Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Tereza Tichá

Thomas Dekker’s Heroines Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Mgr. Pavel Drábek, Ph.D. 2011

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

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Acknowledgement: I would like to thank to Mgr. Pavel Drábek, Ph.D. for his support and valuable advice.

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Table of Contents

Introduction ...... 5

1 Thomas Dekker ...... 8

2 English Renaissance Drama ...... 12

2.1 Collaboration and Authorship ...... 15

3 The Honest Whore ...... 18

3.1 Synopsis ...... 19

3.2 Women and Men in The Honest Whore ...... 20

3.3 The Character of Bellafront ...... 24

4 The Roaring Girl ...... 28

4.1 Synopsis ...... 30

4.2 The Position of Single Women in the Seventeenth Century ...... 31

4.3 The Character of Moll Cutpurse ...... 33

5 The Witch of Edmonton ...... 38

5.1 Synopsis ...... 40

5.2 The Witchcraft in the Elizabethan Period ...... 41

5.3 The Character of Mother Sawyer ...... 43

6 The Similarities and Differences among Bellafront, Moll Cutpurse and Mother

Sawyer ...... 49

Conclusion ...... 56

Works Cited ...... 59

Czech Resume ...... 63

English Resume ...... 64

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Introduction

This thesis deals with Thomas Dekker, one of the English dramatists of the

Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, who received less attention than his contemporaries like

William Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton. Although much has been written about the authors of that period, Thomas Dekker’s contribution to literature has been frequently neglected. In general, he is often presented as a talented playwright, versatile author and pamphleteer, who produced a vast amount of plays and pamphlets, however, most of his work is lost.

This work focuses on Thomas Dekker’s heroines. Although there are more plays that could be analyzed and almost each of them is significant in a different way, after careful consideration only three works and their main female characters have been selected. The justification is following: I have chosen three at first sight absolutely different heroines, who are not ordinary women; they are rather odd characters who could be even perceived as so-called deviant figures: a whore, a single woman disguising herself and a witch. Nevertheless, after a closer examination some similar features appeared. This claim is verified in this work and is an essential part of the main argument of my thesis: Thomas Dekker was a prolific author, who conformed to the tastes of audience of the time and the transformation of drama and genres at the end of the sixteenth century, and created unforgettable characters, who share some differences as well as some obvious similarities. Another aim of this work is to provide an overall and complete picture of Thomas Dekker, his life and works, and of the Elizabethan and

Jacobean eras.

The intention of this work was to follow as many sources as possible to summarize the basic facts about Thomas Dekker and about three analyzed works, however, only few books dealing exclusively with Thomas Dekker have been published

5 so far. The one written by Mary Leland Hunt and published in 1911was after a critical appraisal reconsidered to be partly ill-founded, out-of-date and inappropriate to serve as a secondary source for this thesis. Instead of it, the books summarizing the history of

English drama and mentioning, sometimes very briefly, the name of Thomas Dekker have been followed. Cyrus Hoy’s Introduction, Notes and Commentaries to texts in 'The

Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker’ and Thomas Wyatt’s The Dramatic Works of

Thomas Dekker served as the most significant sources for this thesis. Some essays published in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 have been considered as well.

However, Martin Wiggins’s Shakespeare and the Drama of his Time and Kathleen E.

McLuskie’s Dekker and Heywood: Professional Dramatists have served as important sources for this thesis because these authors provide a very detailed description of the drama and theatre of the time. Moreover, McLuskie elaborates Dekker’s and

Heywood’s contribution. Originally included essays written by Barbara Kreps were finally excluded; or more precisely - her rather problematic attitudes towards Thomas

Dekker’s heroines are mentioned; sometimes they are used to emphasise the contrast to my own opinion. Due to the often collaboration of Thomas Dekker and other authors, books about Thomas Middleton written by Gary Taylor and John Lavagnino, and

Suzanne Gossett were used and included as well.

The content of this thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter of the work is dedicated to Thomas Dekker, his life and creation. Although these facts could be viewed as unimportant or irrelevant, I decided to incorporate them into this work. It provides, together with the second chapter that deals with English Renaissance drama, basic and significant information about the author, his style of writing, some themes covered by his work as well as the facts about the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.

