Feminism and Imperialism on the High Seas William W

English Bess, English Pirates, English Drama: Feminism and Imperialism on the High Seas William W. E. Slights and Shelley Woloshyn Early in Measure for Measure Shakespeare's Lucio tells the story of the "sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the Ten Commandments, but scrap'd one out of the table" (1.2.7-12).\ Such truncations of the law were common among those who went to sea in early modern times, whether murderous outlaws, merchants bending the law for profit, or officially countenanced privateers bearing letters patent from the Crown. References to piracy and the maritime boundaries trans gressed by pirates occur in the latter half of Shakespeare's career (espe cially in Hamlet and Pericles), and they attain remarkable prominence in the plays of Thomas Heywood (The Fair Maid of the West, Parts I and II), Philip Massinger (The Renegado) , and}ohn Fletcher (A Very Woman, The Sea Voyage). The roots of this theatrical interest in piracy have usually been traced to romances such as those by Heliodorus, Tatius, and Sidney, and the function of pirates has been associated with providential inter vention (Sinfield 92; Ide 317). The assumption is that pirates are a kind of deus ex machina and could be summoned at key points in the narrative to save characters from one set of threats and set them on a fresh course toward new predicaments. Most pirates had the distinct advantage of being dispensable so far as subsequent plot developments or resolutions were concerned. Piracy narratives embedded in early modern plays reflect quite a dif ferent belief structure and dramatic purpose involving a new emphasis on legalism and imperialism in the establishment of maritime regulation late in the reign of Elizabeth and on into the reign ofJames. These narratives postulate an alternate society and economy operating outside the law of the land yet under the protection of the monarch. A supposedly law abiding society is put to the test on the high seas, raising serious ques tions about early modern mercantile regulation under the influence of English patriotism and the transgressive leadership of women. It was probably late in Elizabeth's reign when Thomas Heywood cel ebrated the famous victories of Englishmen and Englishwomen at sea in The Fair Maid of the West, Part f.2 The play's utterly chaste but assertive barmaid cum hero, Bess Bridges of Plymouth, disguised as a male priva- EIRC 33.2 (Winter 2007): 252-275 253 teer on a mission of revenge to the Azores, informs a captured Spanish Captain in an apparently magnanimous moment, "Your ship is forfeit to us and your goods, / So live .... And prey for English Bess" (4.4.118-20). The baffled Spaniard replies, I know not whom you mean, but be't your queen, Famous Elizabeth, I shall report She and her subjects both are merciful. (4.4.121-23) The lines have generally been read as unqualified praise for the English queen who had so soundly trounced the Spanish Armada and had helped to wrest maritime predominance from Spain and Portugal during her long reign. The dramatists of the period immediately following her reign found rich material for the stage in Elizabeth's ambivalent attitude toward pirates and other adventurers on the high seas. The clear impli cation from Heywood's play and others written over the next quarter century is that Elizabeth, when not actually at war with her maritime rivals, relied heavily on English pirates and privateers, whom she alter nately outlawed and licensed, to fill the royal coffers. A great deal of Spanish gold was illegally "forfeit to [the royal] us." This part of Elizabeth's legacy raises intriguing questions about the development of the "law merchant" and the role of women in adventure drama of the early seventeenth century. English Bess may have been the biggest pirate of them all. Though it makes little sense to speak of feminist activists in the early modern period, proto-feminist notions such as that of a female governor could be explored in some detail in the theater. A theatrical environ ment that strenuously excluded women from the ranks of its writers and actors nevertheless afforded them prominence in its action-adventure plays. Merrily defying the dictum that a woman's place is in the home, not in the bustling world of trade, international politics, or military con quest, Heywood's Bess Bridges retraces the route of the Essex-Raleigh Islands' Voyage and extends the claims of Queen and country as far as the coast of Morocco. Being a leader of men, as English Elizabeth had made clear in her speech to the troops at Tilbury in 1588 and on numerous other occasions, has to do with performativity as well as with royal birth (Findlay 164-201). Working at a lower social level, Heywood's Bess fol lows Elizabeth's militaristic model, sorting out tavern brawls and, dis guised as her non-existent brother, out-dueling the boisterous Roughman.3 These shows of force are just the start for Bess, who sails .

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