The Roaring Girl - Part Two

I found this play absolutely delightful. I know I've already posted on the first part of the play, but the last half of the play is so interesting that I deemed it worthy of more discussion.
By the time the reader is half way through the play it's obvious that the main character Moll is meant to have stronger morals than any of the other characters. While she obviously crosses the line when it comes to the gender roles of the period, she doesn't cross any moral boundaries within the play. Unlike some of the other characters in the play, she doesn't lie or cheat. She also proves the true strength of her character when she maintains her morals even in the face of temptation. She simply does not waver.
The really interesting thing about Moll is that she is determined to do good by other people. She comes off looking like some type of early modern superhero, defending her friends from pickpockets, defending the honor of women, and helping Sir Alexander to see the error of his ways. All of this is quite comical because it is set against a plot full of characters who are weaving massive webs of deceit and who stay extremely busy plotting against one another and covering up their lies. Moll remains untouched by all of this deception though and even has time to leave the reader with a few moral lessons. The fact that she appears dressed as a woman in the final scene of the play might have even allowed the early modern audience to experience some relief, but I honestly don't think that she has any intentions of changing. She may appear to have changed in this final scene, but her thoughts are those of a modern day feminist. She makes it clear that she may never marry and that she may never change to suit those who find her so monstrous. Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker really won me over with the creation of such a character.

"Deeds against Nature and monsters by kinde"

This pamphlet by an anonymous author depicts yet another murderous mother. This woman's name is Marth Scambler, and she, unlike many of the other women I've read about, actually admits to killing her infant son. Another difference between this woman and many of the others that I've read about is that she was examined prior to her confession and conviction. The only other narrative of murderous women that mentions an examination is "Newes from the Dead", and even in this pamphlet the examination takes place only after the convicted woman has survived her execution. Although the convicted woman in this case admits her crime, and one can easily see how the crime might be considered detestable, the language of the literature demonizes her as if she isn't human. Within this pamphlet she is referred to as lascivious and monstrous, while her crime is described as heinous and unnatural. The author states that she is "another Caterpillar of nature, a creature more savage than a shee woolfe, more unnaturall than either bird or beast, for every creature hath a tender feeling of love to their young, except some few murtherous-minded strumpets" (4). The author then goes on to describe the crime, relating that she gave birth to a son, and then in order to hide the shame of having become pregnant out of wedlock, she "threw it downe unto a lothsome privy house, therein to give it an undecent grave" (4). The thing that I find interesting about all of these pamphlets is that these women are left with little choice. They have two options. They can keep their children and become outcasts with reputations for being whores, harlots, and indecent women; or they can murder their child and take the chance of avoiding any consequences. The reality within this society is that women are forced into a position which leaves them feeling as if they have no other option.

cited from:
Deeds against Nature and monsters by kinde
Anon
EEBO (Early English Books Online)

Edward II - Second Half

While I have to admit that I expected Edward to die, I must also state that I was completely unprepared for the nature of his death. Though the play does not go into details about the specific actions of his executioners, it is widely accepted that they sodomize him (in the modern sense) with the hot poker which they have prepared. Only a bed, a table, and the red hot spit are mentioned, but the men are told to "stamp" on the table, and it is mentioned that they do not want to bruise his body. Of course the play ends with Edward III restoring order and proving his ability to rule appropriately, as his father was unable to do. On this subject, I was able to find many similarities between the way Edward II was portrayed, and the way Shakespeare's King Lear was portrayed within that play. They are both portrayed as weak kings who were not capable of ruling the country. This can be added to the list of the numerous hints that exist within the play, that the King will die. The play does bear his name after all.

Edward II - First half

This play by Christoper Marlowe is quite telling of the stereotypes surrounding homosexual behavior, and also demonstrates, as always, the role of social order within this society. Although I find it disturbing that any stereotypes exist, I also find that there are lots of similarities between this piece of literature and others works from the period. As soon as Gaveston opens his mouth to speak in act one I begin to compare him to Iago, from Shakespeare's Othello. Although he isn't as conspiring or as evil, he seems to be plotting something from the beginning. My favorite lines from the entire first half of the play are within the first act. When Gaveston says:

Sometime a lovely boy in Dian's shape,
With hair that gilds the water as it glides,
Crownets of pearl about his naked arms,
And in his sportful hands an olive tree
To hide those parts which men delight to see,
Shall bathe him in a spring, and there hard by
One like Actaeon peeping through the grove
Shall by the angry goddess be transformed,
And running in the likeness of a hart
By yelping hounds pulled down and seem to die.

I must admit that the beautiful use of language is what really attracts me to this particular speech, but the homosexual implications within the description of the "lovely boy" whose parts "men delight to see", cannot be ignored. Neither can the implication that Edward, like Actaeon, will very likely be torn apart by his own hounds should anyone find him out. This implication made by Gaveston seems to hint toward a calculating conspiracy. I have to admit that after reading the first half of this play, I was extremely interested to see how it would proceed.