The crucial and major changes in drama, theatre and the public taste are mentioned as

6 well. The terms such as drama and comedy are explained there too. These two chapters provide a necessary background for the works that are analyzed in the following parts of this thesis. On the other hand, these chapters are not as extensive as the following ones because the focus of this thesis is the analysis of some plays.

Three following sections deal with the three chosen plays: The Honest Whore,

The Roaring Girl and The Witch of Edmonton. The structure of these three sections is similar: first, the basic facts about the play are mentioned. Afterwards, the synopsis is shortly summarized. After that the individuality of the main heroine of the play is analyzed because each of these female characters finds herself in a unique position in society. Therefore the depiction of circumstances, contemporary situation of women, concretely single women, and the issue of witchcraft are presented. The final part of each chapter is dedicated solely to one of the three analyzed heroines: Bellafront, Moll

Cutpurse and Mother Sawyer.

The final chapter is rather comparative: the facts presented in the previous chapters are summarized there and the similarity among three analyzed heroines is examined even though their natures seem to be absolutely different. Several main points are presented here to verify at first sight hidden connections.

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1 Thomas Dekker

It is not known either when exactly Thomas Dekker was born or when he died.

According to contemporary evidence, he was born later than in 1570, probably in 1572, in London, and his last name could suggest Dutch or German origin. His Dutch ancestry would explain his often usage of the Dutch as well as his knowledge of the German story of Old Fortunatus and His Sons that inspired The Pleasant Comedie of Old

Fortunatus that he wrote in 1599. It is not known how he spent his youth and where he obtained all his knowledge; however, he often uses Latin and mentions some characters of classical mythology. Moreover, Virgil and Seneca are quoted in some of his works.

These facts suggest that Dekker attended grammar school.

As far as the first written record about Thomas Dekker is concerned, it came from early 15981 from Philip Henslowe’s diary. Gurr states that “Thomas Dekker in

1598 had a busy year, during which he shared in the writing of sixteen plays; his total payment for Henslowe was £30.” (The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642 72). Above- mentioned Henslowe’s Diary edited by R. A. Foakes proves to be a valuable source of the often collaboration between the famous theatre owner and this prolific writer.

According to some sources Dekker probably began to write for him already in 1596.

Some plays dating before that year associated with Thomas Dekker exist, nevertheless,

Dekker’s authorship and their origins are uncertain. He continued in playwriting, mostly under Henslowe, for the next six years. Concerning the acting companies, first, he was a member of Admiral’s men, a company whose home was Henslowe’s Rose Theatre and for whom Dekker wrote for instance The Shoemaker’s Holiday, The Whore of Babylon etc. When Philip Henslowe signed the deal with the Worcester’s Men in August 1602

Dekker as one of Henslowe’s stable dramatists started to write for this company. In

1 A play entitled Hot Anger Soon Cold written by Jonson, Porter and Dekker in mentioned in Henslowe’s Diary in August 1958. This play was composed for Admiral’s Men. 8 addition to these two companies, Dekker wrote Satiromastix for Chamberlain’s Men in

1601. At the beginning of the seventeenth century Dekker started to collaborate with

Thomas Middleton. Middleton worked with Dekker between 1603 and 1611 on two pamphlets and three plays (News from Gravesend and The Meeting of Gallants at an

Ordinary, and The Patient Man and the Honest Whore, The Bloody Banquet, and then again in 1623 on The Spanish Gypsy) (Gossett 220). Middleton preferred to co-write with a single partner and in addition to William Rowley it was Thomas Dekker who

Middleton collaborated often with. That golden era of playwriting ended around 1608 when Dekker started to write poetry and composed prose pamphlets. However, he devoted himself to non-dramatic pamphlets already in 1603, when he wrote for instance

The Bachelor’s Banquet, The Wonderful Year and others. In fact, due to the outbreak of plague in 1603 London theatres were closed for almost a year, moreover The War of the

Theatres2 erupted few years earlier – these might have been some possible reasons why

Dekker ceased to write plays. In the period between 1608 (when another outbreak of plague forced the closure of theatres) and 1610 The Bellman of London, Lanthorn and

