Anagnórisis. Revista de investigación teatral, nº. 16, diciembre de 2017 Págs. 54-79, ISSN: 2013-6986 www.anagnorisis.es Politics of Gender and National Identity in Susanna Centlivre’s Iberian Plays: A Defence of Whig Feminism Laura Martínez-García Universidad de Oviedo
[email protected] Key Words: Centlivre. Whig. Feminism. Gender politics. Abstract: This paper argues that Susanna Centlivre’s choice of setting in her Portuguese plays (Marplot in Lisbon or the Second Part of The BusyBody (1710), The Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret (1714) and A Wife Well Mananag’d (1715)) not only works as the only logical meeting point where the clash of three cultures (British, Spanish and Portuguese) can take place, but as a liminal space where the author can freely express her views on politics, gender relations and the situation of women in Britain, a liminoid stage where, through déplacement, gender ideologies, identities, discourses of truth and national stereotypes can be contested, reformulated and interrogated. Políticas de género e identidad nacional en las obras ‘Ibéricas’ de Susanna Centlivre: una defensa del feminismo Whig Palabras clave: Centlivre. Feminismo. Whig. Políticas de género. Resumen: Este ensayo sostiene que la elección de Lisboa como escenario de las obras ‘Portuguesas’ (Marplot in Lisbon or the Second Part of The BusyBody (1710), The Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret (1714) y A Wife Well Mananag’d (1715)) de Susanna Centlivre, no solo atiende a una necesidad lógica (Portugal sería el terreno neutral en el que Gran Bretaña,