silence in elizabeth an culture

8/4/2019 Silence in Elizabeth An Culture

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"I Think but Dare Not Speak": Silence in Elizabethan Culture

Author(s): Philip K. BockSource: Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Autumn, 1976), pp. 285-294Published by: University of New MexicoStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3629565 .

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"I Think But Dare Not Speak":Silencein ElizabethanCulturelPHILIP K. BOCK

Scenesrom26 of Shakespeare'slaysareanalyzedo understandhe unctions fsilence nElizabethan ulture.A typologys developed,nd the resultsare compared ith Basso'sanalysisof Western pache ilences.Similarities nddifferencesre notedandsuggestionsmadeforfurtherstudy.IN A WELL-KNOWN ARTICLE that originally appeared in thisjournal, Keith Basso suggested that sociolinguistic analysis must includerules governing silence as well as speech (1970:215). He then describedthe circumstances under which Western Apaches frequently "give up onwords," and offered the generalization that silence is associated withsituations involvingambiguousorunpredictable elationships.This is certainly aplausible hypothesis, but since it is supported by incidentally gatheredanecdotal data, it is difficult to evaluate its validity or generality. Anddespite the frequent reprinting of the article, there has been nopublished criticism or comparative study.In 1975, when I performed the minor role of the Doctor of Physic inMacbeth, I was fascinated by the many references in the play to silence.It struck me that the plays of Shakespeare might reveal some Eliza-bethan notions about this phenomenon. That is, when characterskeep silent in dramatic situations it should be either for reasonsimmediately comprehensible to the audience or for reasons thatShakespeare specifies in the dialogue. Similarly, if a character is told to"be still" or to "hold thy tongue," the context should make possibleinferences about the reasons for this silence.For example, during the famous "sleepwalking scene" (MAC 5.1),the Doctor and a Gentlewoman secretly observe Lady Macbethrevealing her part in the murders of King Duncan and of Banquo. TheDoctor warns the Gentlewoman that "you have known what you shouldnot" and cautions her to guard her mistress against harm. He then exitson the line: "My mind she has mated, and amaz'd my sight:/ I thinkbut dare not speak." Like the Gentlewoman, he knows too much and,given his subordinate position in Macbeth's court, he "dare[s] notspeak."Two obvious parallels come to mind. In Hamlet, the Prince's grief

1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2nd Annual Symposium onEthnoscience, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., 1976. Iwish to thank Katherine Simons, Keith Basso, Robin Fox, Marian Bock, and Allan L6nnbergfor their comments. The abbreviations used for the plays will be found at the end of the article.

285VOL. 32, 1976


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286 JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCHover his father's death is silenced by his own subordinate position in hisuncle's court: "But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue" (HAM1.2). Similarly, Pericles, having guessed the riddle revealing his royalhost's incest, decides to leave Antioch while he still can, knowing wellthat "Few love to hear the sins they love to act" (PER 1.1). In thesescenes, characters clearly express in words and actions that their silenceis due to subordination and fear of reprisal rather than ambiguity orunpredictability in their relationships.Uncertainty can, of course, be a cause of silence in Shakespeare. Inone scene in Macbeth, to test Macduff's loyalty, young Malcolm claims avariety of vices which he does not actually possess. When he finallyreveals his true (good) character and intentions, he asks Macduff: "Whyare you silent?" The reply-"Such welcome and unwelcome things/ 'Tishard to reconcile"-indicates that ambiguity (or at least momentaryconfusion) was a recognized cause of silence. But later in the same scene,when Macduff learns of the murder of his wife and children, Malcolmcalls upon him to "Give sorrow words" because "the grief that does notspeak/ Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break" (MAC 4.3).Silence, then, was also a recognized response to intense grief, but onewhich Elizabethan culture considered dangerous.

