Yes, and Hawthorne seems rather iffy. I've just reread The Scarlet Letter because a kid in gothic_lit was talking about it, and bloody hell, it is seething with homoeroticism. Look at this bit at the end, after one man has hounded his wife's lover to death, and then died himself:
"It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object [bad, bad phrasing, Hawthorne]. Philosophically considered, therefore, the two passions seem essentially the same, except that one happens to be seen in a celestial radiance, and the other in a dusky and lurid glow [because homosexuality wasn't socially acceptable at this point and was demonised]. In the spiritual world [*cough*], the old physician and the minister - mutual victims as they have been - may, unawares, have found their earthly stock of hatred and antipathy transformed into golden love."
In my recording of BB, the photos of the singers are all the gayest photos you'll see (apart from Langridge who looks like he's about to leap at your throat), but the intro says loftily that it's not going to discuss the homoeroticism because that's already been done to death (implication: it's not actually there, please stop being so distasteful). You may as well say that you're not going to discuss the hetererotics of Romeo and Juliet because that's been done already.
Personally I think there's more to Billy than being sweeter than pie, at least in Britten's version, though I'd be glad just to see one who was attractive. Let's face it, the boy has quite a temper. I reckon they all turn into each other and destroy each other. Billy's latent violence is developed by his link with Claggart, whom he has to be repeatedly warned away from, he keeps saying, "But he seems all right, and he really likes me..." Captain Vere ends up echoing what Claggart had said, with "O beauty, handsomeness, goodness, I have destroyed you." At the start it's suspiciously basic: everyone hates Claggart, everyone loves Vere, everyone loves Billy. Then it gets rather more complicated.
I've just finished my Britten binge, I can't face watching any more for a while. Lucretia this morning was the limit, I am now sitting around muttering, "Why am I working on such a disturbing composer?" The rape scene is nearly 20 minutes long and it was terrifying, the male singers in the drama (we won't discuss the Male Chorus, he looked like a constipated banker) were all superb actors. Incidentally, how have I spent all these years listening to Lucretia and managed to miss the homoeroticism? Britten's really got an Iago thing, hasn't he. The scene where Claggart tells Vere that Billy is causing trouble is just like III.3 in Othello (the temptation scene), and the same goes for Lucretia, when Junius is basically talking Tarquinius into raping Lucretia (yeah, nice one Junius, your wife is unfaithful and so you get another man to go to the home of the man who was being smug about his wife's fidelity, and rape her). Talk about Sedgwick's theory of erotic triangles. I don't know why Britten didn't just write an Othello and have done with it. I'm always trying to compare his Lucretia to Shakespeare's, though unfortunately there's a mostly unobtainable French play in the middle. One of these days I am going to force S (director of studies, former Shakespeare tutor) to watch or listen to Lucretia, and then we can have a nice discussion about commodification of women, the politicisation of rape, the ideology of shame, erotic triangles and why so few singers can act and opera is often so appallingly shot, lighted and choreographed, especially any fight scenes.
I saw a bit of that Macbeth at school, McKellan and Dench, right? I think I had the same reaction: not wowed by the production, but you can't beat those two for acting.
no subject
Date: Tuesday, 23 November 2004 04:53 am (UTC)From:"It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object [bad, bad phrasing, Hawthorne]. Philosophically considered, therefore, the two passions seem essentially the same, except that one happens to be seen in a celestial radiance, and the other in a dusky and lurid glow [because homosexuality wasn't socially acceptable at this point and was demonised]. In the spiritual world [*cough*], the old physician and the minister - mutual victims as they have been - may, unawares, have found their earthly stock of hatred and antipathy transformed into golden love."
In my recording of BB, the photos of the singers are all the gayest photos you'll see (apart from Langridge who looks like he's about to leap at your throat), but the intro says loftily that it's not going to discuss the homoeroticism because that's already been done to death (implication: it's not actually there, please stop being so distasteful). You may as well say that you're not going to discuss the hetererotics of Romeo and Juliet because that's been done already.
Personally I think there's more to Billy than being sweeter than pie, at least in Britten's version, though I'd be glad just to see one who was attractive. Let's face it, the boy has quite a temper. I reckon they all turn into each other and destroy each other. Billy's latent violence is developed by his link with Claggart, whom he has to be repeatedly warned away from, he keeps saying, "But he seems all right, and he really likes me..." Captain Vere ends up echoing what Claggart had said, with "O beauty, handsomeness, goodness, I have destroyed you." At the start it's suspiciously basic: everyone hates Claggart, everyone loves Vere, everyone loves Billy. Then it gets rather more complicated.
I've just finished my Britten binge, I can't face watching any more for a while. Lucretia this morning was the limit, I am now sitting around muttering, "Why am I working on such a disturbing composer?" The rape scene is nearly 20 minutes long and it was terrifying, the male singers in the drama (we won't discuss the Male Chorus, he looked like a constipated banker) were all superb actors. Incidentally, how have I spent all these years listening to Lucretia and managed to miss the homoeroticism? Britten's really got an Iago thing, hasn't he. The scene where Claggart tells Vere that Billy is causing trouble is just like III.3 in Othello (the temptation scene), and the same goes for Lucretia, when Junius is basically talking Tarquinius into raping Lucretia (yeah, nice one Junius, your wife is unfaithful and so you get another man to go to the home of the man who was being smug about his wife's fidelity, and rape her). Talk about Sedgwick's theory of erotic triangles. I don't know why Britten didn't just write an Othello and have done with it. I'm always trying to compare his Lucretia to Shakespeare's, though unfortunately there's a mostly unobtainable French play in the middle. One of these days I am going to force S (director of studies, former Shakespeare tutor) to watch or listen to Lucretia, and then we can have a nice discussion about commodification of women, the politicisation of rape, the ideology of shame, erotic triangles
and why so few singers can act and opera is often so appallingly shot, lighted and choreographed, especially any fight scenes.I saw a bit of that Macbeth at school, McKellan and Dench, right? I think I had the same reaction: not wowed by the production, but you can't beat those two for acting.