ELIZABETHAN VIEWS OF WOMEN AND SHAKESPEARE'S COMIC HEROINES (C.1593 - C.1603).
Item
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Title
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ELIZABETHAN VIEWS OF WOMEN AND SHAKESPEARE'S COMIC HEROINES (C.1593 - C.1603).
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Identifier
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AAI8203305
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identifier
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8203305
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Creator
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MCFEELY, MAUREEN CONNOLLY.
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Contributor
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Prof. W.R. Elton
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Date
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1981
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, English
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Abstract
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While there has been frequent critical praise for the wit, common sense and enterprise of comic heroines such as Julia of Two Gentlemen of Verona (c. 1593) and Rosalind of As You Like It (c. 1599) and some questioning of the actions of Isabella in Measure for Measure (c. 1603-1604), there has been little attempt to set these characters in adequate historical perspective regarding Elizabethan views of women. This study tries to do so by examining whether there is a significant correlation between the changing depiction of Shakespeare's comic heroines and Elizabethan views of women.;The Elizabethans inherited several, often contradictory, views of women--including patristic and medieval notions of feminine inferiority and subjection and Reformation notions of partnership and companionship in marriage (evident in proverbs, sermons and conduct books), as well as literary conventions of female idealization (evident in some sonnet sequences) and even aggressiveness (evident in Venus and Adonis and other epyllia). The coexistence of these divergent views is reflected in two playful contemporary descriptions of women, one of which defines woman as "Woo-man, for that she doth woo man with Vertues," the other, as bringers of "woe-to-man." Until c.1603, Shakespeare's comedies frequently employ the former definition--by presenting heroines who reverse traditional sexual roles to test and "woo men." After c.1603, however, this type of heroine gives way--at least in Measure for Measure--to one who proves by her conventional "feminine" behavior that she does not bring "woe-to-man.".;Although this study does not claim that there is a one-to-one correlation between Elizabethan attitudes towards women and Shakespeare's dramatic practice, it suggests, by sampling a few plays and other evidence, significant parallels between such attitudes and the changing depiction of Shakespeare's comic heroines. The works examined are: Two Gentlemen of Verona (c.1593), the first Shakespearean comedy to include a heroine who reverses roles by assuming disguise and pursuing a lover; As You Like It (c.1599), which depicts in Rosalind a heroine who uses disguise and a reversal of roles to great advantage in testing a lover; and Measure for Measure (c.1603-04), as it indicates a change in the depiction of the heroine, from one who pursues and tests men, to one who is pursued or tested by men; from one who reverses traditional sexual roles, to one who functions, for the most part, within those roles.;In light of this sampling, the study concludes that the depiction of such heroines (c.1593-c.1603) may be linked to a climate of attitudes that found the idealization of women, and even their aggressiveness theatrically acceptable. From c.1603, however, as England welcomed its first male ruler in half a century, an apparent shift in the climate of attitudes may be correlated with a heroine, such as Isabella, who exemplifies more conventional "feminine" behavior. Such instances, both before and after the accession of James, suggest a significant correlation between social attitudes to women and Shakespeare's depiction of those comic heroines.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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English
