Social Convention and Performance Choices""*
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I >epartment of f lumanities I»MIV !•" H *i rr\ <>K The Shakespeare Institute ,\ J « % f i"v?-11 A \ i The University of Birmingham K f KM J 'N Cl li A Vl January 2006 Social Convention and Performance Choices""* in Three Interpretations of Lady Macbeth: Sarah Siddons( 1755-1832), Helen Faucit (1814-1898), and Ellen Terry (1847-1928). By Alexandra Helene Noble A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham For the degree of Master of Philosophy Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's greatest female roles but she sits uneasily within the patriarchal society of late eighteenth and nineteenth century Britain. In this thesis I explore the ways in which she was made fit for audiences through the interpretations of three leading actresses of the period; Sarah Siddons, Helen Faucit and Ellen Terry. In particular in the first chapter, but throughout the thesis 1 discuss the textual history of the play and the ways in which the alterations changed the balance between Lady Macbeth and her husband. I consider the place of the actress in society and the effect this might have had upon her realization of a character, in particular Lady Macbeth. I show through debates in parliament, articles in newspapers and journals and in the literature of the period, the prevailing patriarchal nature of society but also the challenges to it. From contemporary accounts and the words of Sarah Siddons, Helen Faucit and Ellen Terry, I reconstruct their performances within that society. Theatre is part of its society: this thesis shows the interaction between the ideas of late eighteenth and nineteenth-century society and the realization of one of Shakespeare's major characters. University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Contents. List of Illustrations Chapter 1: Introduction 1-8 Chapter 2: The Text and the Actress 9-27 Chapter 3: Sarah Siddons 28-55 Chapter 4 Helen Faucit 56-83 Chapter 5 Ellen Terry 84-112 Chapter 6 Conclusion 113-120 Bibliography 121-132 List of Illustrations. 1. Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse by Sir Joshua Reynolds Facing page 4 The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. 2. Ellen Terry Choosing by George Frederick Watts Facing page 4 Tate Britain, London. 3. Hannah Pritchard and David Garrick in the dagger scene by Henry Fuseli Facing page 13 Zurich Kunsthaus. 4. Melpomene (Sarah Siddons) by James Gillray Facing page 22 The British Museum, London. 5. Sarah Siddons by Thomas Gainsborough Facing page 22 The National Gallery, London. 6. Two patriotic Duchesses on Their Canvass by Thomas Rowlandson Facing page 29 The British Museum, London. 7. The Tipling Duchess Returning from Canvassing by Aitken Facing page 29 The British Museum, London. 8. The Lubber's Hole, alias the Crack'd Jordan by James Gillray Facing page 33 The British Museum, London. 9. Sarah Siddons as Lady Macbeth in the sleepwalking scene Facing page 49 by George Henry Harlow, The Garrick Club, London. 10. Sarah Siddons as Lady Macbeth (letter scene) by George Henry Harlow Facing page 50 Greenville, S. C., Bob Jones University Collection. 11. Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble in "Macbeth' Facing page 53 by Thomas Beach, The Garrick Club, London. 12. Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth by John Singer Sargent Facing page 101 Tate Britain, London. 13. Donna Quixote (Punch 28 April 1894). Facing page 110 Chapter 1. Introduction. Lady Macbeth is no longer only a character in a play by Shakespeare, written five hundred years ago; she has escaped from her text and become a type, a shorthand way to express a number of characteristics which many in society see as unfeminine and dangerous. Thus, in an article in The Times, Martin Fletcher comments on the character and relationship between Hillary Clinton and her husband by referring to 'comparisons between her and Shakespeare's ruthlessly ambitious wife of a weaker husband' (11 June 1993). John Bercow, a Conservative politician, discussing Cherie Blair, uses a reference to Lady Macbeth to express a number of unspoken but, he assumes, commonly held views: 'The people in Britain will not put up with anyone who thinks they can be an unaccountable cross between The First Lady and Lady Macbeth' (The Times 8 August 2000). Writing at the end of the twentieth century, the journalist Amanda Craig asks 'Why don't we admire women in the public eye who show themselves to be bloody, bold and resolute - albeit married to blithering idiots?' (Sunday Times 29 December 1999). The answer to this may be part of the answer to the question which this thesis seeks to address, namely 'Does the portrayal of Lady Macbeth reflect the society within which the production takes place?'. I have had to limit the extent of the period to just over a century, from Mrs. Siddons' first attempt at the part of Lady Macbeth in 1785 to Ellen Terry's performance at the end of 1888. Although the length of the period is dictated by the word limit of the thesis, it is also arguably a discrete period, in which the concept of the individual within society was being discussed more vigorously than ever before and, contained within that discussion, was the question of the nature and place of women. Similarly the word limit has made it necessary to consider only three of the foremost actresses of their time: Sarah Siddons, Helen Faucit and Ellen Terry. All three played Lady Macbeth, giving interpretations which were widely discussed and controversial. Each actress became identified in the public's mind with the character of Lady Macbeth, a link which they did not always find comfortable as they attempted to retain their respectability at a time when an actress was often seen as little more than a prostitute. All three actresses confront their conception of the part either directly through their own writings or indirectly through the work of those to whom they gave permission to speak for them: that view is the product not just of their reading of a seventeenth-century text but the result of their experience as women within their society. All three were connected through their portrait of Lady Macbeth. Faucit and Terry had read Siddons' comments on the part and the reports of those who had seen her play the role. Both later actresses tried to rationalise the contradiction in the conceptions of the part and both preferred Siddons' 'fair... feminine' reading of the character, one which she never realised on stage. Their preference for the more feminine Lady Macbeth is reflected in their interpretation of the part and arguably in keeping with their society. The last of the three, Terry was able to study the interpretations of both her predecessors, through their writings and through eye witness accounts of their performances. It is possible, but unlikely, that Faucit saw Terry's performance. By 1888 she was living for a great part of the time in Wales and there is no mention of it in the biography written by her husband, Sir Theodore Martin. However, as I shall discuss later, that biography was selective and it seems likely that, as an actress with a great love and interest for Shakespeare, she would have been aware of a performance that attracted so much publicity. I will argue that in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, British society, which was strongly patriarchal, set the parameters within which the part could be successfully played and within that argument lies the answer to Craig's question. Late eighteenth and nineteenth century society did not like its women to be 'bloody, bold and resolute'. It had certain ideas of the nature of men and women and their role within society and did not approve of those who sought to challenge them. The thesis will illustrate these views through the writings of the period. Thus in the late eighteenth century it will concentrate on the conduct books which were popular at the time and set out to give girls advice, help and directions as to what was expected of them. As the century progressed and these expectations became more pronounced, men and women began to question them and investigate the possibilities of a less restrictive society. I will draw upon the history of the feminist movement of the period, from the publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792 to the founding of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1887 and the more militant Women's Social and Political Union in 1903. Contemporary newspapers and journals, both in their reviews of the various productions of the play, but also in their assumptions regarding the roles of men and women in society, give some indication of the environment in which the play was being staged. Political discussion in the press and Parliamentary debates reported in Hansard, particularly over the Married Woman's Property Acts and the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act, are other indicators of the social climate within which the actresses constructed their Lady Macbeths. Literature, both prose and poetry, also reflects its society. By the middle of the century the novel had become a highly successful literary form and examples will be offered from both Charles Dickens and the more sensational novels of the period which reflect the role that society expected its women to play and the disquiet felt by some at this rigid positioning.