Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
Journal issue | 50 | 2016
Research Article | “Let Me Have Claudio’s Head”

“Let Me Have Claudio’s Head”

The Beheading of John the Baptist as a Remote Source in Measure for Measure

Giuseppe Leone - Università degli Studi di Palermo,Italia - email

Abstract

In an attempt to produce a reconstruction of the genealogy of the sources, this essay investigates the relationship between Measure for Measure and the Gospel of Matthew, examining in particular the possibility that the episode related to Claudio’s supposed beheading is somehow associated with the death of John the Baptist, as recorded in Matthew 14:1-12. In Shakespeare as well as in the Evangelist’s text, the request for the head is charged with a highly symbolic value: it is a visualization of the triumph, the gift that the instigator makes to his own superiority, a narcissistic gratification. It is an expression of personal affirmation; an acknowledgment of one’s own power and of the capacity to make it operative. Doing violence becomes an investigation of one’s own political force. It represents the violation of the corpse, the desecration of the relic. But it is also an appalling solution to put to rest any possible accusation related to immoral or illicit relationships condemned by the law. Moreover, it is a violent act, secretly perpetrated, with neither moral purposes nor royal warning.

Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: May 12, 2016 | Accepted: July 6, 2016 | Published Sept. 30, 2016 | Language: en

Keywords Matthew’s Gospel • Shakespeare • John the Baptist • Measure for Measure

Copyright © 2016 Giuseppe Leone. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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DC Field	Value
dc.identifier	ECF_article_387
dc.title	“Let Me Have Claudio’s Head”. The Beheading of John the Baptist as a Remote Source in Measure for Measure
dc.contributor.author	Leone Giuseppe
dc.publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing
dc.type	Research Article
dc.language.iso	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/annali-di-ca-foscari-serie-occidentale/2016/1/let-me-have-claudios-head/
dc.description.abstract	In an attempt to produce a reconstruction of the genealogy of the sources, this essay investigates the relationship between Measure for Measure and the Gospel of Matthew, examining in particular the possibility that the episode related to Claudio’s supposed beheading is somehow associated with the death of John the Baptist, as recorded in Matthew 14:1-12. In Shakespeare as well as in the Evangelist’s text, the request for the head is charged with a highly symbolic value: it is a visualization of the triumph, the gift that the instigator makes to his own superiority, a narcissistic gratification. It is an expression of personal affirmation; an acknowledgment of one’s own power and of the capacity to make it operative. Doing violence becomes an investigation of one’s own political force. It represents the violation of the corpse, the desecration of the relic. But it is also an appalling solution to put to rest any possible accusation related to immoral or illicit relationships condemned by the law. Moreover, it is a violent act, secretly perpetrated, with neither moral purposes nor royal warning.
dc.relation.ispartof	Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
dc.relation.ispartof	Vol. 50 \| September 2016
dc.issued	2016-09-30
dc.dateAccepted	2016-07-06
dc.dateSubmitted	2016-05-12
dc.identifier.issn
dc.identifier.eissn	2499-1562
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.identifier.doi	10.14277/2499-1562/AnnOc-50-16-15
dc.peer-review	yes
dc.subject	John the Baptist
dc.subject	John the Baptist
dc.subject	Matthew’s Gospel
dc.subject	Matthew’s Gospel
dc.subject	Measure for Measure
dc.subject	Measure for Measure
dc.subject	Shakespeare
dc.subject	Shakespeare
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