Gender Ideology and Shakespeare's Female Characters

1 VICTORIAN VOICES: GENDER IDEOLOGY AND SHAKESPEARE’S FEMALE CHARACTERS A dissertation presented by Mary Balestraci to The Department of English In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of English Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts May, 2012 2 VICTORIAN VOICES: GENDER IDEOLOGY AND SHAKESPEARE’S FEMALE CHARACTERS by Mary Balestraci ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English In the Graduate School of Northeastern University May, 2012 3 Abstract The Victorians loved Shakespeare and, during this period, the study of Shakespeare became a popular form of education for middle class women, some of whom began writing about the female characters who populated these plays. Ongoing debates about the inherent nature of womanhood and the role of women in society—collectively known as the Woman Question—were also taking place in England at this time. These two areas converge in the writing produced by nineteenth-century female critics who used their criticism of Shakespeare’s female characters to express their views about Victorian gender ideology. Through their commentary on Shakespeare’s plays, Anna Jameson, Constance O’Brien, Grace Latham, Helena Faucit, and Madeleine Leigh-Noel Elliott reveal their own conceptions of gender by affirming, challenging, or rejecting many of the accepted Victorian gender norms that they identify in Shakespeare’s female characters. Several of the characters that these critics discuss fall into distinct categories: there are the tragic innocents—Ophelia, Desdemona, and Cordelia; the defiant daughters and dutiful wives—Juliet, Katherine, and Lady Macbeth; and the wise and witty women—Portia, Beatrice, and Rosalind. In each instance, the critics who consider these characters use their analyses to explore the inherent nature of femininity, the validity of socially constructed gender norms, and the impact of cultural practices, such as marriage, on women. Collectively, their work reflects an adherence to many basic Victorian precepts of femininity— gentleness, selflessness, and purity; however, these critics also question the notion of many socially imposed gender expectations that governed and limited the agency of nineteenth-century women. Through their combined criticism of Shakespeare’s female characters, these critics engage in the public discourse surrounding gender and demonstrate a growing tolerance for female autonomy, as well as a pronounced desire to recognize female intelligence and strength. 4 Acknowledgements I would not have been able to complete this project without the help that I received from many individuals. First and foremost, I would like to thank Professor Laura Green for her consistent guidance and exceptional advice, from the inception of this project until its completion. I am extremely grateful for the close attention she gave to my work throughout this process and for her assistance in shaping this dissertation into its final form. I also want to offer my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to Professor Guy Rotella, who consistently identified problematic areas in my project and offered insightful, comprehensive advice on how to improve my dissertation. The assistance that Professor Marina Leslie provided in the earliest stages of this project, prior to sitting on my committee, also merits recognition. Professor Leslie introduced me to several sources that would become foundational to my project. I am also grateful for the consistent encouragement and insight that she has provided since joining my committee. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of the late Professor Kathy Howlett, who offered her encouragement and assistance in the early stages of this project. My entire committee has been extremely patient and exceptionally generous when sharing their time and insights; I feel quite fortunate for their collective assistance with my project and have the utmost gratitude for their continued advice and guidance. In closing, I would also like to thank my family—my sister and my brother, for their ongoing support and encouragement, and my son, whose insightful suggestions helped me enormously. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the support of my mother; I will always be grateful for her unfaltering enthusiasm and encouragement. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 4 Table of Contents 5 Introduction 6 Chapter 1: The Tragic Innocents 27 Chapter 2: Defiant Daughters and Dutiful Wives 96 Chapter 3: Wise and Witty Women 174 References 234 6 Introduction Victorian gender ideology and Shakespearean drama fascinate me. In fact, my interest in nineteenth-century conceptions of womanhood and marriage began with an early twentieth- century film version of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. In this 1929 film, Mary Pickford portrays Katherine as a forceful, determined New Woman still operating within a social framework that afforded women little, if any, redress against tyrannical husbands. The social conception of marriage as a patriarchal structure that favored male power and female submission had been in place for much of the nineteenth century, even as women began to expand their public and political presence and to seek more equitable treatment under the law. Viewing Pickford’s Katherine, I was struck by the manner in which her performance challenged social norms—this Katherine was a woman who first railed against her lack of power within marriage and then, after realizing her lack of legal and social status, embraced her position as Petruchio’s wife in order to subvert her husband’s influence, at least within the domestic sphere. By the end of the film, Pickford’s Katherine assumes the dominant role in the marriage and humors her hapless husband while winking at the audience, which, unlike Petruchio, realizes that she has taken control of the situation and thereby empowered herself as best as she can while still operating within the confines of social and private spheres. Pickford’s Katherine alerts the audience to the subversive nature of her apparent acceptance of social norms even as she is attempting to recast those norms, thus eliciting the audience’s collusion in her subversion of Petruchio’s power. The connections between Shakespeare’s female characters and the societal conceptions of womanhood expressed in this film led me to consider the discursive convergence between performance, audience reaction, and issues of gender that took place during the nineteenth 7 century. I discovered that Victorian responses to Shakespeare—particularly those offered by women—could function as a framework for affirming or challenging then contemporary cultural conceptions of womanhood and marriage. While the popularity of Shakespeare’s plays undoubtedly contributed to the abundance of nineteenth-century criticism, it also became clear to me that much of the Victorian scholarship by women surrounding Shakespeare’s drama had little to do with performance and was more focused on the inherent elements of the plays, namely the depiction of women and how such depictions related to nineteenth-century gender mores. The Victorians, by all accounts, loved Shakespeare and demonstrated their affinity for his works by producing and performing Shakespeare’s plays throughout the mid to late nineteenth century. Judging by frequency of performance, among the most popular of Shakespeare’s plays during the Victorian period were Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, and Much Ado about Nothing, all of which include significant female characters.1 In addition to more or less standard presentations of Shakespeare’s plays, the period also saw several stage adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays by eighteenth and nineteenth century playwrights, such as David Garrick’s Katherine and Petruchio, an immensely popular adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, and Naham Tate’s adaptation of King Lear, both of which were frequently performed on the Victorian stage. The range of female representation Victorian critics found in Shakespeare’s plays is wide and varied and includes selfless, tragic and victimized women, such as Ophelia, Desdemona, and Cordelia; assertive characters, like Juliet, Katherine, and Lady Macbeth, who defy social norms and mores and who also share a forceful presence equal to their male 1 I’m basing my estimate of the popularity of these plays on the data provided by Donald Mullin in Victorian Plays: A Record of Significant Productions on the London Stage, 1837-1901. Mullin provides a comprehensive list of nineteenth-century London productions of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as the length of each production’s run, and the theater at which each production was staged. 8 counterparts; and wise and witty female characters like Portia, Beatrice, and Rosalind, who took the leading role in educating or correcting men while still upholding and reinforcing the existing social order. The range of female characters depicted in these plays, coupled with the popularity of these productions on the Victorian stage, provided numerous opportunities for female critics to engage in social discourse about both the nature of gender and the socially imposed conceptions of gender during the nineteenth century. The traits of Shakespeare’s female characters and the social situations in which they are engaged often parallel the issues highlighted in Victorian debates about the nature

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