Candlelight and The Gull’s Hornbook appeared.3 In 1609 or 1610 he returned to the theatre and one year later, in 1611, he wrote The Roaring Girl, nevertheless, soon afterwards he was arrested for his debts and spent several years in prison.4 In fact, some prison passages appeared in Dekker’s earlier works as well as in his later works. These years were truly harsh for Dekker, therefore the tone of his utterance changed. He described his experience in Dream that was published in 1620. With this work the last

2 The conflict that appeared between 1599 and 1602 in England and included John Marston and Thomas Dekker (who coined the known term Poetomachia) and their rival Ben Jonson. It began when Marston published Histriomastix in 1599 in which he satirized Ben Jonson. In fact, Dekker’s Satiromastix was a part of this controversy as well; Dekker publicly criticized Jonson in that play. 3 Even though Dekker’s poetry is extensive and faithfully depicts the life in the Jacobean period as well, this thesis focuses on Dekker's drama therefore his poetry will not be analyzed. 4 The evidence of the length of time he spent in prison is ambiguous therefore it is impossible to prove the duration of his imprisonment. for instance Suzanne Gossett states in Thomas Middleton in Context that Dekker was imprisoned for seven years. 9 period of Dekker’s creation began. Plays like The Witch of Edmonton, The Wonder of a

Kingdom, The Noble Soldier etc. were written. Neither the details about his life, nor the year of his death are known; he probably died in 1632. The fact is that he loved poetry, religion, history, books and music and his legacy is a proof of this admiration and respect.

Dealing with the themes of Thomas Dekker’s plays, he often expresses concern about the struggle between good and evil. This theme occurs in many of his plays, for instance in The Honest Whore, Old Fortunatus, The Virgin Martyr and If This Be Not a

Good Play. Even though the theme is the same, the stories end in different ways: some of his heroes and heroines succumb and others resist; thereby Dekker examines their personal qualities. Dekker proves to be a severe moralist and a strong supporter of justice, at least in relation to his characters, therefore some characters that have chosen the wrong way are punished, for instance Frank Thorney in The Witch of Edmonton. On the other hand, Dekker has an optimistic outlook on world and life therefore the audience can witness the conversion of some of the characters as well. His plays unite his strictness, optimism, idealism and realism. His heroes and heroines embody

Dekker’s warmheartedness and sincerity as well as his own patriotism and they are often of gentle virtues. On the other hand, his characters cannot be easily classified – some of them share the same values, but they differ as well. In fact, any intrigues that are a part of plot are often the results of the collaboration with other authors. Dekker’s strengths are firmly satire and humour as well as the fact that he deals with topics in a simple way. His sense of humour, ability to express joyful feelings and sadness, and to depict the everyday aspects of life represent Dekker’s contributions to the Elizabethan-

Jacobean drama. The themes of Dekker’s plays are influenced by his interest in myths and the traditional wisdom, therefore Dekker often refers to some contemporary stories,

10 ballads and plays.5 As far as the criticism of Thomas Dekker is concerned, most of his plays tend to head towards the similar end – generally including happy ending (this fact might have been caused by the rapid production of plays in that period), and he is often criticised for his vocabulary as well as for his absence of development and evolution.

Unfortunately, lot of his works have been lost therefore the scholars cannot provide a detailed analysis of all his works and evaluate him properly.

It is necessary to take into account things and people that influenced Thomas

Dekker. According to some scholars, Dekker’s contemporaries who supposedly influenced him and his works included Christopher Marlowe, George Peele, Robert

Greene, Thomas Nashe as well as all authors he collaborated with. Furthermore,

Thomas Dekker seemed to be very sensitive and react to all changes that occurred during his life. Among these changes the transformation of the traditions of the stage and of the genre of drama at the end of the sixteenth century are counted as well as the changing position of Elizabethan-Jacobean comedy and the progress of theatres and acting companies. In conclusion, all the people that surrounded him and collaborated with him influenced Dekker’s contribution to literature as well as the style of his writing and the tone of his utterance.

5 Such evidence can be found for instance in The Whore of Babylon, Honest Whore, etc. 11

2 English Renaissance Drama

The subjects of the following analysis are the works of drama therefore a brief summary of this genre and special features of drama of this period should be provided.

