Helen Wilcox

Women and literature in Britain, 1500-1700

Chronology: Women and literature in Britain, 1500-1700 Introduction Helen Wilcox Part I. Constructing Women in Early Modern Britain: 1. Humanist education and the Renaissance concept of women Hilda L. Smith 2. Religion and the construction of femininity Suzanne Trill 3. Advice for women from mothers and patriarchs Valerie Wayne 4. Women reading, reading women Jacqueline Pearson 5. Women/women and the stage Ann Thompson 6. Feminine modes of knowing and scientific enquiry Bronwen Price Part II. Writing Women in Early Modern Britian: 7. Renaissance concepts of the woman writer Margaret W. Ferguson 8. Courtly writing by women Helen Hackett 9. Womens poetry in early modern Britain Elizabeth H. Hageman 10. Womens writing and the self Elspeth Graham 11. The possibilities of prose Betty S. Travitsky 12. The first female dramatists Ros Ballaster Further reading.

Drums and Roses? The Tragicomedy of War in All’s Well That Ends Well

Although war is a recurring feature of Shakespeare’s plays, regardless of their genre, it does not necessarily follow that his representation of war is a stable point of reference or ideologically consistent. Indeed, there are aspects of the wars depicted in his plays which might be said to be genre-specific. In the comedies, for instance, we may observe that conflict is almost always located in the past and often coloured by symbolic or amorous purposes, as in the opening of A Midsummer Night’s Dream when Theseus disconcertingly reminds Hippolyta that ‘I woo’d thee with my sword, / And won thy love doing thee injuries’ (1.1.16–17). The tragedies, on the other hand, construct war as integral to their mood of crisis; conflict creates as well as mirrors the rottenness of Hamlet’s Denmark, for example, and the discord of Othello’s Cyprus. The wars of the Roman plays embody the tragic hubris of imperial politics — ‘O my brave Emperor, this is fought indeed!’ (Antony and Cleopatra 4.7.4) — while the English history plays contextualise and explore the ambitions behind dynastic and national warfare. The so-called ‘problem plays’ and the late plays or ‘romances’ have a shared tendency to test generic boundaries and to probe even more unsettlingly the audience’s confidence in the honour of soldiers, lovers and leaders.

Shaggie Thighs and Aery Formes: Satyres and Faeries in Ben Jonson’s Oberon

The impact of Jonson’s innovations in the masque form and his realignment of supernatural beings are fully conveyed to modern audiences who are not thoroughly immersed in court entertainment and the symbolism of satyrs and fairies. This chapter remedies the situation, by arguing the case for Jonsons imaginative vision in reducing the separation of antimasque and masque, which enabled the action and settings to develop in an unbroken sequence of entertainment and symbolic effect. Jonson accommodated and expanded the ranks of supernatural beings in the progress of the masque, allowing the satyrs with their shaggie thighs to be on stage to the very end of the performance, mingling with the fairies and other formes, so bright, and aery. Keywords:Aery Formes; Ben Jonson; fairies; oberon; satyrs; shaggie thighs

Measuring up to Nebuchadnezzar: Biblical Presences in Shakespeare’s Tragicomedies

It is a truth (almost) universally acknowledged, that early modern English men and women were profoundly familiar with the Scriptures and that ‘the Bible remained the central cultural text in England, as in the rest of Europe, through the seventeenth century’ (Shuger, 1994, 2). But as soon as we go beyond those comfortable generalisations and try to ascertain closer details, questions and uncertainties abound. Which Bible were the early modern English faithful reading? In what language were they familiar with it and in what forms did they quote from it in their speaking, writing, singing or praying? If they were reading the Bible in English, in whose translation was it printed and with what interpretative purposes and marginal commentaries was it hedged in? Was the Bible a completely aural experience for most early modern people, or were there moments of silent reading too? How and by whom were they trained to interpret biblical language and its narratives and teachings, if at all? Was their experience of the Bible communal or private, educational or meditative, liturgical or domestic, or all of these? This essay could not possibly attempt to answer these questions, but they form the backdrop against which the following exploration of biblical presences in Shakespeare’s tragicomedies will be conducted. The issues raised by these questions have shaped this essay, indeed this volume, and so must constantly interrogate our accounts of the interaction between the Bible and the early modern English stage.

