E. C.'s Tragedy or Triumph? Valerie L. Guyant Thesis Master of Science in Teaching English Spring 2002 <2,'rC._ ])e sl{ PA ;;;, 'i 9 9 .F3 z. 58 Elizabeth, Lady Falkland, by T. Athow from a painting by Paul Van Somer. Sutherland Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. ii Table of Contents Introduction - The Renaissance for Women --------1 The Author-------------------- 3 The History of Mariam ________________15 The Argument___________________ 22 Josephus versus Cary________________ 27 The Chorus-------------------- 43 First Choral Speech ____________51 Second Choral Speech 58 Third Choral Speech 62 Fourth Choral Speech 68 Fifth Choral Speech 75 The Characters------------------ 78 The Men 85 Pheroras 85 Constabarus 89 Silleus 95 Herod 97 The Women 103 Graphina 105 Alexandra & Doris 108 Salome 112 Mariam 119 Conclusion --------------------128 Works Cited 136 Works Consulted 144 iii Imaginative work is not dropped like a pebble upon the ground, [ ...] fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners [ .. .] But when the web is pulled askew, hooked up at the edge, torn in the middle, one remembers that these webs are not spun in midair by incorporeal creatures, but are the work of suffering, human beings. (Woolf 71-72) The Renaissance for Women When Virginia Woolf first discussed her vision of "Shakespeare's sister," Judith, in A Room of One's Own, it seemed to be very nearly accurate. Judith was a woman who would have had the same creativity and ambition as her brother William but lacked the support of her family or the public. Where William Shakespeare had the freedom to spend years perfecting his craft, his theoretical sister was forced to run away from home rather than suffer an arranged marriage. Frustrated by her inability to find a creative outlet, she eventually killed herself (Woolf 81-84 ). Although gruesome in its extravagant representation of the barriers that women faced, this image, as presented by Woolf, was believed to be true for a great length of time. After all, at that point, literary historians - 1 knew that only men were allowed to act in a theatrical production during the English Renaissance. Certainly, during Virginia Woolf's time, everyone assumed that women were taught to be "chaste, obedient, and silent" but were rarely taught to read or write and would never have been involved in anything as potentially damaging to their reputations as writing a play. The concept of a female playwright of any kind was unfathomable, the possibility of a female author of any talent incomprehensible. As Virginia Woolf stated, Some of the most inspired words, some of the most profound thoughts in literature, fall from her lips; in real life, she could hardly read, could scarcely spell, and was the property of her husband [ ...] [l]t would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare [ ...] [A]ny woman born with a great gift in the sixteenth century would certainly have gone crazed, shot herself, or ended her days in some lonely cottage outside the village, half witch, half wizard, feared and mocked at. (Woolf 75, 80, 85) Luckily, the study of literature is far from stagnant. Over the last several decades, there has been considerable evidence unearthed that women were not only occasional actors during the Renaissance, several were also well known patrons of the arts and known to support the works - 2 of their favored playwrights. Even more important, it has been discovered that women authored a number of works that were well known during the Renaissance and buried thereafter. Among the authors were Elizabeth I, Mary Sidney, Mary Wroth, Elizabeth Brackley, Jane Cavendish, and Elizabeth Cary. Granted, as S. P. Cerasano points out in the introduction to Renaissance Drama by Women, there is no evidence that any of the plays written by these women were ever produced. It is believed that they were written in a form now referred to as "closet drama", meant to be enjoyed read aloud, usually in front of a small audience consisting of a private circle of friends. This closet drama was "a literary form which simultaneously liberated and policed their voices; they balanced their works precariously between their private and public roles, and between silence and self-expression" (3). Of these authors, perhaps the one that did the least well at balancing her life was Elizabeth Cary. She is the first known English female playwright to write an original work, rather than a translation. The Tragedy of Mariam was also the first tragedy, and the first published fictional work, in English by a female. The Author Elizabeth Cary was born Elizabeth Tanfield in either 1585 or 1586 in Oxfordshire at the Priory of Burford. She was the only child of Sir Lawrence, a lawyer, and Lady Elizabeth (Symondes) Tanfield. Little is - 3 known about her early life. Most anecdotal evidence of her life is gleaned 1 from the pages of The Lady Falkland: Her Life , a rather detailed biography that was written by one of her daughters. Although there is no conclusive evidence as to the identity of this author, most scholars believe it to be Anne Cary, later the Dame Clementia Cary, Mother Foundress of the Our Lady of Good Hope English Benedictine house in Paris (Holloway 15)2. As evidenced by the comments in The Lady Falkland: Her Life, Elizabeth appears to have had a rather strict upbringing, especially as regards her interactions with her mother, and seemed to immerse herself in her studies. Her abilities as a linguist were phenomenal; she taught herself French, Hebrew, Spanish, Latin and Transylvanian in order that she might read, as well as translate, works in those languages. Her mother attempted to contain her voracious appetite for learning by forbidding her the use of candles in her room at night. Rather than bend to the will of her mother, she bribed the servants to bring her candles at "half a crown apiece" (Life 188) so that she might continue to study. In fact, her desire for learning was such that she was in debt to the servants "a hundred pound afore she was twelve year old, which with two hundred more for the like bargains and promises she paid on her wedding day" (Life 188). She appears to have been a rather precocious child with a good sense of logical reasoning, as shown by the following incident described in - 4 The Life: Being once present when she was ten year old, when a poor old woman was brought before her father for a witch, and, being accused for having bewitched two or 3 to death [ ...] her father asked the woman what she said for herself? She falling down before him trembling and weeping confessed all to be true [ ...] One of her accusers [said] "Did you not send your familiar [ ...] and he presently came home sick and languished away?" She, quaking, begging pardon acknowledged all, and the same of each particular [ . .] but the child [Elizabeth], seeing the poor woman in so terrible a fear, and in so simple a manner confess all, thought fear had made her idle, so she whispered her father and desired him to ask her whether she had bewitched to death Mr John Symondes of such a place (her uncle that was one of the standers-by). He did so, to which she said yes, just as she had done to the rest [ ...] then [all the company laughing] he asked her what she ailed to say so? told her the man was alive and stood there [ ...] Then he examined her what she meant to confess all this, if it were false? She answered they had threatened her if she would not confess, and said, if she would, she should have mercy showed her - which she said with such simplicity that (the - 5 witness brought against her being of little force, and her own confession appearing now to be of less) she was easily believed innocent, and [ac]quitted. (186-7) Although this anecdote was included in The Life specifically to enforce the image of Elizabeth Cary as an intelligent child, there is more conveyed about her personality in this one incident than mere intellect. Despite the fact that she was only a child, Elizabeth may have recognized the fact that none of the men at her father's judicial proceeding would defend this frightened female. The fact that Elizabeth found a way to help the accused and undertook to do so spotlights her compassion for a woman in crisis who is unable to articulate her own defense, a theme that is important to The Tragedy of Mariam. In addition, this example illuminates the fact that her father was interested in her opinions and quite likely, despite her mother's disapproval, gave his support to her educational efforts in the limited ways that the existing social structure allowed. Even at such a young age, Elizabeth appears to have understood that, although her father might listen to her suggestions, she must be as circumspect as possible. Therefore, it is important to note that her intervention in this matter was whispered to her father in a social setting. As Karen Raber points out: Cary's inaudible transmission, channeled privately between father and daughter, girl and judge, is compatible with cultural proscriptions of women's speech. Yet here, - 6 domestic counsel, instead of being erased or contained, intervenes to salvage the tyranny potential in this legal judgment. It is successful precisely because it creates a private space within the public world of the court. If Cary's words were overheard, her trick would not work.