I mentioned in my last post that I was interested in examining Shakespeare’s use of the word “emulation,” a word in the early modern period that referred to a writer’s competitive imitation of a predecessor. Cicero explained that aemulatio referred to “the imitation of virtue and the anxiety felt when one desires and lacks something which another possesses”. Nonius adds that “aemulatio differs from imatio [Latin for imitation] in that the latter is sincere and admits neither spite nor envy; the former, however, does have the eager application of imitating, but with malice added.” I am particularly interested in this particular type of imitation, this competitive imitation in which one tries to better his predecessor.There is some debate amongst thinkers in the classical and early modern periods as to just how much malice is involved in emulation, just how much negative connotation the concept carries. Petrarch writes that:

I do not think one should only follow him [meaning Cicero], but rather imitate and even emulate him. For the follower walks in the footsteps of another and is slave to his model. Furthermore, it has been well said that a person who places his foot in the footstep of another cannot walk well, and no one can ever swim who does not dare throw away the life preserver. An imitator, however, desires to say not so much the same things as similar ones – in fact, sometimes not even similar, but rather equal things. But the emulator strives to speak better, if he can.” (Pigman 25)

I’m particularly interested in Shakespeare’s use of the word emulation and find it used four times in Troilus and Cressida, more times than any other play. Its first use comes in Act One, scene Three, when Ulysses explains the reason that the Greeks have not yet been able to defeat the Trojans. He claims it is not the Trojan’s superiority or even equality in their warring skill, but instead the competitive and independent nature of the Greek warriors that permit the Trojans to deter the Greek warriors. He laments that that it is their own selfish individualism that keeps them from overcoming their Trojan counterparts.

The general’s disdain’d
By him one step below, he by the next,
That next by him beneath; so every step,
Exampled by the first pace that is sick
Of his superior, grows to an envious fever
Of pale and bloodless emulation:
And ’tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,
Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length,
Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength. (1.3.129-137)

Shakespeare, in this passage, sheds “emulation” in a negative light, one where the constant bickering and hope of bettering another stands in the way of the Greek camaraderie that would give them the edge they need in battle to overcome their foe.

Troy too is aware that there is bickering amongst the Greeks and its impact on their fighting when in Act Two, scene Two Hector reiterates Ulysses concern. He tells his Trojan council of having sent “a roisting challenging” to the “factious nobles of the Greeks” that “will strike amazement to their drowsy spirits”. He adds,

I was advertised their great general slept,
Whilst emulation in the army crept:
This, I presume, will wake him. (2.2.207-212)

Once more, Shakespeare touches upon the negative impact of aemulatio (or emulation) and its effects upon the Trojan army. The warriors, instead of functioning as a single unit, struggle individually because of their own overbearing pride to best his fellow Greek. Both Hector and Ulysses see this Greek emulation as detrimental to the Greek cause.

In Act Three, Scene Three Ulysses comforts Achilles, the chief among the Greeks guilty of jealous emulation, who most seeks to overcome his general, Agamemnon. In comforting him, though, Ulysses subtly reprimands him. He warns Achilles that a warrior must always strive to be the greatest, or else he will be forgotten and another will overtake him. He tells Achilles:

… honour travels in a strait so narrow,
Where one but goes abreast: keep then the path;
For emulation hath a thousand sons
That one by one pursue: if you give way,
Or hedge aside from the direct forthright,
Like to an enter’d tide, they all rush by
And leave you hindmost; (3.3.148-154)

The word comes up again in act four when Hector makes peace with his cousin Ajax, refusing a gory emulation:

 

The obligation of our blood forbids
A gory emulation ‘twixt us twain: (4.7.6-7)

In war, emulation is gory. It haunts the Greek front and would push two cousins to destroy one another had not Hector prevented it. The Greek Ajax himself confesses he would have succumb to “gory emulation” and killed his own cousin, had Hector not stopped the battle. It is again the Greeks who are most guilty of emulation, and Hector who sees this weakness in them, even in his own cousin.

Troilus and Cressida is a play about emulation, about jealousy and the hope of bettering the man who went before. The Trojan War happens only because Paris attempts to best Menelaus in stealing Helen from him. Troilus is overridden with jealousy when the Greeks take his Cressida. The Greeks constantly squabble amongst themselves: Ajax with Thersites, Achilles with Agamemnon and others, etc.

I want to continue to analyze Shakespeare’s use of the words emulation and imitation and see what patterns develop. Shakespeare certainly uses the word to refer to a malicious and dangerous intent that Nonius uses.

My thoughts presently, though, are that “emulation,” as Shakespeare uses the word, does not refer to “imitation.” Achilles would not imitate another man to best him. Similarly, Ajax and Hector do not copy one another’s fighting style in the battle. It seems that to “emulate” another would mean to overcome him, but not necessarily at all to use his own tactics to do so. This confuses me a great deal. Why is “emulation” a breed of “imitation”?

Is it? I need to return to Pigman and think this through a bit more. My primary purpose is to understand how Shakespeare used and thought about imitation in his writings, and I wonder if this exploration has taken me off track a bit from where I meant to go? Any thoughts? How is emulation a type of imitation?