METHOD AND FINDINGSThese few examples suggest that there were recurrent situations andemotional states in which silence was considered appropriate byShakespeare and (inferentially) by his audience. However, in examiningthe plays, I wished to use a method of sampling that would avoidreliance on familiar or obvious instances. Threfore, I decided to lookfirst at every scene in which occurred any of the four words "silence,""silent," "speechless," or "tongue-tied." The excellent concordancesavailable for Shakespeare's works made it simple to locate these scenes;

however, it was then necessary to look up the lines to find out whospeaks them, to or of whom, and in what context. At the same time, Imade preliminary judgments about the social meaning of the silence ineach of these scenes.In many cases, the line itself or some surrounding lines clearlyindicated to what the silence was attributed; for example, Oberon's "insilence sad, trip we after night's shade" (MND 4.1) or Paulina'sreference to "the silence . . . of pure innocence" (WT 2.2). Similarly,in the opening scene of King Lear, Cordelia says of herself (in an aside):"What should Cordelia do? Love, and be silent." In some cases,however, a degree of inference was necessary. For example, Cymbeline'sdaughter Imogen says to Cloten (her evil half-brother): "But that youshall not say I yield being silent, I would not speak" (CYM 2.3). This


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SILENCE IN ELIZABETHAN CULTURE 287demonstrates that silence may imply assent in certain situations. At thisstage of the analysis, I tried to avoid elaborate inferences, workingempirically towards a simple classification of the factors to which thisset of silences could be attributed.The results of this procedure may be summarized as follows (seeTable 1): There are 135 uses in the plays of the words "silence,""silent," "speechless," or "tongue-tied." Of these, 25 deal with what Ihave termed "mere quiet," that is, the silence of nature (often of thenight), of the dead, the sick, or persons unable to speak, such as Laviniaafter her mutilation (TIT 2.4). Little can be inferred from these

TABLE 1Contextual Analysis of the Uses of Four Words in Shakespeare's Plays:Silence, Silent, Speechless, Tongue-tied (Harvard Concordance).

Type of Silence Category Number"Mere Quiet" 0 Silence of nature, the dead, etc. 25(N = 25)

Functional) 1 Order: turn-taking, "spells" 17Functional(N = 34) 2 Secrecy, deception, "patience" 17

3 Authority: right to command silence 6Relationalower 4 Subordination: obligation of silence 4Solid- 5 Intimacy: love, courtship, etc. 4anrity 6 Alienation: hatred, banishment, etc. 8

7 Assent, implied by silence 3SituationalExpressive 8 Uncertainty, confusion, etc. 7Expressive(N = 60) < 9 Reticence, innocence, modesty 13Ceharactertraits 10 Ambition, pride, deviousness 2

s11 Stupidity, "lack of wit" 112 Grief, sorrow, woe 613 Joy, infatuation 2

Eotinal states 14 Wonder, amazement, awe 215 Anger, wrath 116 Guilt, shame 1

Total in sample used 119Used as name (Master Silence) 11

Unclassified 5Total occurrences 135


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288 JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCHinstances beyond, say, the understanding that the dead are expected tobe silent; thus, when they do speak (as in Hamlet) evil may be afoot. (Cp.the "dull and speechless tribes" of Sonnet 107.)

Of the remaining 110 cases, 34 constitute "functional silences" inwhich the silence is clearly a means to some end rather than beingexpressive of something about a character or a relationship. Of thesefunctional silences, 17 deal with order;this includes (primarily) "turn-taking" on public occasions: "Peace, silence! Brutus speaks" (JC 3.2).But also, several silences are considered necessary to the effectiveness ofa magical spell: Prospero's "Sweet now, silence" (TMP 4.1) or Oberon's"silence a while" (MND 4.1). The other 17 fall into the broad categoryof secrecy(including deception and silent "patience" while a situationdevelops). Examples include Polonius's "I'll silence me even here" as hehides behind the curtains (HAM 3.4), and Viola's "shape thou thysilence to my wit" (TN 1.2).This leaves 76 lines, 11 of which may be omitted as they only nameMaster Silence, a character in Henry IV, Part 2 (3.2 and 5.3). Five otherlines were too obscure (at least to me) to be classified. There remain 60lines which refer to a wide variety of "expressive silences." One group ofthese (types 3-6 in Table 1) seems to express the relationship amongcharacters. For example, six lines state or clearly imply the right ofcertain persons to command silence due to their authority over others;e.g., the Duke's "Silence that fellow" (MM 5.1) or Prospero's "Silence!"spoken to his daughter Miranda (TMP 1.2).The other side of such authority is the obligation of subordinates toremain silent; this is generally implicit, but there are a few scenes inwhich it is commented on-such as when the servant Flavius reportsthat the senators' "cold moving nods . . . froze me into silence" (TIM2.2), or when Meninius says to the tribune Brutus: "I would you ratherhad been silent" (COR 2.2; cp. LR 1.4). However, this obligation ofsilence may come into dramatic conflict with another duty of subordi-nates: to speak out when one's master is in danger or needs truthfulcounsel. Thus, the Knight tells Lear that "my duty cannot be silentwhen I think your highness wronged" (1.4); and faithful Enobarbus,whom Anthony commands "Thou art a soldier: speak no more,ironically replies: "That truth should be silent I had almost forgot"(ANT 2.2).As authority and subordination are the two poles of any powerrelationship, so intimacy and alienation define the extremes of solidarityrelationships (cp. Brown and Gilman 1960). Very intimate relationshipssuch as Cordelia's silent love (above) or Posthumus's "I'll speak to theein silence" (CYM 5.4) or the "fair speechless messages" from Portia toBassanio (MV 1.1) indicate the suitability of silence to courtship or


