'Calumny' is like 'arraign' in having a restriction to sexual contexts in Shakespearean usage. Its occurrences in Hamlet, Measure for Measure, and The Winter's Tale involve highly confrontational encounters between a man and a woman. In the nunnery scene Hamlet tells Ophelia that be she she ever so chaste, she will not "escape calumny" (Ham.3.1.134-137). Angelo dares Isabella to expose him because his authority will make her accusation "smell of calumny" (MeM 2.4.159). "Escape," "smell," and "calumny" collocate in an exchange between Lucio and the Duke (MeM 3.2.183-187). Leontes inverts he real situation when in his accusation of Hermione he sees himself as a victim of calumny (Win.2.1.72-73).The procedure is similar to Desdemona's inversion of 'arraignment', but the spirit and motive are very different.
04 January, 2000
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