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Marlowe, Poetry, and Sodomy Trials - Coggle Diagram
Marlowe, Poetry, and Sodomy Trials
Marlowe's fragment was published in a folio in 1598. So in the decade or two surrounding the play, peruse some of the sources that come up when you search "sodomy," "buggery," "catamite,' or "Ganymede." (You'll find a lot of sermons). But think about what the discourses of sodomy define and what they confuse. What terms are paired with sodomy or buggery? How is that different to/similar to Marlowe's erotic imaginary?
Sodomy:
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Definitions from OED:
Formerly: any form of sexual intercourse characterized as unnatural or immoral, or otherwise culturally stigmatized. Later: any of a number of forms of sexual intercourse other than heterosexual vaginal intercourse, esp. as legally defined (see note). Now chiefly: anal intercourse, esp. between men; (sometimes more generally) homosexual activity, homosexuality.
Any behaviour that is considered to be immoral, unnatural, demeaning, or shameful.
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buggery:
"Sin of his Buggery. A Crime that sinks a Man below the Basest Epithet, is so...
...the Unnatural Sin of hits Buggery, were the same that now Reign among our English"
Definitions from OED:
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Originally: the act of anal intercourse between two men or between a man and a woman, or of sexual intercourse between a person and an animal, regarded as illicit or illegal.
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"Sexe, which is called Buggery"
"hypocrisie, if blood oppression, and vsurie, if Whordome, Sodomy, and Buggery"
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I think Marlowe also thinks of sodomy and buggery as "naughty" words for lack of better words, but he does not create a negative connotation around the words as preachers and people who are giving these sermons seem to be doing
When looking up the word sodomy, there are two definitions that can clearly connect immoral or ungod like behavior to anal penetration and therefore, homosexuality.
Marlowe I think views eroticism as a positive thing, but others think of it as negative
especially with Ganymede because it is used by Marlowe as a boy who is attractive and is Zeus's sugar baby, basically, but it is referred to as a negative or "dirty" thing.