‘ah famous citie’: women, writing, and early modern London

This article explores aspects of the textual relationship between women and early modern London by examining three verbal ‘snapshots’ of the city in works either written by women or focusing on women in their urban environment. The first text, Isabella Whitneys ‘Wyll and Testament’ (1573), addresses London from a rural perspective, treating the city as a fickle male to whom she wants to hand back all his treasures. The poem constructs a vivid and ironic social topography, giving a glimpse of the roles of men and women in the Tudor city. The second text is by Mary Carleton, the roguish Restoration figure who defended her apparently ‘counterfeit’ life in the prose of The Case of Madam Mary Carleton (1663). Carletons London is a place of unwanted seduction and sexual intimidation, highlighting a gendered moral geography even while the memoir itself titillates the reader with the account of her bizarre experiences. Finally, in a coda to the discussions of Whitney and Carleton, early eighteenth-century London is viewed through Jonathan Swifts satirical mock-pastorals of squalid urban life, in which female identity, like the city itself, is a site of violence, disgust and deception. Together, these textual representations of women and early modern London indicate the complex interactions of gender, literature and the early modern city. The analysis of the texts also suggests the significance of the ironic voice as a quintessentially urban literary mode, the prevalence of the idea of woman as a commodified topographical site, and the function of metaphors of courtship or marriage as indicators of the paradoxical attractions of the city.

|[lsquo]|ah famous citie|[rsquo]|: women, writing, and early modern London

This article explores aspects of the textual relationship between women and early modern London by examining three verbal ‘snapshots’ of the city in works either written by women or focusing on women in their urban environment. The first text, Isabella Whitneys ‘Wyll and Testament’ (1573), addresses London from a rural perspective, treating the city as a fickle male to whom she wants to hand back all his treasures. The poem constructs a vivid and ironic social topography, giving a glimpse of the roles of men and women in the Tudor city. The second text is by Mary Carleton, the roguish Restoration figure who defended her apparently ‘counterfeit’ life in the prose of The Case of Madam Mary Carleton (1663). Carletons London is a place of unwanted seduction and sexual intimidation, highlighting a gendered moral geography even while the memoir itself titillates the reader with the account of her bizarre experiences. Finally, in a coda to the discussions of Whitney and Carleton, early eighteenth-century London is viewed through Jonathan Swifts satirical mock-pastorals of squalid urban life, in which female identity, like the city itself, is a site of violence, disgust and deception. Together, these textual representations of women and early modern London indicate the complex interactions of gender, literature and the early modern city. The analysis of the texts also suggests the significance of the ironic voice as a quintessentially urban literary mode, the prevalence of the idea of woman as a commodified topographical site, and the function of metaphors of courtship or marriage as indicators of the paradoxical attractions of the city.

ah famous citie

This article explores aspects of the textual relationship between women and early modern London by examining three verbal ‘snapshots’ of the city in works either written by women or focusing on women in their urban environment. The first text, Isabella Whitneys ‘Wyll and Testament’ (1573), addresses London from a rural perspective, treating the city as a fickle male to whom she wants to hand back all his treasures. The poem constructs a vivid and ironic social topography, giving a glimpse of the roles of men and women in the Tudor city. The second text is by Mary Carleton, the roguish Restoration figure who defended her apparently ‘counterfeit’ life in the prose of The Case of Madam Mary Carleton (1663). Carletons London is a place of unwanted seduction and sexual intimidation, highlighting a gendered moral geography even while the memoir itself titillates the reader with the account of her bizarre experiences. Finally, in a coda to the discussions of Whitney and Carleton, early eighteenth-century London is viewed through Jonathan Swifts satirical mock-pastorals of squalid urban life, in which female identity, like the city itself, is a site of violence, disgust and deception. Together, these textual representations of women and early modern London indicate the complex interactions of gender, literature and the early modern city. The analysis of the texts also suggests the significance of the ironic voice as a quintessentially urban literary mode, the prevalence of the idea of woman as a commodified topographical site, and the function of metaphors of courtship or marriage as indicators of the paradoxical attractions of the city.

Anne Clifford and Samuel Pepys: Diaries and Homes

ABSTRACT This article examines the diaries of two great English characters of the seventeenth century, Lady Anne Clifford (1590–1676) and Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), in order to explore their representation of houses and ideas of home. Taking these two texts as case studies, it explores the significance of houses in relation to family history and personal advancement, as well as their function as places of self-fulfillment. Contrasts of gender and class play an important part in the analysis, which concludes with an emphasis on rhetorical houses and the nature of diaries as textual homes replete with recorded memories.