Female Identity in Renaissance Literature : Queen Elizabeth I and Literary Representations of Women in Power in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Literature

ISBN-13: 9783639118650 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 64 str.

Grace Windsor

Opis

Queen Elizabeth I ascended to the throne in 1558 andruled until her death in 1603, presiding over the Golden Age of England. The appearance of a femaleruler in a patriarchal society precipitated are-imagining of female rule, both in political theoryand on the stage. Investigating a range ofRenaissance drama and poetry as well as the writingsof the queen herself, this book examines the impactof Queen Elizabeth I upon representations of Women inPower in Early Modern Literature. Chapter One is astudy of the hitherto neglected poetry of QueenElizabeth I. The themes of female desire, masculineidentity and political power are examined inChristopher Marlowe s Dido, Queen of Carthage (1594)and John Webster s The Duchess of Malfi (1613) inChapter Two.The book concludes with an investigationinto literary representations of cross-dressing inWilliam Shakespeare, Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenserin Chapter Three. This study will benefit a readerinterested generally in Renaissance literature and inissues of gender, female identity and politics morespecifically.

O autorze

Grace Windsor is currently undertaking doctoral research on the
representation of the bodies of Saints, Lepers and Prostitutes in
late Medieval Literature at the National University of Ireland,
Galway. The project is supervised by Dr.Catherine La Farge and is
funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and
Social Sciences.