Performing Widowhood on the Early Modern English Stage

Asuka Kimura

Published by Medieval Institute Publications 2023

Performing Widowhood on the Early Modern English Stage

Asuka Kimura

In the series Late Tudor and Stuart Drama

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501513893

Overview
Contents

About this book

The deaths of husbands radically changed women’s lives in the early modern period. While losing male protection, widows acquired rare opportunities for social and economic independence. Placed between death and life, female submissiveness and male audacity, chastity and sexual awareness, or tragedy and comedy, widows were highly problematic in early modern patriarchal society. They were also popular figures in the theatre, arousing both male desire and anxiety. Now how did Shakespeare and his contemporaries represent them on the stage? What kind of costume, props, and gestures were employed? What influence did actors, spectators, and play-space have? This book offers a fresh and incisive examination of the theatrical representation of widows by discussing the material conditions of the early modern stage. It is also the only comprehensive study of this topic covering all three phases of Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline drama.

Author information

Dr. Asuka Kimura received her PhD in English Language and Literature from UCL in 2016. She is an assistant professor at Chuo University, Japan.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
A Note on the Text Publicly Available Download PDF	XIII
List of Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	XV
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1 Widows’ Costumes and Accessories on the Early Modern Stage Publicly Available Download PDF	15
Chapter 2 Lamentation and Gestures of Mourning in Tamburlaine the Great, Richard III, and King John Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Chapter 3 Staging the Dead Husband in Elizabethan Tragedies and Jacobean Satirical Comedies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Chapter 4 Actors and Casting in The Duchess of Malfi and More Dissemblers Besides Women Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
Chapter 5 “Shall I not be master of my own house?”: Widows as Powerful Mistresses in Caroline Drama Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	238
Appendix: List of Plays with Widow Characters, 1538–1642 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	242
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Medieval Institute Publications
Audience: Medievalists, scholars of Literary Studies and Theatre Studies
Pages
- Front matter: 16
- Main content: 284
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 7
- Coloured Illustrations: 29
- Tables: 1
Keywords: Early modern; Women; Gender; Performance; Material culture

eBook

Published: January 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781501513893

Hardcover

Published: January 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781501520204