Desire in Shakespeare

Desire, in Shakespeare's plays, is a wholly different conception than that of 'love' or passion. Desire represents, on the behalf of the muddled minds of the antagonist, a want for concrete, physical and tangible rewards. These rewards, typically, fall into one of two categories- lust or power.

Lust, of course, represents a demand for physical satiation. Lust should not be confused with love in this context- the terms are not interchangeable. Lust represents a base sexual arousal and desire, most prominently figuring in sexual release via intercourse. Love, as we use the term relative to the works of Shakespeare, implies a deep and instantaneous spiritual connection between parties that defies the standards of mating etiquette in polite society, vis a vis the 'longing gaze' and the resultant midnight rolls through the hay barn that follow.

Power, which is inextricably linked to lust in both temperament and action-upon, is a base drive for control. Power manifests itself with equal frequency as its counterpart lust in Shakespeare's works. Though it is seen most often in the hands of would-be kings and angry queens, any character not in love or lusting after someone seems to be making a mad grab for the throne. The relative success of this grab is irrelevant to the topic at hand. It is the striving for Power that motivates the antagonists in Shakespeare's play, as the gaining of authority is usually brought to a swift and fatal end.

Richard III is as apt a play as any to begin with. All the elements of a 'Shakespearean' drama are there- love, lust, power struggles, Byzantine politics. The complicated, intertwining political intrigue and scandals that occasionally threaten to overwhelm Richard are occasionally mistaken for being the meat of the play, the substance of the story into which the audience is expected to sink their collective teeth. Problematic with that assumption is the fact that -all- plays are fundamentally about the human condition, not about politics. People watch the OC and not C-Span for a reason. The thrilling politics are but a framework to support the gripping battle for power, the fight for it, not the ways and means it is entertained.

Lust and power go hand in hand. Richard adroitly manipulates Queen Anne into wedding him, despite both his severe physical and ethical handicaps. Though it was unmistakably a bid for power, there is a definite sense of a need for physical dominance in the move as well. Richard comments on several occasions his severe disfigurement, the abuses he's suffered over his lifetime. A marriage to a beautiful royal woman such as Anne would not only be another rung on his ladder to victory, but would satisfy in his mind, if not in practice, his internalized question of his own potency as a man and as a noble.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, though a high comedy, parallels Richard III's themes of lust and power. While the ending is far more enjoyable, and the play itself light-hearted, there are unmistakable similarities between Richard and the fairy King, Oberon. Both share a sick desire for power and control in places where they should not, or do not need it. Oberon's nonsensical demand for the Indian boy almost spurs a civil war between himself and his wife.

There is no need for it- he has many fae to do his bidding, and could likely find many a brave soul to be a knight or servant. It is not the need for a vassal that spurs him on- it is the need for -Titania's- vassal that is Oberon's motivation for such cruel acts. Though it's certainly a possibility that Oberon lusted for the boy himself, but it is far more likely that, as was said above, he wanted the things Titania possessed. A lust for the fairy queen, a lust for things, a need for power- these are the hallmarks of a Shakespearean protagonist.

In the drama Merchant of Venice, we see a return to the calculatingly evil persona of Richard, this time in the face of the Jewish usurer, Shylock. Though presented in an almost ridiculously evil manner, there is a certain degree of cold precision in his actions and plottings, the same as we saw in Richard when he made his grab for power. If people fear a cruel man of anarchy because they don't know what he will do next, they fear an evil man who works within the constraints of the law because they know that whatever he does, they will not be able to stop him. This early presentation of a Satanic figure in the Shylock character may have been inspiration for future impressions of the Devil as a lawful but still evil entity, who used the law as a weapon, rather than to help others. Ironically, many people hate lawyers for much the same reason.

Troilus and Cressida conclusively demonstrates the motivations of power and lust Shakespeare capitalizes on so many times in his dramas. In a game of
politic with so many players, the plays for power grow more intense and more dangerous. Different from many plays, however, we see many characters grappling and jockeying about for positions of power. Lust, rather than being a sexual tryst, becomes a demand upon the masculinity of the men. Agamemmnon tries to arouse Achilles to fight, sends a headstrong Ajax into battle with Hector. All three of these men compete not for women, but for respect, for acknowledgement in being the toughest and strongest warriors in their respective armies. This is not an abstract play for authority- this is more real, more immediately needed and satisfying.

The lines between lust and love and blurred in the final end game, however. Troilus and Cressida, though pledging their undying troth, are still reduced to creatures of base needs and urges. Love fails, spectacularly, in the face of adversity, though Calchas' cruel manipulations were of no aid. Cressida submits herself to Diomedes, agrees to become his lover. Troilus, heartbroken, takes to the field alongside Hector, only to watch the greatest of the Greek warriors be slain on the field, unarmed and un-defended. Love fails, this time, and it is a painful thing to see in a Shakespearean drama.

Ultimately, lust and power become to the antagonists what Love is to the heroic couples. It is the sad sister, the weak second-place award to the people who fail to grasp what the purpose of life is. Ironic, too, that the ones who battle so hard for power and lust seem to die or collapse before the play is out. While star-crossed lovers occasionally meet their dooms, it is as often as not a happy death, met before some more gross unhappy chance would not only kill them, but end their love forever.

Desire is not Love. Desire is a need for something that the character cannot have, is not meant to have. Protagonists do not desire one another, because they -have- one another. Romeo had Juliet. Lysander and Demetrius had Helen and Hermia. But those people who did not have, who were not meant to have, find failure in the end, are brought low by their own hubris, and eventually meet a grisly and unpleasant demise. These are the fruits of desire, thus far- these are it's rewards.