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SILENCEIN ELIZABETHANCULTURE 289deep love. But extremes of alienation are also expressed by silence, andin two instances, silence is clearly associated with banishment. TheDuke of Norfolk who has just been exiled by Richard II says to theKing: "What is thy sentence then but speechless death/ Which robs mytongue from breathing native breath?" (R2 1.3; cp. CYM 1.5 and 3H63.3).As noted above, in certain situations silence may imply assent, andthis is commented on explicitly in three scenes; however, in seven scenesit seems to express momentary confusion or uncertainty. This rangesfrom the Friar's remark "I have only been silent so long. . . by notingof the lady" (ADO 4.1) to the famous scene in which RichardPlantagenet suggests that the nobles vote by plucking red or white roses"since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak" (1H6 2.4). I considerthese two types of silence-assent or uncertainty-to be features of thesituation rather than of the characters or their particular relationships.On the other hand, silence may be treated as a persistent charactertrait. What I have called "reticence" is a general tendency to remainsilent which-at least in children and women-is taken as an expressionof innocence, modesty, or virtue. The most notable exemplar of thistrait is Virgilia whose husband, Coriolanus, actually greets her as "mygracious silence" in a scene wherein she utters not one word (COR 2.1).A total of 13 uses indicate a range of meanings from Tranio's praise ofBianca: "in [her] silence do I see/ Maid's mild behavior and sobriety"(SHR 1.1), to Theseus's patronizing: "Love and tongue-tied simplicity/In least speak most to my capacity" (MND 5.1). In nobles, silence mayalso be indicative of pride or "tongue-tied ambition" (R3 3.7), while incommoners it more likely indicates stupidity and lack of wit (ADO 3.1).Against such general character traits, Shakespeare's audience alsorecognized that silence might express transitory but intense emotionalstates of several different types. Clear examples are found in thefollowing representative quotes from the plays; there are many more inthe Sonnets and the long poems (especially The Rape of Lucrece):

"give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak"(3H6 3.3)"Silence is the perfectestherald ofjoy" (ADO 2.1; cp. LUC 112)"I like your silence, it the more shows off your wonder"(WT 5.3)"they vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness (JC 1.1)I do not claim that my typology is exhaustive. Nevertheless,inspection of other scenes in which phrases such as "hold thy tongue" or"be still" occur, or words such as "mute," "dumb," or "wordless" areused, indicates that these 16 categories will suffice for most instances ofsilence. Indeed, careful consideration of the commands to be silentshows that whenever the command comes from a subordinate to his


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290 JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCHostensible superior, some dramatic purpose is served. For example inHenry VI, Part 3, (1.1), Warwick, who is on the brink of rebellion, says tothe Lords (including the King): "be you silent and attentive too." Andin a later scene emphasizing Henry's weakness, Lord Clifford tells theKing to "be still," although Henry has just claimed: "I am a King, andprivileg'd to speak" (2.2). Other lines such as King John's "deep shamehad struck me dumb" (JN 4.2) or "why should wrath be mute" (TIT5.3) enrich our categories but do not seem to call for new ones.2 Let usturn now to some comparative anthropological data.

COMPARISON WITH WESTERN APACHEIn his paper on Apache silence, Basso suggested the following

categories of situations as appropriate for "giving up on words:" (1)meeting strangers; (2) courting; (3) children coming home; (4) "gettingcussed out;" (5) mourning; and (6) ceremonial occasions. He inferredfrom these the general rule that "keeping silent in Western Apacheculture is associated with social situations in which the participantsperceive their relationships vis-a-vis one another to be ambiguousand/or unpredictable" (1970:225). Basso's six categories and thegeneralization are based on an unspecified sample of actual situations;thus they can be compared with our Elizabethan literary materials onlywith great caution. Nevertheless, some interesting correspondences anddifferences may be briefly indicated.