English drama between 1560 and 1642, referred to as Elizabethan drama, represents one of the greatest ages of English drama.6 The period after the accession of James I in 1603 is known as Jacobean drama therefore the term Elizabethan Jacobean drama is conventional as well.7 The Elizabethan era is characterized by the nationalist enthusiasm for the country and by “the influences of Renaissance learning and interest which began to be more generally felt. The English language was enriched at this time by extensive borrowings” (Eagle 170).

The genre of drama is closely connected with the theatre whose role during this period increased. The most progressive developments took place at the end of the sixteenth century. Between the accession of Queen Elizabeth in 1558 and 1649, when

King Charles I was executed, the theatre altered and the drama expanded and developed. As Gossett suggests: “the theatre, under the patronage of the royal family starting with the accession of James in 1603, became more and more a respected pastime for audiences and a respectable profession for writers” (222). As far as the transformation of theatres is concerned, the first public theatre was built in London in

1576, later rebuilt as the Globe. Moreover, the number of theatres multiplied and they immediately became institutions. Once occasional, performance time was now regular; once makeshift and borrowed, performance space was now stationary and owned (Cox and Kastan 13). After 1567 permanent playhouses were established and two main types

6 On the other hand, as Evans mentions: „Although the age of Elizabethan and James is usually considered as synonymous with the greatest age of English drama, it was also a period when the very idea of poetry and drama was most vocally under attack as morally and politically subversive“ (3). These were for instance Puritans and other extremists. However, people admired theatre of all kinds in general. 7 Another term, Caroline drama, is used for the reign of Charles I from 1625 to 1649 however, this term is used rather rarely. 12 of theatres occurred: indoor theatres and exterior theatres; first private theatre was opened later in 1576. As Evans mentions: “Elizabethan-Jacobean London was well supplied with theatres, more so than any of the other European capitals” (51). The most important theatres were the Globe, the Curtain, the Swan, the Rose, the Blackfriars

Theatre, etc. In fact, as Taylor and Lavagnino highlight: “The stage was known more by its acting companies and its star performers than by its playwrights” (74).

As far as the developments of the playhouses are concerned the change of the public theatres, the change of the private theatres and the development of the companies and the business of acting occurred. Andrew Gurr deals with the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century playing companies in London in The Shakespearean Stage 1574-

1642 and in The Shakespearian Playing Companies; he demonstrates there was a great amount of them. As he states: “The attraction of playing in London was by far the strongest influence on the playing companies, and the strongest factor determining their development between 1574 and 1642. It gave them bigger audiences and a much bigger income” (The Shakespearian Playing Companies 19). Besides the strong companies

(Gurr’s term) like The Admiral’s Men, The Chamberlain’s Men and The Worcester’s

Men and plenty of other companies, the boy companies there existed as well.8 Each company guarded its play; the play was the property of particular company. Yet any account of the period needs to begin with the recognition that there were many different stages as playhouses became more sophisticated, and that perhaps the only constant feature of the theatres up to 1642 was that all parts were normally played by men and boys; the professional companies in London had no actresses in them until after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 (Braunmuller and Hattaway 1).

8 E. K. Chambers (Elizabethan Stage, II, 77-260) discusses more than twenty adult and some ten boy companies that were either centered in London or had London connections (through Court performances) during these years (Evans 36). For instance, The King’s Company, The Lady Elizabeth’s Men, The Queen Anne’s Men etc. 13

The genre of drama as well as playhouses underwent significant changes during this period. The evidence of this shift in drama is obvious for instance in Thomas Kyd’s

The Spanish Tragedy (between 1582 and 1592), Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great (1587) and Doctor Faustus (1604). What recently appeared was the new sound and rhythm of these plays due to the employment of blank verse whose potential revealed Shakespeare and Marlowe. And not only did this new verse form sound excellent, it also offered the ideal rhythm to suit the acoustic conditions of the London amphitheatres (Wiggins 34). Dealing with the subject, in some plays the theatre of the recent past is still projected. This is most obvious in Doctor Faustus, which not only inhabits the conceptual world of the old allegorical drama but also uses many of its stage devices, like the Good and Evil Angels that prompt the devil-ridden hero towards sin and repentance (Wiggins 32). However, the old subject matter transformed in some way. It was presented in a new, commercial way. With the construction of permanent houses, however, performances eventually moved out of the inn yards and into a series of structures intended solely for paying audiences (Cox and Kastan 308). As Andrew

Gurr in his Playgoing in Shakespeare’s London adds: “A link between the divergent repertories and divergent playgoers after Shakespeare’s company began using the

Blackfriars can be charted to some extent (76).

