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1st Draft of Drama Essay (2000 Words)
1st Draft of Drama Essay (2000 Words)
Through the analysis of three early modern plays, Volpone by Ben Jonson, A Mad World
will show how women were portrayed on the stage, and how this corresponded with
women’s place in society at the time. First we must address the issues of socio-political
context. The most important issue is the lack of women on-stage during the period - all
the female roles were played by adolescent boys whose voices had not broken. In
Measure for Measure, Isabella, Mariana and Juliet would have been played by boys, and
‘As in Greece, there were no women on the Elizabethan stage. Boys, specially
selected for their slight, graceful build and light voices, were apprenticed to older
It was, quite simply, not seen fit to place a woman on the stage - they were
expected to conform to the socially-defined ideals; demure, meek, chaste, and most
importantly, silent. Given that women were thought of as ‘incomplete men’ (based
mainly on Aristotle’s teachings), perhaps there was also a general consensus among
players that a woman would not have the wit or intelligence to entertain and act as well as
a man could.
The age of consent in this period was ’12 for girls and 14 for boys’ (Hopkins, L
1998, p1). However, it is important to remember that there was (at least by the moral
guidelines of society) no sex outside marriage. Whenever sexual relations outside of
marriage resulted in bastardy, the result for those involved was social ostracization, and
usually punishment meted out by the local authorities. Thomas Becon, a preacher at
...a bastard is strictly prohibited both by human laws and constitutions of wise
men to be the heir of temporal lands and goods. For they have no lawful heir
which by neglecting and despising matrimony for the wanton and enticing lust of
Indeed it was this preoccupation with ‘rightful heirs’ that dictated the very
treatment of women. Keeping women pure till marriage, and constant throughout their
married life, meant that males could be certain of their bloodline. All inheritance passed
down through men only; a woman had only what her husband or father would allow her.
The practise of dowries meant that the ‘marriage market’ was a very literal one; a good
dowry meant a good husband, and the security of economic stability. Restricted, then, by
economic factors, women also faced social and religious confines, although how well
they adhered to them is unknown, as women of the period had no ‘voice’. There are many
harsh sermons from puritans of the day, and strict ‘conduct books’ still surviving, but this
in turn begs the question; Were these in place because they taught women the codes of
society, or were they so rigorous because there were many women who did not conform?
The shift away from Catholicism, and into Protestantism, did not free women
per se. It rather switched the reins of power into another set of hands. Instead of
confiding in a priest, the head of her church, she now turned to her husband, the head of
her private sphere; it was he who would school her in the bible and guide her morally.
Whereas in the Catholic Church, there was the sanctity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
extreme (by modern western society’s standards, at least) ideologies of Puritanism taught
that this was idolatry and sin; women were intrinsically evil, carry Eve’s original sin,
cursed with menses and the pain of childbirth as punishment for the fall of man.
female characters; Isabella, chaste and pure, yet articulate and passionate, Julietta,
carrying a child out of wedlock due to a contractual error (perhaps the archetypal ‘fallen
woman’), Francisca, a nun who has taken her vows, and therefore cannot converse with
men, Mariana, who has been abandoned by Angelo because she has lost her dowry -an
who, as a brothel owner and procuress, has far more economic and social mobility (and
indeed power) than any of the other female characters. She is the only character in the
play in a position of power about a man (her tapster, Pompey), yet she confines to one
aspect of gender constraint, in that she gives maternal protection to Kate Keepdown’s
bastard child (a modern reading of this could suggest to a contemporary audience that she
has more emotional range than Isabella herself, who is often dismissed as being too
‘cold’ by today’s critics). Mistress Overdone aside, in the world of Measure for Measure,
women are effectively powerless because the only power they supposedly possess—
sexual—is defined and limited by men. Men, on the other hand, are seen to possess the
privileges?’ (I, IV, I) This would seem to go against the constructed female ideal of a
woman who is silent and meek, and does not question ‘her lot’;
As it becometh her to keep home, so it becometh her to keep silence, and always
woman, who constantly challenges male authority; namely her brother, Claudio ( in act
III, scene I), and Angelo. It is a male figure (Lucio in act II, scene II) who places female
‘traits’ upon her, by encouraging her to kneel in front of Angelo and play the role of
hysterical female;
(II,II,44-46)
This is, perhaps, unwitting confirmation that gender is a social and cultural construct, and
not innate. When Isabella exits (II,II,167), Angelo reveals his attraction to her - he is
women; he has been indoctrinated by puritan rhetoric to the point of feeling repulsion at
natural, physical desires towards women. There is also an element of fear on Angelo’s
part; he feels insecure in his masculinity in the presence of a woman such as Isabella, one
who matches his wit and intelligence. In a contemporary society, it would be termed a
‘meeting of minds’. But in a society where men and women did not mix to a great extent,
let alone debate together, a society where men were warned about the ‘wickedness and
But, if women are, as the puritan’s assured their congregation, so capable of trickery, then
