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From Virgins to Whores, Actresses and Portraits 1660-1737

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ABSTRACT Title: ‘I Should go near to say he lies with her, yet She’s a Maid.’ From Virgins to Whores, Actresses and Portraits 1660-1737 Heidi L Castle-Smith, Ph.D., 2008 Directed By: Dr. Heather Nathans, Department of Theatre During the early part of the eighteenth century, a number of single, wealthy independent actresses emerged who seemed to fascinate the public and who appeared to deliberately use and cultivate that fascination to foster their careers, be they risqué or virtuous. Theatre historians have numerous contemporary accounts and scholarly speculations about the meaning of women’s bodies in the public marketplace of the theatre such as Samuel Pepys’s diaries, as well as the theatrical prologues and epilogues of the Restoration, which describe the fluid boundaries between on- and off-stage worlds, in the pursuit and conquest of female virtue, with portraits “painting” an ideal picture of the women. This dissertation uses another tool to understand their visual impact on the social marketplace and their own ability to manipulate their images through the study of their representation in portraiture. While live performance is fluid and thus difficult to analyze in any concrete way, portraiture offers a fixed point of reference. Unlike a written text, portraiture also captures the embodied qualities of the performer for the spectator. An exploration of these women’s portraits – portraits often presenting the actresses in characters they performed onstage – may provide clues to the created identity these actresses were presenting to the public. By shifting focus from the dramas to portraiture and painting where actresses play ‘star’ roles I hope to expand the discourse of Restoration theatre beyond the parameters of strictly literary terms, and to help illuminate and understand the visual presence of actresses and women during the Restoration period from 1660-1737. ‘I SHOULD GO NEAR TO SAY HE LIES WITH HER, YET SHE’S A MAID.’ FROM VIRGINS TO WHORES, ACTRESSES AND PORTRAITS, 1660 -1737 By Heidi L Castle-Smith Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2008 Advisory Committee: Dr. Heather Nathans, Chair Dr. John Fuegi Dr. Frank Hildy Dr. Tita Chico Professor Alcine J. Wiltz Dr. Erin Blake © Copyright by Heidi Lorraine Castle-Smith 2008 The thesis or dissertation document that follows has had referenced material removed in respect for the owner's copyright. A complete version of this document, which includes said referenced material, resides in the University of Maryland, College Park's library collection. Foreword I came to my dissertation with a strong background in the visual arts, having earned an MFA and worked professionally as both a set designer and scenic artist. I was drawn to this dissertation topic because it was dealing with images of the actress in portraits and paintings, yet as I have worked with the portraits and written on these women for the past two years, I have come to the realization that a traditional dissertation could not accomplish the goals I had outlined for the project. Thus, I proposed a re-envisioning of my dissertation in a project that would combine both the scholarly aspects of research existing in the preliminary rough draft already completed, in combination with a web based format that will allow the reader to more actively explore the portraits and information within the work. By creating an interactive form I was able to able to move the dissertation from a static text to an interactive web based format and enhance the project by giving the reader more interaction with the portraits of the period and being accessible as a teaching tool to help illuminate and understand the visual presence of actresses and women during the Restoration period from 1660-1737. I suggest that using a web based format for my dissertation, I can create a format in which these portraits can be placed in juxtaposition, compared and discussed in a much more interactive way than in a traditional dissertation. Through the use of cascading textboxes I will be able to move the reader over the portraits, focusing their attention on certain points. The reader will be able to walk through the points of focus so that the reader is not just looking at portraits on the page but interacting with the portraits to understand them more fully. The cascading text ii boxes are designed to appear when the reader rolls the cursor over the portrait, supplying text that corresponds to different aspects of the portrait. Thus, through these text boxes the reader gains additional information about details in the portraits that will be able to deepen the reader’s knowledge of the social context and fashion of the period. By linking the pictures and text together, the reader will be able to gain a larger, in depth analysis of the fashion, context and the development incorporated in the creation of the paintings. Further, this dissertation is not designed to be read in the traditional manner. Traditional paper dissertations are written so that the reader follows the dissertation section by section, chapter by chapter. This dissertation is created so that the reader can self direct themselves through the website following a series of different topics that are interconnected, but not sequential in the traditional manner. The subtopics will focus on areas of information, but not direct the reader through the entire dissertation. The reader can still follow the sequential path within the dissertation, but it does not allow for the exploration in the website that was intended. I have met with several members of MITH on campus in order to discuss the possibilities of producing a web based dissertation, as well as any standards that I may need to be aware, in order to be better able to understand the wide range of possibilities and technology that it is available. When I first proposed my project one format suggested for consideration to me was the Wiki, as they are easily created and changed. Yet, the technology is limited, and I felt in this format I still would be unable to create the type of interaction with the reader and portraits I sought. Thus I have decided to use a traditional html coded website for my dissertation using some iii CSS coding and javascript for various aspects, which will lend itself better to my project than a more basic format such as the Wiki. I debated on coding everything myself as a purist would do, but decided to construct my dissertation in Dreamweaver, because Dreamweaver, as the basic platform for the programming, will allow me to load in the information quickly and more efficiently, so that I can concentrate on the organization and research work. Although a large undertaking, having never worked in code on this scale, I felt that it was essential in creating my dissertation. With this new structure, the dissertation explores the complexity of the portraits not only in a written text but in a more complex interactive form that makes the visual analysis more accessible as a teaching tool to understand the Restoration actress and female Restoration portraits for a larger academic audience. iv Dedication For my children Alexander and Gabrielle so they will know they can do anything they set their minds too, and my Mother for all her support and help when I thought I would never be done. v Acknowledgements There are many people I need to thank and acknowledge for help in this process. The first is my wonderful committee for remaining with this project as it changed and evolved, especially Dr. Heather Nathans, for her continued patients and support. Dr. Marcy Marinelli, who always had a sympathetic ear, sturdy shoulders to lean on and an endless supply of editing skills that made me feel that this would someday be finished. To my department dissertation group including Margaret Coyle who helped and supported so much at the start of this process. To my colleagues and friends Carrie Cole and Valerie Joyce without whose talks, laughter and support this would have been a much grimmer process. And finally, to my family I owe endless gratitude. My Aunt, Linda Deitrich, who read endless drafts and cheerfully edited them, always sending me encouragement. To my children and husband David for their tireless patience with my “give me one more minute to finish this up, I promise I am coming!” And finally to my parents Sharon and Terry Castle for their bottomless amounts of support and encouragement always telling me I will finish, and without whose babysitting this would have been almost impossible to accomplish. vi Table of Contents Foreword ...................................................................................................................ii Dedication ................................................................................................................. v Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. vi Table of Contents .................................................................................................... vii List of Illustrations .................................................................................................viii Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Research Question: Setting the Stage ..................................................................... 1 Previous
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