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Moral Constitution: Elizabeth Carey's 'Tragedy of Mariam' and the Color of Blood
School of Advanced Study
Dean's Seminar - Moral Constitution: Elizabeth Carey's 'Tragedy of Mariam' and the Color of Blood
Professor Kimberly Anne Coles, School of Advanced Study Visiting Fellow, 2012/13
Chair: Professor Roger Kain, CBE, FBA, Dean of the School of Advanced Study
If The Tragedy of Mariam is “about” anything, it is about rank—and the privileges of moral courage and superiority that rank inherently bestows. Mariam’s whiteness against the blackness of the characters of Salome and of Herod does constitute the moral encoding of raced subjects—but the “race” in question is a difference in rank. In early modern England, the term “race” commonly referred to family lineage, or bloodline, and relied upon pervasive notions of what were believed to constitute the properties of blood. Carey’s Mariam posits moral differences that are literally a feature of the blood—or humoral disposition—and that are revealed in the external complexion of her characters.
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School of Advanced Study
Dean's Seminar - Moral Constitution: Elizabeth Carey's 'Tragedy of Mariam' and the Color of Blood
Professor Kimberly Anne Coles, School of Advanced Study Visiting Fellow, 2012/13
Chair: Professor Roger Kain, CBE, FBA, Dean of the School of Advanced Study
If The Tragedy of Mariam is “about” anything, it is about rank—and the privileges of moral courage and superiority that rank inherently bestows. Mariam’s whiteness against the blackness of the characters of Salome and of Herod does constitute the moral encoding of raced subjects—but the “race” in question is a difference in rank. In early modern England, the term “race” commonly referred to family lineage, or bloodline, and relied upon pervasive notions of what were believed to constitute the properties of blood. Carey’s Mariam posits moral differences that are literally a feature of the blood—or humoral disposition—and that are revealed in the external complexion of her characters.