Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama

ELIT 217

Question 2: Discuss the roles of women in Tamburlaine the Great, Part One and Volpone.
(Consider the female characters in two plays.)

In both, women take a short place in proportion to male characters as the plays are
centralized on men. Female characters are there in relation to men. They exist in the context
of marriage or as servants in the particular case of Tamburlaine the Great. Yet, there are
parallels also drawn between the wife and the servant in Volpone, in the manner of the wife
being a servant to her husband. This parallelism indicates the view of women in the 16th and
17th centuries that these plays were written and played that women were domesticated and
obedient by nature. The attribution to the females being chaste, submissive, virtuous is clear
in the plays. Zenocrate in Tamburlaine enters the play as a captive. But through the
persuasiveness of Tamburlaine, her view of Tamburlaine as ‘‘shepherd’’ changes to ‘‘noble
lord’’. This change happens fast as if she was ready to devote herself to him. Her captivity
already reflects obedience, and her quick change of attitude proves it furthermore. In Act 3,
Scene 3, another female character enters, Zabina, as the wife of the emperor Bajazeth. In this
particular scene, Zenocrate and Zabina identify with their husbands while quarreling. They
use their husband’s statuses to vilify each other. And the quarrel goes on between their
servants who also identify themselves with their masters. This is the parallelism of the
wife/the servant mentioned earlier. The relation between husband and wife resembles the one
between servant -or slave- and master. The power of the wife/the servant derives from the
husband/the master since the first ones do not own any power in the relation. This reflects the
hierarchical relation between men and women in the play. Besides the female characters, there
is another mention of women in Act 5, Scene 2 of Tamburlaine. The governor sends four
virgins (maidens) as an apology gift which puts women in the place of a commodity.
Additionally, mentioning virginity implies the quality of the gifts or the goods as untouched,
pure. Again, the view of women as something to be served as a commodity indicates
submissiveness and obedience. Female characters are there to exist for male ones. In Volpone,
the role of the female characters is almost the same. Like Tamburlaine, there are two female
characters. Celia as the wife of Corvino, and Lady Would-Be as the wife of Sir Politic Would-
Be. While existing as the wives, they also have their own qualities. But these qualities consist
of attributions of the patriarchal society. Celia is an innocent, chaste, and faithful/obedient
wife which Corvino uses these qualities to have more control over her and in his service.
These qualities, on the other hand, are seen as something precious to win over by Volpone.
Like, Celia is an asset or a part of a collection that gives the feeling of luxury that Volpone
fancies. Lady Would-Be is more educated, talkative, free, and socially ambitious. The male
characters in the play despise her qualities because they are opposed to the idealized qualities
of women, of Celia. This reflection matches the view of women in the 17th century. Also, as
in Tamburlaine, women are commodified and act as a servant of the husband. Corvino sells
Celia to Volpone as if she was his asset. The view of Volpone of Celia like an object that
must be added to the collection also commodifies her. He tries to win her over and afford her
through embellished words as if Celia would serve him in exchange for money and
compliments. The scene contains the idea of women that women are naturally obedient. And
just like in Tamburlaine, female characters exist through male characters.

In conclusion, these two plays involve little of women and only through in relation to men.
Female characters exist as tools to create the path for the male protagonist/characters and
emphasize the male furthermore. The role of women in these two plays is similar and also
reflects the role of women, in reality, given by the patriarchal society in the 17th century.