Foul, Strange and Unnatural

Less spectacular than theatrical violence involving bloodshed, stage murder by poison is nonetheless unsettling because of its secretive nature.Perceived in Renaissance England as dishonorable and unmanly, poison was often associated with women as the "weaker" sex, with discriminated minorities such as Jews, and with Machiavellian politics from continental Europe.Compared with theatrical plays involving violence killing by poison, with no physical struggle between opponents, no clash of weapons, severed limbs, and generally no bloodshed, may be lacking in exciting dramatics, but it is nonetheless deeply unsettling, "foul, strange and unnatural" (Hamlet 1.5.26), 1 precisely because of the secretive and mysteriously lethal nature of the often invisible weapon aimed at unsuspecting victims.As a form of homicide in early modern England murder by poison was in a category of its own.Writing in 1614 the lawyer Sir John Croke opined that "of all murders poisoning is ye worst and more horrible 1 Because it is secret 2 Because it is not to bee prevented 3 Because it is most against nature and therefore most heinous 4 It is alsoe a Cowardly thing" (qtd. in Gaskill 208).Unlike strangulation, cutting and penetration with weapons such as swords, daggers, crossbows and firearms, poison affects the organism undetected and destroys it, initially without symptoms, gradually from within.Poison is a "Cowardly thing" because it is an asymmetrical weapon-often used as a tactic of the weak and marginal against the powerful-which can kill without incurring any risks on the attacker (Bellany 559, 561).As a form of premeditated violence poison has been almost universally judged as dishonorable and unmanly, and for that reason often associated with women, members of other disempowered social and ethnic groups and, as perceived in Renaissance England, with Machiavellian politics from continental Europe, especially Italy.When committed by men in positions of power, in drama most famously in Hamlet, murder by poison has been considered beneath contempt, unchivalric and deceitful, precisely because of its violation of fair play in denying the victim/opponent an opportunity of self-defence

Art · Art history · Criminology · Drama · Literature · Political science · Politics · Sociology · The Renaissance · Historical and Scientific Studies · History · History of Medicine Studies · Law

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