"Meeting strangers" is indeed an ambiguous and unpredictablesituation, and it is certainly plausible that Apaches prefer to rely onnonverbal information "given off" in any face-to-face encounter(Goffman 1959). Some of Shakespeare's characters, too, remain silent insuch uncertain situations (see Table 1, category 8), but this behaviormight also be attributed to their "innocence" or "lack of wit."Shakespeare's aristocratic characters (like his Fools) are seldom at a lossfor words. Encounters between strangers in the plays are usually highlyverbal, and often show a nice awareness of the possible discrepancybetween appearance and reality (e.g., AYL 1.2). This may be becausethe play plots are devised to yield dramatic verbal encounters, or it mayindicate a genuine cultural difference. In any case, there is no evidencein the plays that silence was generally expected in meeting withstrangers.

2 There are several scenes which explicitly deal with the issue of speech vs. silence, e.g.,HAM 1.5, MV 1.1, AYL 1.2, TMP 3.3, and especially LR 1.4, but we cannot deal with these here.Much has been made of Kate's surprising silent assent to her marriage with Petruchio (SHR 2.1)and of Hermione's "mute reconciliation" with Leontes (WT 5.3) although these silences are notcommented on explicitly in the plays. See Thayer (1929) and Clarke and Clarke (1961) on such"dramatic silences" and "omissions."


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SILENCE IN ELIZABETHAN CULTURE 291"Courting" is a relationship in which Apaches apparently speak

very little. This too might be understood by Shakespeare's audience.Courtship in the plays is often highly verbal. Yet from Portia's "fairspeechless messages" to Pandarus's "tongue-tied maidens" there is alsoevidence that the uncertainties and strong emotions of courtship mightwell be expressed by silence, particularly if one or both parties were"innocent."The return of children (or other intimates) after a long absence is acommon experience for reservation Indians, and Anglo misinterpreta-tion of parental silence on such occasions has often been noted. There isscattered evidence on this point in the plays. I shall take only twoinstances: Volumnia, the mother of Coriolanus, is (as always) effusivelyverbal in greeting her returning son; in this she clearly contrasts withher daughter-in-law, Virgilia, whom the returning hero hails as his"gracious silence" and asks: "Wouldst thou have laugh'd had I comecoffin'd home,/ That weep'st to see me in triumph?" (COR 2.1). ButVirgilia's reticence is treated as a suitable character trait (in a wife)rather than as a response to an ambiguous situation.

Again, at the very end of Cymbeline, he King has restored to him hisdaughter Imogen and also his two sons whom he has thought dead formany years; but there is no indication here of silence as Cymbelinegreets the young men with joy and a blessing "that, after this strangestarting from your orbs,/ You may reign in them now!" (CYM 5.5).(Perhaps a close study of other such scenes would yield some validgeneralizations about Elizabethan "reunions.")"Being cussed out," especially by a drunk, is not really anambiguous or unpredictable relationship, although trying to respondverbally is probably an unproductive counter-strategy in any society.When Falstaff is fleeing (in women's clothes) from the enraged Ford, hedoes not stop to argue (MWW 4.2). There are several scenes of drunkenabuse in the plays, but none of them appear in our sample, so I shall notcomment further here.

Mourning or "being with people who are sad" would seem, inApache society, to call for silence; but it is not clear to me whether thisis due to ambiguity in the relationship or to emotions of grief. In theplays there is much "sorrow" and "woe" associated with silence, butnowhere in our sample is this due exclusively to mourning. Severalcharacters are, rather, encouraged to speak of their grief least it breaktheir hearts (cp. Macduff in MAC 4.3, above). In Macbeth, Hamlet, andthe histories there are many speeches about converting grief into action;and at Ophelia's grave, Laertes and Hamlet compete physically andverbally to display their sorrow (HAM 5.1). Yet Elizabethans andApaches are surely both aware of discrepancies between appearance


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292 JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCHand reality in mourning as in all social interaction; silence or keeningare equally subject to "display rules."

Finally, silence would seem to be appropriate at both Apache"ceremonial occasions" and Elizabethan "public proceedings;" but it isunclear to me whether this orderly ilence is due to "ambiguity" or to theauthority of the presiding officials (kings, judges, or shamans). Perhapsthe efficacy of the verbal spell requires silence in Apache ceremonial asit does in some of the plays (TMP 4.1 and MND 4.1). For an analysis ofthe significance of silence in The Tempestsee Jewkes (1965).

