Catch the Fly: Sex Jokes about Katherine
Mary Purnell
Katherine of Valois’s sexuality partially defined her in real life, and it made its way onto the pages of Shakespeare’s Henry V. Even putting aside the infamous English lesson scene in which a doe-eyed Katherine linguistically itemizes her body, we see a poignant emphasis on her sexuality elsewhere in the play.
Considered by some to be romantic, by others to be sickening, the Henry-Katherine wooing scene is pregnant with suspicious lines and hidden agendas. Henry spares no verbal expense in his efforts to capture Katherine’s maiden heart; indeed, the actual "wooing" spans a length of ninety lines. Yet immediately after this rhetorical odyssey, Henry makes a crass and obviously sexual joke about his future queen in front of her mother and father.
Burgundy initiates the slew of degrading comments with a sorry joke that, even from the best audience, could hope for little more than a few half-hearted grumbles of acknowledgment: "Can you blame her . . . / if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy in her naked / seeing self?" (V.ii.307-309). Katherine’s "naked seeing self" is her reason – or her soul, as opposed to her body – and the transgressive "naked blind boy" is not actually a man, but an image of Cupid. To translate, Burgundy is proposing that Katherine's higher faculties of chastity and reason would resist giving into the irrationality of love. It’s innocent enough in theory, but of course, it’s Burgundy’s intention that his audience see a different picture. King Henry is all too happy to take the bait: "Yet they do wink and yield, as love is / blind and enforces" (312-313).
Yet they do wink and yield? "Wink" takes us back to the image of the "naked seeing self," or rather, Katherine’s capacity for reason. If to wink is to briefly close one’s eyes – to stop seeing – then Henry is predicting that Katherine’s reason will falter, and that she will yield to his, well . . . naked blind boy.
They don’t stop there. Henry makes a special request of the French duke (who, it should be noted, is talking about his cousin in all this): "Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to consent winking" (316-317). If, as we have established, winking equates to sexual submission, then Henry has blatantly asked that Katherine's cousin persuade her to give it up. Not only that, but he made the request in front of Katherine and her own father. Burgundy graciously obliges:
Considered by some to be romantic, by others to be sickening, the Henry-Katherine wooing scene is pregnant with suspicious lines and hidden agendas. Henry spares no verbal expense in his efforts to capture Katherine’s maiden heart; indeed, the actual "wooing" spans a length of ninety lines. Yet immediately after this rhetorical odyssey, Henry makes a crass and obviously sexual joke about his future queen in front of her mother and father.
Burgundy initiates the slew of degrading comments with a sorry joke that, even from the best audience, could hope for little more than a few half-hearted grumbles of acknowledgment: "Can you blame her . . . / if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy in her naked / seeing self?" (V.ii.307-309). Katherine’s "naked seeing self" is her reason – or her soul, as opposed to her body – and the transgressive "naked blind boy" is not actually a man, but an image of Cupid. To translate, Burgundy is proposing that Katherine's higher faculties of chastity and reason would resist giving into the irrationality of love. It’s innocent enough in theory, but of course, it’s Burgundy’s intention that his audience see a different picture. King Henry is all too happy to take the bait: "Yet they do wink and yield, as love is / blind and enforces" (312-313).
Yet they do wink and yield? "Wink" takes us back to the image of the "naked seeing self," or rather, Katherine’s capacity for reason. If to wink is to briefly close one’s eyes – to stop seeing – then Henry is predicting that Katherine’s reason will falter, and that she will yield to his, well . . . naked blind boy.
They don’t stop there. Henry makes a special request of the French duke (who, it should be noted, is talking about his cousin in all this): "Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to consent winking" (316-317). If, as we have established, winking equates to sexual submission, then Henry has blatantly asked that Katherine's cousin persuade her to give it up. Not only that, but he made the request in front of Katherine and her own father. Burgundy graciously obliges:
BURGUNDY: I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if
you will teach her to know my meaning, for maids
well summered and warm-kept are like flies at
Bartholomew-tide: blind, though they have their
eyes; and then they will endure handling, which
before they would not abide looking on.
(318-323)
Burgundy's equation of female sexuality to "flies at / Bartholomew-tide" is a mere drop in the bucket in this degrading conversation, but it also marks a point of no return in regards to Katherine. Henry and Burgundy have allowed the innuendos to escalate to the point where the future Queen of England receives the same level of respect as a fly. Roughly translated, the boys are comparing a pampered virgin to the fat, lazy insects of late-August. Whereas in early Spring they are wary and alert, these flies thrive in sweltering heat and thus rely less on the virtue of caution come August; they are effectively "blind, though they have their eyes."
Similarly, or so Burgundy claims, a long-time maiden turns a "blind" eye to the threats posed against her virtue. When she was younger, perhaps a virgin would take more caution around men, and rebuke the earliest hint of an advance. In later years, she lets her guard down – "blind, though [she] has [her] eyes." If the analogy isn't insulting enough, Burgundy actually takes the controversial conversation a step further by explicitly describing the effects of this "blindness," claiming that a woman such as this will "endure handling" sooner than a more prudent one.
The conversation was crude; now it is base. Henry has a choice: to stop the vile talk, or to encourage it. He loses his fans in the audience as soon as he make that choice, for rather than defend his bride, Henry re-engages in the joke, vowing, "And so I shall catch the fly" (325).
Sex jokes were plentiful on the Elizabethan stage, but this extended one is exceptionally derisive. Not only is it an affront to Katherine’s character, it also undermines the effect of the entire wooing scene that came before it. From the first pledge of earnest love to the last failed attempt at French, Henry’s blatant disrespect for his future wife counteracts every sweet nothing he whispered just moments before. After witnessing with what ease Henry will disrespect his future wife, it’s difficult to reflect back on his proclamations of love without some degree of suspicion.
Similarly, or so Burgundy claims, a long-time maiden turns a "blind" eye to the threats posed against her virtue. When she was younger, perhaps a virgin would take more caution around men, and rebuke the earliest hint of an advance. In later years, she lets her guard down – "blind, though [she] has [her] eyes." If the analogy isn't insulting enough, Burgundy actually takes the controversial conversation a step further by explicitly describing the effects of this "blindness," claiming that a woman such as this will "endure handling" sooner than a more prudent one.
The conversation was crude; now it is base. Henry has a choice: to stop the vile talk, or to encourage it. He loses his fans in the audience as soon as he make that choice, for rather than defend his bride, Henry re-engages in the joke, vowing, "And so I shall catch the fly" (325).
Sex jokes were plentiful on the Elizabethan stage, but this extended one is exceptionally derisive. Not only is it an affront to Katherine’s character, it also undermines the effect of the entire wooing scene that came before it. From the first pledge of earnest love to the last failed attempt at French, Henry’s blatant disrespect for his future wife counteracts every sweet nothing he whispered just moments before. After witnessing with what ease Henry will disrespect his future wife, it’s difficult to reflect back on his proclamations of love without some degree of suspicion.