr ass con sider all item s of ear ly m oder n cloth in g to be m ater ials of m em or y: a ‘secon d skin ’ wh ich ‘in scr ibed con flict’ an d h ad violen ce wr itten in to it, like th e n apkin em br oider ed with ‘con ceited ch aracters’ wh ich th e forlorn m aid wr in gs in ‘A Lover ’s Com plain t’: ‘Laun d’r in g th e silken figur es in th e br in e.’64 Th us, wh en H ero’s weddin g-dress is com pared to th e in fam ou s gown of ‘cloth o’ gold, an d cu ts, an d laced with silver , set with pearls, d own sleeves, sid e sleeves, an d skir ts r ou n d u n der born e with a bluish tin sel,’ wor n by Mar y Tudor in h er r ole as ‘Duch ess of Milan ’ for h er weddin g to Ph ilip of Spain (M uch Ado, III.iv.14-19), th e traces of 62 J oh n Tollan d, The Agreem en t of the Custom s of the Ea st In d ian s W ith Those of the Jew s an d other An cien t Peop le (Lon don : 170 5; repr. New Yor k: AMS Press, 1999), p. ii; ‘Qualified in toleran ce’: An ton y Milton , ‘A Qualified In toleran ce: Th e Lim its an d Am biguities of Early Stuar t An ti-Catholicism ,’ in Arth ur Marotti, Catholicism an d An ti- Catholicism in Early M od ern En glish Texts (Basin gstoke: Macm illan , 1999), p. 10 5. 63 Der r ida, op . cit. (n ote 15), p. 61, 8 4 & 90 -1. 64 J on es an d Stallybr ass, op . cit. (n ote 20 ), p. 32; ‘sh ared h istor y’: Ballaster , op . cit. (n ote 2), p. 18 . 20 0 RICH ARD WILSON sectar ian violen ce cou ld n ot be m or e dar k.65 Bu t Sh akespeare’s texts str in g out a ver itable wash in g-lin e of su ch m n em on ic m an tles, scar ves, sh awls, sh r ou ds, veils, an d vestm en ts, all tear-soaked or m atted ‘in h ar m less blood’ (3H en ry VI, I.iv.8 0 ) – fr om t h e ‘dish clout’ Ar m ado was ‘en join ed in Rom e’ to wear ‘n ext to h is h ear t’ (Lov e’s, V.ii.696), to th e popish ly ‘glisten in g apparel’ h u n g ou t by Ar iel to tr ap m or on s m ou rn in g ‘Mistress Lin e’ h erself, th e m artyr An n e Lin e (Tem p est, SD. IV.i.194; 233) – in wh ich , as Celia exclaim s of Orlan do’s bloodstain ed h an d kerch ief, th ere is ever ‘m ore in it’ (As You, IV.iii.158 ). Sh akespear e kn ows th e m artyr will always h ave d evotees to ‘d ip th eir n apkin s in h is sacr ed blood’ (Ju liu s, III.ii.130 ). Yet in episodes su ch as An ton y’s ter r or istic un veilin g of Caesar’s sh r oud , with th e r evelation of th e ‘place,’ ‘r en t,’ an d ‘u n kin dest cu t’ wh ere ‘th e blood of Caesar followed ,’ we are alerted to th e category con fusion of id olizin g ‘th e m an tle m u fflin g u p h is face’ as if it was ‘Caesar ’s vestu r e’ th at was ‘wou n ded’ (18 1-90 ): th e ‘stron g m ad n ess in a silken th read ’ (Ad o, V.i.25), for an age wh ich h as seen ‘n apkin s en ough ’ (M acbeth, II.iii.6). So, th ough Bian ca fails to ‘take ou t’ th e ‘wor k’ a ‘sybil... In h er pr oph etic fur y sewed’ in to th e Egyptian veil (Othello, III.iv.68 -70 ; 174; IV.i.145), Green blatt is surely righ t to say th at Sh akespeare’s plays are h au n ted by r eligiou s sign ifier s wh ich h ave been ‘em p tied ou t,’ if by th at evacuation we m ean th at th eir ‘proph etic fury’ h as been laun d ered in th e pacifyin g solu tion of theatr e itself.66 H is ch aracters d o in d eed in h abit ‘a worn world,’ clad in secon d-h an d cast-offs of th e war of religion s, wh ich h ave been fabricated in Italy, from silk sh ipped out of Afr ica, bough t in In dia with Am erican gold.67 Bu t as th e action of The Tem p est su ggests, h is own wor k with veils an d sails seem s to be to wash ou t th e blood an d tears, so as to leave ‘On th eir su stain in g gar m en ts n ot a blem ish , / Bu t fr esh er th an befor e’ (I.ii.219-20 ): ou r gar m en ts bein g, as t h ey wer e, d ren ch ed in th e sea, h old n otwith stan din g th eir fr esh n ess an d glosses, bein g rat h er n ew-d yed th an stain ed wit h salt water […] as fr esh as wh en we pu t th em on fir st in Afr ic, at th e m ar riage of th e Kin g’s fair dau gh t er Claribel to th e Kin g of Tu n is. (The Tem p est, II.i.62-70 ) 65 See Wilson , op. cit. (n ote 55), p. 96-7. 