The woman's part
D Cuthbert
8 points * 2 hours per week * Second semester * Clayton
This subject invites students to consider the representation of women and the discourse on femininity in a range of dramatic texts from the first half of the seventeenth century in light of the position of women in seventeenth-century English society and the approaches offered by feminist literary criticism. The subject will raise a number of topics for discussion including (i) the range and significance of female character types (the shrew, the widow, the whore etc.); (ii) female sexuality; (iii) love, marriage, property; (iv) male attitudes to women, especially stage misogyny; (v) relations between the sexes (husbands and wives, fathers and daughters); (vi) intersections of gender, class and racial difference.
Assessment
Exercise (1500 words): 20% * Short essay (1500 words): 30% * Long essay (3000 words): 50% * Seminar participation
Prescribed texts
Middleton T Five plays Penguin
Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice Signet
Shakespeare Antony and Cleopatra Signet
Shakespeare Othello Signet
Shakespeare As You Like It Signet
Shakespeare The Winter's Tale Signet
Webster J Three plays Penguin
Recommended texts
McLuskie K Renaissance dramatists Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989