CONCLUSIONSI have tried to show that a contextual analysis of several words in

the corpus of Shakespeare's plays can teach us a good deal about therules governing silence in Elizabethan culture. Aside from the "merequiet" of nature and the dead, there are "functional silences" due to aneed for order or for secrecy, and a great variety of "expressive silences"which may indicate one or more of the following:(a) social relationships-especially with regard to polarities ofpower (authority/subordination) and solidarity (intimacy/alienation);(b) situational features-especially implied assent and degrees ofuncertainty or confusion;(c) character traits (persistent)-such as reticence, pride, or stupid-ity; and(d) emotional states (transitory)-such as grief, joy, wonder, anger,or shame.Few of these are surprising to a modern American reader, but thismay be as much due to cultural continuity as to any self-evidentexpressive powers of silence. Clearly, in Shakespeare's plays silence mayexpress diametrically opposed relationships or emotional states (inti-

macy oralienation, joy orgrief); and it may be more closely linked to theintensity of emotions than to their exact contents. As another Eliza-bethan put it: "Passions are likened best to floods and streams:/ Theshallow murmur, but the deep are dumb." (Sir Walter Raleigh, "TheSilent Lover.")As in Apache culture, uncertainty is seen by Elizabethans as a goodreason to hold one's tongue; but it would clearly be artificial to forcemany of the other types of silence under a single rule. Perhaps a moresystematic sampling of Apache relationships and situations wouldreveal further parallels (or differences) between the cultures. However, Iam quite aware of the difficulties of gathering such data in the field andof the problems inherent in any comparison between literary and fielddata.


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SILENCE IN ELIZABETHAN CULTURE 293Finally, in seeking generalizations governing Elizabethan behavior,it would be essential to explore the concept of decorum.This is a centraltheme in Shakespeare's plays; it derives from classical rhetoric and was

popularized during the Renaissance as the ideal of suiting one'sspeechtothe occasion.According to McAlindon, "the doctrine of decorum . . wasas much a part of moral as of rhetorical tradition and was applied tonon-verbal as well as to verbal behavior" (1973:3). Furthermore, as anyElizabethan schoolboy could tell you: "one achieved decorum byconsidering the thing said or done, the end in view, the personsinvolved, the time and the place," and these considerations of "circum-stance" require that "things essentially distinct in nature must not beconfused" (1973:8).

There would seem to be no lack of materials for the study ofElizabethan sociolinguistics. In this paper I have tried to demonstratethe relevance of Shakespeare's plays to the analysis of Elizabethanculture and to indicate the value of this material in cross-culturalcomparisons. "The rest is silence."

Standard Abbreviationsof Plays CitedADO Much Ado About Nothing MM Measure for MeasureANT Anthony and Cleopatra MND Midsummer Night's DreamAYL As You Like It MV Merchant of VeniceCOR Coriolanus MWW MerryWives of WindsorCYM Cymbeline SHR Taming of the Shrew1H6 Henry the Sixth, Part I TIM Timon of Athens3H6 Henry the Sixth, Part III TIT Titus AndronicusHAM Hamlet TMP The TempestJC Julius Caesar TN Twelfth NightJN King John TRO Troilus and CressidaLR King Lear R2 Richard IILUC Rape of Lucrece(poem) R3 Richard IIIMAC Macbeth WT Winter'sTale

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BASSO, K.1970 "To Give up on Words": Silence in WesternApache Culture. South-westernJournal of Anthropology 26:213-30.BROWN, T. ANDA. GILMAN1960 The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity. Pp. 253-76 in Style inLanguage (ed. by T. A. Sebeok).Cambridge: Technology Press.CLARKE, C. AND M. C. CLARKE

1961 The ShakespeareKey. New York:Ungar.GOFFMAN, E.1959 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, N.Y.:Anchor.


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294 JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCHJEWKES, W. T.1965 "Excellent Dumb Discourse": The Limits of Language in TheTempest. Pp. 196-210 in Essays on Shakespeare (ed. by G. R. Smith).

University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.MCALINDON, T.1973 Shakespeare and Decorum. New York: Macmillan.THAYER, A.1929 Shakspere's Silences. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGYUNIVERSITYOFNew MexicoALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO87131

silence in elizabeth an culture

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