Performing widowhood on the early modern English stage / Asuka Kimura.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kimura, Asuka, author.

Series:

Late Tudor and Stuart Drama

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Self in literature.

English drama--17th century--History and criticism.

English drama.

Genre:

Critiques litteraires.

Literary criticism.

Literary criticism

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (300 pages)

Place of Publication:

Boston, Massachusetts : Medieval Institute Publications, [2022]

Biography/History:

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

Summary:

"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"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

Widows' costumes and accessories on the early modern stage

Lamentation and gestures of mourning in Tamburlaine the Great, Richard III, and King John

Staging the dead husband in Elizabethan tragedies and Jacobean satirical comedies

Actors and casting in The Duchess of Malfi and More Dissemblers Besides Women

"Shall I not be master of my own house?" : Widows as powerful mistresses in Caroline drama

Conclusion

Appendix: List of plays with widow characters, 1538-1642.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Kimura, Asuka Performing Widowhood on the Early Modern English Stage

ISBN:

9781501513893

OCLC:

1356005374