66 Green blatt, op. cit. (n ote 20 ), p. 119 & 126. 67 ‘Wor n wor ld’: Stallybrass, op. cit. (n ote 22). VEILING AN INDIAN BEAUTY 20 1 Fr om Moslem , to Ch r istian , to th eatrical possession : ‘Wh at is at stake in th e sh ift from th e old religion ’ to th eatre, asks Green blatt, wh en ‘a bit of r ed cloth ’ like Car din al Wolsey’s silk ber r etta is r ecycled on a stage th at both ‘m ocks an d celebrates’ its violen t ch arism a?68 Th e an swer , Bassan io’s ‘In dian veil’ su ggests, is th e separ ation of pr ivate an d pu blic sph eres as a precon dition of racial, religiou s, sexual, an d artistic freed om s. ‘Un seen to see th ose sh e feign would kn ow,’ th e ‘m asked lad y in th e pit’ at the playh ouse was h erself a con tributor to th is n ew coexisten ce, Gu r r sh ows.69 An d th e ‘Moor ish ’ h ier oglyph ics of a text like th e M asqu e of Black n ess, acted by th e Cath olic Queen An n e in defian ce of th ose wh o th ou gh t black faces a ‘loath som e sigh t,’ con firm h ow aud ien ces would in d eed pen etrate Sh akespeare’s m oral about h is dar k m ater ials as h e wove a tissue of ter r or an d toler ation out of a m ortal ‘th read of silk’ (Dream , V.i.341).70 In episodes like the veilin g of th e ‘Madon n a’ Olivia, wh en th e ‘dar k lady’ covers up with h er m an tilla so ‘like a cloistress sh e will veiled walk,’ th ese d ram as d o seem to stress th e m orbid dan ger of an in teriority apt ‘to take dust’ like ‘Mistr ess Mall’s’ (or Mar y’s) pictur e, cur tain ed in the r ecusan t h ouse (Tw elfth, I.i.27; I.v.43-137). Th e poet’s own ‘m asked im agin ation ’ always h opes for som e gr an d u n veilin g, like th e d iscovery scen es th at Pr osper o con tr ols: ‘Th e fr in ged cur tain s of thin e eye advan ce / An d say wh at th ou seest yon ’ (Tem p est, I.ii.412-13). But in our pr esen t stan d- off, th is secretive Sh akespeare assures us, th e question of th e hijab ‘veilin g an In d ian beau ty’ m u st rem ain on e of tru st – as Alain Bad iou sim ilarly reflects: ‘Brech t says th at th e en d is with us wh en th e figures of oppression n o lon ger n eed m asks,’ bu t ‘it is n ecessar y to r eth in k th e relation between violen ce an d th e m ask… Th e th eatrical m ask is a sym bol of a question erron eously d esign ated in th e cen tury of th e lie. Th e question is better form ulated as follows: Wh at is th e relation between th e passion for th e r eal an d th e n ecessity of sem blan ce?’71 Or 68 Green blatt, op. cit. (n ote 20 ), p. 161-3. 69 J oh n Lan e (160 0 ) an d ‘T.M.’ (c.1620 ), quoted in An dr ew Gur r, Play goin g in Shak esp eare’s Lon don (Cam br idge: C.U.P., 198 7), p. 66 & 73. 70 ‘Very loath som e’: Dudley Carleton , cited in C.H . H erford, an d Percy an d Evelyn Sim pson , Ben J on son (11 vols., Oxfor d: Clar en don Pr ess, 1925-52), vol. 10 , p. 449. For An n e’s defian t ‘dram a of fem in in e blackn ess,’ see also Soph ie Tom lin son , ‘Th eatr ical Vibr an cy on th e Car olin e Cour t Stage,’ in Clar e McMan us (ed.), W om en an d Culture at the Courts of the Stuart Queen s (Basin gstoke: Palgrave, 20 0 3), p. 194-5. 71 Alain Badiou, The Cen tury , tr an s. Alber to Toscan o (Cam br idge: Polity Pr ess, 20 0 5), p. 47. 20 2 RICH ARD WILSON as Der r ida decides at th e en d of h is essay on sails an d veils, th e secretion of th e silkworm , th is ‘slim e fr om slugs,’ is th e precious secret of th e secret itself: ‘Wh at I app rop r iated for m yself… was t h e op er ation th r ou gh wh ich th e wor m it self secret ed it s secr etion . It secr eted it, th e secretion … It secr eted absolu t ely… th is little silen t fin ite life was doin g n oth in g oth er … t h an t h is: pr eparin g it self to h id e itself, likin g to h id e itself, with a view to com in g ou t an d losin g it self… wrappin g it self in wh it e n igh t .72 Rich ar d WILSON Un iver sity of Car diff 72 Der r ida, op . cit. (n ote 15), p. 8 9-90 , ‘slim e fr om slu gs’: p. 91.