31 / 148
“There is no tongue that moves”
31
fraught with tension” (163). It is also significant that Eleanor’s
delivery of the baby in this difficult case did not follow the
method of Dr. William Harvey,
29
whose theory Willughby had
deemed the supreme guide in midwifery. As Willughby put it,
“I know none but Dr. Harvey’s directions and method,” in
Wilson’s words (153).
30
Again we see that male practitioners
rely more on texts than on experience, unlike their female
counterparts. David Harley also makes this point: “Midwifery
had always been regarded as a skill that could only be learned
by experience” (1993: 28). Harley continues by presneting
John Maubray, the author of the influential work on
midwifery,
Female Physician
. In Harley’s words, with his
quoting from John Maubray:
a midwife should have served ‘as an assistant to some
skillful Woman of good Business’ because only
practice could equip a midwife, not ‘all the THEORY,
that the most ingenious MAN can make himself
Master of.’ (1993: 28).
31
The view that male midwives are to be avoided as they
will tend to endanger the life of the fetus or newborn baby is
clearly applicable to the two kings in
The Winter’s Tale
, for
Leontes and Polixenes have both, at one point, killed their own
sons, almost literally in the case of Mamillius and
29
Evenden argues: “It is highly unlikely that Harvey’s work,
De Generatione
Animalium
(London, 1651), which was based on experiments with
fertilized hen’s eggs, had any direct bearing on the practice of midwifery,
particularly in the seventeenth century” (2000: 2). Similarly, for Wilson,
“Harvey’s discussion of birth was chiefly theoretical in intent” (1997: 151).
30
Wilson has noted
Willughby’s use of Harvey’s essay “De Partu,” the
conclusion of his
De Generatione
which was published in 1651 and
translated into English in 1653. Wilson continues: “Willughby wanted to
argue that practical experience was the only effective teacher; yet his
medium contradicted his message, for he was using the written word”
(1997: 151).
31
For the reference of John Maubray, see Maubray (1724: 176-177).