Greene, Marlowe, Kyd and Peele disappeared from the scene in the 1590s and

Shakespeare had almost no one to compete with. It was with the return of better times in the later part of the decade that fresh talent emerged: not only Jonson but Thomas

Dekker, John Marston, and [...] George Chapman (Wiggins 55). It was at the close of the sixteenth century when the taste of the audience changed – towards comedy.9

Dramatic speech turned from the high style to the low; there is more prose in the plays

9 In 1599 Ben Jonson, who stands at the heart of Jacobean comedy, presented his Every Man in His Humour, and introduced socially realistic play that was full of funny and humorous incidents. 14 of this period. Plotting and characterizations underwent a corresponding change of focus: the late 1590s plays tended to deal more with the private than with the political, and tend to emphasize the pettiness of humanity rather than its expansive greatness and potential (Wiggins 56). It was at the close of the sixteenth century when the taste of the audience changed – towards comedy. The fashions of comedy changed, one of the stock themes was for instance the fight between the citizen and the courtier, and problems arising from money often emerged as a part of the plot. As Eagle adds: “Elizabethan comedy was lightened by a romantic element, as exemplified in Lyly and Greene, drawn from Italian and French Romances [...] Shakespeare’s comedies, which were nearly all written before 1600, owed much to these to predecessors” (110). And right at that time Thomas Dekker started to write.

2.1 Collaboration and Authorship

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth and King James I., London that was rapidly growing was the centre of dramatic activity. London’s population, which numbered little more than 50,000 in Sir Thomas More’s time, was in the neighbourhood of 80,000 to 100,000 by the time Middleton was born in 1580, and the metropolis grew to perhaps

300,000 by the time of his death (Taylor, Lavagnino 59). When Elizabethan entrepreneurs risked the capital required to erect permanent theatres in the 1560s and

1570s and actors joined into formally organized companies, they created a staggering, and continuing, demand for new material (Braunmuller and Hattaway 53). Dramatists and professional companies were asked to supply those permanent theatres with plays, folk tales etc. Many authors collaborated to meet market and theatre demands; the next fact is that the authors’ productivity was limited. Playwrights in early modern England did write alone, but more often they wrote with another playwright, or with several

15 others, or revised or augmented scripts initially produced by others (Cox and Kastan

357). Moreover, most of the playwrights, including Dekker, were in financial problems therefore they created teams to produce a play as fast as possible afterwards they shared money with other playwrights. Such a group of authors divided the work and was rather able to finish it. As Gossett mentions: “G. E. Bentley10 calculates that over half of the plays for the London stage between 1576 and 1642 were scripted by more than one dramatist (Profession of Dramatist, p. 199)” (220). And as Brown in Shakespeare and

His Collaborators over the Centuries adds “playwriting was a competitive rather than self-sufficient art”(1) in that period. The fact is that such collaboration effected the construction of the play and challenged the identity of each of the authors.

As mentioned above, the feature of collaboration is not noticeable only in the plays of Thomas Dekker but in the Elizabethan-Jacobean period in general.11 In addition to Middleton, Dekker collaborated with wide range of authors12: with Michael

Drayton and Henry Chettle13, Anthony Munday14, Robert Wilson, John Webster15, Ben

Jonson16, Philip Massinger17, John Day18 and John Ford19. Later, in 1621 Dekker collaborated with Rowley and Ford with whom he wrote The Witch of Edmonton. The name of Thomas Middleton should be emphasized because Dekker's relationship with him and their collaboration were very productive: they wrote The Honest Whore, The