men are equally so; Isabella and Mariana hatch the bed-plot with the Duke’s aid, and the
Duke is at this point displaying double-trickery - he is, at this point, disguised as the
Friar, and, cruelly, he does not reveal that Claudio is still alive until the very end of the
play. His proposals to Isabella (V, I, lines 493-496 and 538-542) do not need to be
answered by her; he is at the very top of the hierarchy, the ruler of the state and in the
utmost position of patriarchal power. Society constrained a woman to obey and keep
silent, and a marriage to a powerful noble would seem the preferable choice to a life of
little comfort in a convent. Even if a woman of the period was aghast at such a proposal,
In Thomas Middleton’s A Mad World, My Masters (1605), women are not noble
debaters and victims of circumstance; they are tricksters, adulterers and whores. However
unpleasant these connotations are, in light of the play as a whole, women receive an
ambiguous, even favorable treatment. The male characters are liars, thieves, social-
climbers, pompous buffoons and religious hypocrites. Middleton does not single out
women; he caricatures a society where everyone, from the lowly to the most noble, is
play – she is even ‘rewarded’ with a marriage at the plays close (which doubles as a
punishment for Follywit). Now the Courtesan no-longer has to prostitute herself for a
dowry, having acquired a husband who will eventually be wealthy, once he has inherited
from Sir Bounteous Progress. The Courtesan’s mother acts as her daughter’s pimp;
paradoxically they sell her body, so that she may become ‘respectable’. Throughout the
play, the Courtesan tricks and outwits the other characters. She does, however, help
another woman, Mistress Harebrain, deceive her husband and conduct an affair with
Penitent Brothel. This play seems to suggest that many women did not accept the
prescribed gender roles, and engaged in adultery or pre-marital sex, and also that woman
‘played-up’ to these gender ideals, to ‘dupe’ men. The Courtesan plays upon these
constructions in public, where everyone believes her to be a chaste and virtuous lady, of a
reasonably high social standing. When her suitors, Inesse and Possibility visit to attempt
to woo her, the Courtesan’s mother urges them not to offend her daughter’s ‘delicate
sensibilities’;
…avoid all profane talk, wanton compliments, undecent phrases, and lascivious
(I, I, 178-181)
Penitent Brothel begins as an adulterer, but has a crisis of conscience in act IV,
scene I, after an encounter with a ‘succubus’, and is overcome with the same ‘fear of
women’ displayed by Angelo in Measure for Measure; ‘To dote on weakness, slime,
archetypal and comic) Puritan figure, who represents the real Puritans of London, who
issued continuous sermons about the wickedness of women in the streets outside the
theatre.
Another character, used for comic effect, but having resonance with the
audience, is Harebrain, a man who jealously seeks to keep his wife from men, in a
desperate attempt to prevent being cuckolded. \the only company he allows her to have is
that of Mistress Gullman. This method of retaining a pure bloodline (and reputation) by
effectively ‘locking-up’ wives was a popular one in conduct books and sermons;
But there are four reasons why the woman is to go abroad. First, to come to holy
need, as the duty of love and charity doth require. The third for employment and
provision in household affairs committed to her charge. And lastly, with her
In Ben Jonson’s Volpone (1606), similarly, we are shown a grotesque world where greed
and corruption govern all. The only innocent character in the play is Celia, who is a
prisoner to her jealous (yet avaricious) husband, Corvino. Shut in her bed chamber, she
(Volpone in disguise, hoping to seduce her). Celia is not strong-willed and articulate like
Isabella, nor is she cunning and savvy like the Courtesan. She has no real dimension as a
character, standing only as an archetypal ‘victim’ character, so pure and innocent that she
lacks any believability. This tells us that not only do women lack a voice of their own, on
the stage, or in any area of society, they are considered unworthy of a true, realistic voice
by many playwrights. Within the city comedy of Volpone, there is no implicit need for a
strong female character, or female characters at all. The female characters in Volpone
(Celia and Lady Would-Be) are only small sub-plots. Far from attacking Jonson with
contemporary quasi-feminist views, I merely wish to illustrate how the world of Volpone,
with its treasures and gold, set in the banking city, Venice,( as a portrayal of economic
and material concerns and gain) is so far removed from the modest, domestic sphere of
women, that the two barely meet, even in the fantasy of a dramatist’s mind. In a period
where women could not own or inherit property, or work, they are alienated against a
backdrop of immense economic growth and possibilities, and what could be seen as the
birth of Capitalism.
modern stance. But the behavior of her husband towards her, and towards Volpone’s
advances of her, is perhaps more shocking still. A comic figure, it nonetheless would
have resonance with an early modern audience, as a moral lesson about the correct
treatment of a wife. Even the conduct books were against the physical punishment of
wives; ‘Let there be none so grievous fault to compel you to beat your wives.’
Primary texts:
Jamieson, M (ed) (2004), Volpone and other plays. London: Penguin
Wells, S (ed) (1998), Measure for Measure. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Secondary Texts:
Coyle, M and Peck, J (2002), Literary Terms and Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan
Hartnoll, P (2001), The Theatre: A Concise History. London: Thames & Hudson
Hopkins, L (1998) The Shakespearean Marriage: Merry Wives and Heavy Husbands.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Zimmerman, S (ed) (1992), Erotic Politics: Desire on the Renaissance Stage. London:
Routledge