Finding out more about average women in Early Modern England

I've discovered an interesting book entitled Attending to Women In Early Modern England which is edited by Betty Travitsky and Adele Seeff. This book contains a section written by Susan Dwyer Amussen that gives insight into how modern historians and all other interested parties are able to determine the truth about the lives of women in the early modern period. The title is "Elizabeth I and Alice Balstone: Gender, Class, and the Exceptional Woman in Early Modern England." Within this discourse Amussen makes the point that all that we know about women from this period is either what they have written or what was written about them. This of course leaves us with only the stories of the literate aristocratic women, and the court documents regarding the lower class, poor women. We have little evidence of the daily life of the average woman in Early Modern England. Amussen also states that while Elizabeth I could clearly not represent the average woman, neither can the poor, vagrant Alice Balstone. Both of these women were exceptions to the average. She states that in order to determine the life of average women we must focus on "implicit and explicit norms" within the narratives of the period (227). She states that "All our evidence about the past reflects someone's attempt to tell a story, so we must pay attention to narrative strategies" (230). This is of course what we are doing in class. We are focusing on 'the monstrous' in the literature of the period so that we are better able to recognize the normal. We are able to tell from the language used within these narratives what aspects of certain crimes made them appear monstrous to the people within Early Modern England.

cited from:
Amussen, Susan Dwyer. “Elizabeth I and Alice Balstone: Gender, Class, and the Exceptional
Woman in Early Modern England.” Attending to Women in Early Modern England.
Ed. Betty S. Travitsky and Adele F. Seef. Newark, NJ: U of Delaware P., 1994.

Infanticide and "A Pittilesse Mother"

This image is an image of a murderous mother from the title page of the pamphlet "A Pittilesse Mother". Within this image the mother is holding a rope around the neck of her child, while the devil aides in the action. Her other child is already dead at the foot of the bed and the devil seems to be offering ropes to the mother who actually strangles her child using her stocking. The mother, Margaret Vincent "resolved the ruin of her own children" when she allowed the Roman Catholic faith overtake her (181). Her conversion to Catholicism is marked as "the first entrance into her life's overthrow" and it is also stated that the reader should consider "how strangely the Devil here set his foot and what cunning instruments he used in his assailments" (180). This text also cites the reason for this heinous crime as an effort on the mother's part to save her children's souls from the sin and darkness of a Protestant upbringing brought about by her husband. Of course the literature of the period would seek to demonstrate what happens to those who do not follow the Protestant religion devoutly, or who move toward Catholicism which is also demonized within the pamphlet literature of the period, as demonstrated in an early posting. This pamphlet does not demonize the monstrous mother as much as other pamphlets from the period do, and this could easily be attributed to that fact that the author is too busy demonizing the Catholic religion, to pass judgment on the woman.

The Roaring Girl

The Roaring Girl by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker, is quite an interesting piece of literature. The play portrays Moll Cutpurse, the main character, as a "roaring girl", who dresses in men's clothing and goes about doing all the things that women of the period should not do. She smokes like a man, remains independent, and goes to all the places which are generally taboo for early modern women. I really like this play. The authors portray the character Moll, who is loosely based on a real woman named Mary Frith, as a woman who demonstrates stronger morals and more decent behavior than any of the other characters within the play, which is completely unexpected after everything we've read so far. Most of the characters and the title are ironically or sarcastically named, which I find absolutely delightful. I would really like to learn a bit more about Miss. Cutpurse, and the play in general. I may do some research on this subject as well as infanticide. Speaking of infanticide, I have a lot to write about that as soon as I find time.

Mervin Lord Audley

Having just read "The Arraignment and Conviction of Mervin Lord Audley", I am quite unsure of exactly what to say, except that even people within today's society would be uncomfortable if this were reported on the news tomorrow night. Of course who knows how much of this is gossip, considering that hearsay was such a common form of evidence used in early modern trials. Also Lord Audley denied most of the charges against him, and accused those who testified against him of plotting to inherit his wealth. The crimes are described as being so heinous, that they would be fit to appear on a special episode of Law and Order SVU, and I doubt that even their writers would be so creative. On a more serious note, the literature makes it apparent that Audley's greatest transgression is that of using men's bodies as if they were women's, which was an extremely serious transgression at the time. The term buggery appears quite often, but sodomy is used most often, because it is used to refer to any sexual interaction that isn't procreational in nature, regardless of gender. The thing that I find most interesting is that all of the other men within the trial are treated as victims, because Audley was their master, even though they took part in some of the crimes, such as the rape of Audley's wife. Another interesting detail is that the judge makes the statement "a whore may be ravished, and it is a felony to doe it." This is quite contradictory to anything I have ever read about the period. I can only assume that this statement is true as long as there are witnesses who see the 'whore' being 'ravished' and report it to the court. Otherwise there would certainly be more evidence of this fact within documents of the period, other than a judge simply stating it. Of course I suppose that I should mention that the woman in question was not a whore; she was actually of a higher class than Audley when they married. This of course constitutes that some action be taken, considering that he turned his house into something similar to a brothel and allowed all types of transgressions to take place there. Another of the most appalling of these events is that he allowed different classes to mix, which is absolutely unacceptable.
I hope that my sarcasm is evident rather than confusing, however, if it's not, there is little that I can do about it now. Just in case...I was being sarcastic throughout the latter half of this entry. I have no qualms at all with mixing of the classes, especially considering the fact that I'm poor and could only benefit from it.

Various Sources

While I have had no luck trying to upload the previously mentioned image, I have found numerous sources pertaining to infanticide in the literature of Early Modern England. Keith Bothello has written a very informative article that can be accessed through Project Muse, which is entitled "Maternal Memory and Murder in Early-Seventeenth-Century England". Written in 2008, this article discusses how the fears and common views of women during this period influenced the literature. It's an extremely interesting article that offers insight into why murderous mothers were demonized, and discussed using language that made them appear monstrous. Another source that is certainly worth mentioning is the book, Nature's Cruel Stepdames, by Susan C. Staub. This book not only offers insight into the literature of the period, it also offers readable versions of some of the street literature, or pamphlets from the period. It discusses the murderous mother, the murderous wife, and the murderous husband. It offers great insight into the mindset that influenced the writings of the period.
While this is only the tip of the iceberg, it's a great start. Meanwhile, I fully intend to get some images uploaded to this site.