Convents and Novices in Early Modern English Dramatic Works

Vanessa L. Rapatz

Published by Medieval Institute Publications 2020

Convents and Novices in Early Modern English Dramatic Works

In Medias Res

Vanessa L. Rapatz

In the series Late Tudor and Stuart Drama

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501513343

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Convents and Novices in Early Modern English Dramatic Works attends to the religious, social, and material changes in England during the century following the Reformation, specifically examining how the English came to terms with the meanings of convents and novices even after they disappeared from the physical and social landscape. In five chapters, it traces convents and novices across a range of dramatic texts that refuse easy generic classification: problem plays such as Shakespeare's Measure for Measure; Marlowe's comic tragedy The Jew of Malta; Margaret Cavendish's closet dramas The Convent of Pleasure and The Religious; Aphra Behn's Restoration comedy The Rover; and seventeenth-century dialogues that include both a Catholic treatise promoting women's entrance into European convents and a proto-pornographic exposé of such convents. Convents, novices, and problem plays emerge as parallel sites of ambiguity that reflect the social, political, and religious uncertainties England faced after the Reformation.

Author information

Vanessa L. Rapatz, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, USA.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction: How Do You Solve a Problem Like a Novice? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1: “Turn’d to a Nunnery”: Abigail’s Agency in The Jew of Malta Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
Chapter 2: Two Houses Both Alike: Walls and Women in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
Chapter 3: Romancing the Grate in Convent Dialogues Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
Chapter 4: Beyond the Grate: Repurposing Enclosure and Reforming Pleasure in Margaret Cavendish’s The Religious and The Convent of Pleasure Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Chapter 5: “What Think You of a Nunnery Wall?”: Lifelines in Aphra Behn’s The Rover Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Medieval Institute Publications
Audience: Medievalists, scholars of Literary Studies, Theater Studies and Theology
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 180
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 2
Keywords: Convents; Novices; William Shakespeare; Early Modern Drama

eBook

Published: March 23, 2020
ISBN: 9781501513343

Hardcover

Published: March 23, 2020
ISBN: 9781501517907