10 G. E. Bentley was a Princeton professor. 11 Jeffrey Masten proves this claim when mentioning in A New History of Early English Drama Bentley's chapter in Dramatist summarizing collaborating authors: “Shakespeare and Fletcher; Fletcher and Beaumont; Fletcher and Massinger; Field and Massinger; Fletcher, Field, and Massinger; Greene and Lodge; Norton and Sackville; Marlowe and Nashe; Marlowe and Kyd?; Porter, Chettle, and Jonson; Wilson, Munday, Dekker, and Drayton; Dekker, Jonson, and Chettle; Chettle, Dekker, Haughton, and Day; Dekker and Webster [...]” (357). 12 The list of dramatists and works that they collaborated on is not complete. The list should only suggest how often Thomas Dekker collaborated with other authors. 13 Dekker wrote together with Chettle and Drayton sixteen plays. He collaborated with Chettle and Haughton on Patient Grissel. 14 They wrote Jephthah. 15 They wrote Westward Ho and Northward Ho. 16 They wrote Page of Plymouth. 17 They collaborated on The Virgin Martyr. 18 He collaborated with Dekker on Guy of Warwick, The Wonder of a Kingdom and The Bellman of Paris. 19 They wrote The Sun's Darling, The Fairy Knight and The Bristow Merchant. 16

Family of Love and The Roaring Girl. Another name that should be highlighted is the name of Philip Henslowe however those two men were not collaborators, Dekker worked and wrote for Henslowe. In conclusion, more than a half of Dekker’s works are collaborations, therefore the feature of collaboration seems to be so significant as far as the contribution of this author is concerned.

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3 The Honest Whore

Thomas Middleton was one of Dekker’s collaborators and a person who influenced Dekker to some degree. Cyrus Hoy in his Introduction, Notes and

Commentaries to Texts in the Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker, volume II defines their relationship “so close as virtually to defy any precise definition of their respective shares in works on which they are presumed to have collaborated, and to clothe with high uncertainty the attribution of anonymous works to either the one or the other” (2:

2). One of the first results of their collaboration is I The Honest Whore, written in 1604; the second part was written by Dekker himself but the year of its origin is still discussed by scholars. The fact is that the first part was already popular in its own time. Its original name was The Patient Man and The Honest Whore and it should have denoted the double paradox; however, the title underwent several changes during the centuries.

Some parallels between these two parts speak rather for an early date of origin (around

1608) than for the later one (around 1630) of the second part. The statements in Part II referring to Othello20 speak for an early date as well. Though Thomas Middleton is supposed to collaborate with Dekker, his name was not stated on the title page of the first publications. Even though scholars discussed his contribution to the play, the fact is that some characters (for instance women undergoing conversion) and some circumstances depicted in this play appear in other Middleton’s plays as well which speaks for Middleton’s authorship21. His prominence is most apparent in I.v, III.i, and

III.iii; his contribution in the rest of the play is rather sectional. As Cyrus Hoy concludes: “The external evidence from Henslowe that associates him with the play,

20 When Catharine says “Are not you (Bawd) a Whores ancient, and must not I follow my Colours” (V.ii.369-370) she may refer to Iago, Othello's ancient. 21 Candido in The Honest Whore and Quieto in Middleton's The Phoenix composed in 1603 share some similarities, for instance patience. Another analogy may be drawn between Candido and Mr. Water Champlet in Anything for a Quiet Life that was written probably in 1621. Apart from mentioning similar characters some Middleton´s later plays have comparable structural designs as I The Honest Whore, for instance The Changeling. 18 taken together with the internal evidence of the parallels which the play exhibits with

Middleton’s acknowledged work, makes it impossible to deny his presence” (2: 5).

This play concentrates on both men and women, therefore this chapter intends to summarize the main facts about these two coexisting worlds, the different natures of men and women and the hard position of single women in the seventeenth-century society as depicted in the play. However, all these facts are presented only to create a background for the main heroine of the play – Bellafront and to demonstrate that she as most women in the play does not fulfil general expectations and rather embodies a mixture of individualism and some stereotypes. The purpose of this chapter is to prove that Bellafront, although a whore at the beginning, undergoes a conversion and is a positive character overall.

3.1 Synopsis

The I Honest Whore consists of three subplots. Bellafront, the heroine of the main plot, falls in love with Hippolito. However, he refuses to accept her love, therefore

Bellafront decides to change herself. First of all she seems to be determined to leave to her father, later when she appears at Bethlem she pretends to go insane. In the end she helps to create the friendly relationship among the Duke of Milan, his daughter and her husband, and she even gets married to Matheo.

