mechanics of sealing to explain a variety of physiological phenomena including memory sensory perception and biological conception Amores Ovid imagines himself as the sealring he has given his mis ID: 851897
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1 England.2 However, it is also revealing
England.2 However, it is also revealing to investigate sealsÕ figurative appropriations in Renaissance literature.3 As a figurative sign (i.e. metaphor or simile), the seal was so semantically adaptable that it imi
2 tated the malleable substance from which
tated the malleable substance from which it could not be conceptually separated, wax. The language and imagery of sealing permeated a wide range of discourses, and were particularly dominant in theology and medicin
3 e. Building on biblical mechanics of se
e. Building on biblical mechanics of sealing to explain a variety of physiological phenomena, including memory, sensory perception and biological conception Amores, Ovid imagines himself as the seal-ring he has gi
4 ven his mistress. For MarloweÕs translat
ven his mistress. For MarloweÕs translation, see Christopher Marlowe and John Davies, Elegies and Epigrams 1595, facsimile ed. (Menston: Scolar, 1973), 2.15, especially lines 15-7 (The Mason Text, sig. maidenhea
5 d n.1 1a. 10 Significantly, Ôdefloration
d n.1 1a. 10 Significantly, ÔdeflorationÕ is itself a metaphorical concept. I use the term throughout this essay not because I wish to endorse the euphemism of cropping a flower Seals were signs, but they also secu
6 red the textual signs that letters conta
red the textual signs that letters containedThey were, as Innogen calls using a Ôcounter-sealÕ.15 Letters were folded and sealed in various ways, all of which allowed letter wellÕ.26 While certain personal seals w
7 ere extremely expensive, others were qui
ere extremely expensive, others were quite affordable, and at the turn of the seventeenth century some cost no more than a few shillings.27 Some and dated to around 1600, which bears the initials ÔW.S.Õ in reverse
8 .29 As I turn my attention to the imagin
.29 As I turn my attention to the imaginative literature of Donne, Shakespeare and other poets and dramatists, it is important to consider that even the most abstract onal worlds of English Renaissance literature.
9 Seal- (1623). During the ceremonious p
Seal- (1623). During the ceremonious procession at the beginning of KatherineÕs trial, an elaborate stage Patents ! must be fayre written in parchment, with some great counterfeat zealeÕ.31 ÔWhat seal is that t
10 hat law) is interrupted by the sudden e
hat law) is interrupted by the sudden entrance of William Howard and Thomas Gresham. ÔStay your Imperiall hand,Õ urges Howard, Ôlet not your seale imprint / Deaths impresse in your sisters hartÕ.34 This essay is c
11 oncerned with not just sealing but also
oncerned with not just sealing but also sealbreaking, an action whose violence, destructiveness and potential illegitimacy invited comparisons with defloration. In various plays, characters break and rip off seals
12 on stage. Upon receiving a bill in the u
on stage. Upon receiving a bill in the unattributed Two Wise Men (1619), Antonio peruses it and then defiantly Ôteares off the sealeÕ, declaring to the claimant ÔI owe him nothing, nor will pay thee any thingÕ.35 A
13 ntonioÕs violation of the seal enacts hi
ntonioÕs violation of the seal enacts his violation of the economic bond it authenticates. But tearing seals on bills and other forms of open correspondence was different to tearing those on private letters, which
14 had to be unsealed before they could be
had to be unsealed before they could be read, even by their addressees. Lettersare unsealed on stage The Stamp real and the seal figurative blazoned as ÔA daintie seale of virgin-waxe, / Where nothing but impressio
15 n lackesÕ (sig. V7v). alludes to the sea
n lackesÕ (sig. V7v). alludes to the sealing of charters: ÔWast not that wax ! / Of my virginitye ! he thought tÕhave stampt / His seale vpon and so tÕhaue borne the Floure / Of mee by Priuiledge of the Charter?Õ43
16 The sealing metaphor in DonneÕs elegy s
The sealing metaphor in DonneÕs elegy seems to gesture specifically towards the sealing of patents which licensed exploration. Mary Ann Radzinowicz suggests that the word ÔLicenceÕ is a pun that Ôalludes to the li
17 cense Queen Elizabeth gave first to Sir
cense Queen Elizabeth gave first to Sir Humphrey Gilbert and then, when Gilbert drowned, to his half-brother Sir Walter RaleighÕ.44 In 1584, Walter Raleigh received letters patent granting him Ôfree liberty and lic
18 ense ! to discover search fynde out and
ense ! to discover search fynde out and viewe such remote heathen and barbarous landes Contries and territories not actually possessed of any Christian Prynce and inhabited by Christian peopleÕ. The patent was auth
19 orised Ôper breue de priuato sigilloÕ, Ô
orised Ôper breue de priuato sigilloÕ, Ôby writ of Privy SealÕ.45 RaleighÕs authority as a coloniser was represented not only by sealed documents, but also by one of his seal-matrices, now held at the British
20
41 A. J. Smith (ed.), John Donne: The Complete English Poems (London: Penguin, 1986), 125, lines 25-32. ALT: 47 Kathleen Coyne Kelly, Performing Virginity and Testing Ch
21 astity in the Middle Ages (London: Routl
astity in the Middle Ages (London: Routledge, 2000), 28, 150-1n.67. OEDÕs entry is misleading because its earliest example is from 1615 (hymen n.2 1). 48 OED Hymen n.1 1, 2. 49 Kelly, Performing Virginity, 152n.67.