In reading ‘Tis Pity, I found Ford’s use of the word ‘whore’ to describe Annabella interesting when put in comparison with the other characters in the play. It is the Cardinal, arguably the most corrupt character, who uses it, and when Annabella’s actions are put in comparison to the other male roles, Giovanni, the Cardinal, Soranzo, it almost seems that Ford is calling Annabella’s condemnation as a whore into question, since her transgressions seem entirely trivial compared to the male corruption rampant in the play.

Traub notes, “critics have also demonstrated Phillips’s indebtedness to a discourse of male amicitia, to the genre of pastoral, and to the conventions of heterosexual love poetry, particularly the metaphysical conceits of John Donne” (248-49). I read Phillips’s poems before Traub’s essay, and immediately noticed her adherence to the ideas of John Donne’s “The Ecstasy.” She speaks of “our twin souls in one shall grow” (49) and “That if each would resume their own…That each is in the union lost” (15, 18). While Traub claims that Phillips’s poetry exhibits chaste female-female friendship, I would question that claim given the similarities to Donne’s philosophical ideas and alternative lens of sexual climax.

I noticed that I had left this saved as a draft from last week, so here is my reply to Natalie’s post on misogyny in Elizabethan England.

I certainly felt a little uncomfortable about the disregard of consent in “Hero and Leander,” but I also wondered how much of that is depicting a lack of consent or continuing the theme of women as the seductresses ruining a man’s virtue. Like we’ve seen with the Sirens in The Odyssey or Duessa in The Faerie Queene, women seem to be nothing more than tempting objects meant to thwart the stories’ heroes, making their own feelings and identities, unfortunately, nonexistent.

Emily raised a question in class yesterday about whether the variety in Donne’s poems could be looked at from an autobiographical point of view, with the content reflecting his own experiences, feelings, and opinions over time. Donne’s marriage to Anne More was forbidden by her father, and resulted in both being disowned. “The Flea” describes a an affair in which a pregnancy comes before marriage, “A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead…And pampered swells with one blood made of two” in the first stanza and “This flea is you and I, and this our marriage bed” in the second. Because Donne mentions a lack of parental approval of their marriage, reflecting his own life experience, it brings into question the additional use of autobiographical experience in the first semester. Like Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, who got married while she was already pregnant, it would be interesting to see if any evidence of this exists with Donne’s marriage, since their recluse during their marriage may have allowed for this type of secret.

Emma’s post raises the question of how Sir Toby and Maria’s coupling makes sense when other couplings necessitate an equal social status. I wonder how much of that has to do with Sir Toby’s gender, that perhaps marrying below one’s status as a woman is more problematic due to her limited agency in society. Especially for Olivia, who as a result of her father and brother’s death must fulfill both her role as a daughter and as the sole ruler of her family’s fortunes, marrying below her status would be especially problematic. Furthermore, because Sir Toby has relatively little power in the family’s fortunes, especially after Olivia marries, his actions could possibly be under far less scrutiny and therefore his marriage to Maria is less controversial.

Having played Viola before, I’ve really enjoyed looking at her language when she is playing Cesario. For example, in 1.5, she says to Olivia, “No, my profound heart; and yet — by the very fangs of malice I swear — I am not that I play”(1.5.175-76), and when asked about Cesario’s parentage, she responds, “Above my fortunes, yet my state is well. / I am a gentleman” (1.5.266-67). As in both of these cases, while she is playing Cesario, she never fully lies about her identity. With “I am a gentleman,” one could say the word gentleman by using ‘gentle’ as an adjective, stating she is a ‘gentle man,’ which can be interpreted as a way of her distinguishing herself from the male sex and subtly hinting at her own by using an adjective traditionally associated with women.

I’ve also been paying attention to Spenser’s portrayal of women, and find the Bechdel test an interesting cultural barometer, but not always necessarily a good indication of the role women play in narratives. For example, Spenser continues to praise Queen Elizabeth and establish connections between her and valiant and powerful heroes in Faerie Queene. While these instances are not considered under the Bechdel test, the books elevate her stature and position in history.