As far as the two subplots are concerned, one of them follows the classic romantic plot. The Duke of Milan tries to separate his daughter Infelice from the man she loves, Hippolito, by feigning her death. Finally, they are reunited and get married with the help of Bellafront at Bethlem Royal Hospital. The second subplot deals with

Candido, the patient man initially included in the title of the play, and his wife Viola who constantly attempts to infuriate her husband. At the end of the play Candido

19 appears in Bethlem and his wife tries to recover him from his insanity. In conclusion, all three subplots end well; romanticism and optimism are obvious in this play.

The second part written by Dekker unaided deals with three main characters:

Bellafront, Matheo and Orlando Friscobaldo, Bellafront’s father mentioned in the Part I.

Matheo returns to his old nature of a dishonest man whilst Hippolito now pursues

Bellafront with impassioned intent. However, Bellafront resists and does not go astray.

3.2 Women and Men in The Honest Whore

As mentioned above, in the original title a marked attention is given to the double paradox. This fact signifies that the play deals with women as well with men.

Bellafront is the honest whore, whereas Candido embodies the patient man. “In

Candido the play explores the unusual and unlikely combination of patience and manhood just as in Bellafront it explores the unusual and unlikely combination of honesty and whoredom” (Taylor and Lavagnino 281). Moreover, patience is viewed as a female quality and therefore not suitable for men and incompatible with their virility.

Even though the title of the play has changed, the cross-reference to the original name can be found in Viola’s words in Part I: “I haue heard it often said, that hee who cannot be angry is no man” (I.ii.63-64). Concerning the qualities of the women in the play, neither they fulfil general expectations and general patterns of the characters in the

Elizabethan-Jacobean drama. Vanity, lust, sudden changes of behaviour and extravagant spending were some of the often depicted female qualities. However, in this play the differences in the qualities of two sexes blur considerably and their characters are not easily predictable. For instance Viola’s handling of money: instead of spending money she tries to protect and secure family savings. The next example of untypical character is the act of gossiping: although women are usually expected to gossip, Dekker and

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Middleton reveal a scene when Castruchio and Matheo are gossiping and they cannot stop, for instance in the Act II, scene I. when talking about women. On the other hand when in the Act I, scene V. Candido, his wife and two prentices occur in the shop, patience, a usual women’s quality, is there demonstrated by a man – Castruchio.

Furthermore, Candido's wife condemns patience.

Can: Patience, good wife.

Wife: I, that patience make a foole of you: Gentlemen, you might ha found some

other Citizen to haue made a kind gull on, besides my husband.

(I.v.88-91)

Authors show that men’s and women’s qualities are interchangeable and that some characters are not as transparent as they seem to be.

Generally, the play concerns the issue of identity and gender and the difficult relationship between two genders. In one of the scenes in Part II Orlando responds to

Infeliche's question: “What creature is thy Mistris?” by saying: “One of those creatures that are contrary to man; a woman” (III.i.66-67). Thereby the contrast between men and women and the unlikeness of their natures are expressed and emphasised. The dialogue between Hippolito and Infeliche in Part II can serve as another example as well as a demonstration of the existing conflicts depicted in the play. Hippolito utters:

…. Oh women,

You were created Angels, pure and faire;

But since the first fell, tempting Deuvil you are,

You should be mens blisse, but you proue their rods:

Were there no Women, men might lieu like gods.

(III.i.161-165)

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In response to Hippolito’s diatribe, Infeliche proves that there is one standard that man can applied on woman and woman on man as well:

…. Oh Men,

You were created Angels, pure and faire;

But since the first fell, worse then Deuvil you are,

You should our shields be, but you proue our rods.

Were there no Men, Women might lieu like gods.

(III.i.186-190)

Obviously, Infeliche is capable of some kind of protest against Hippolito’s adultery that could harm her chastity however Dekker concludes the play with the submission of women. As Kreps concludes: “These scenes illustrate husbands’ and wives’ culturally sanctioned expectations of each other, as well as women’s and men’s sexual and economic positions in law” (96).

Dealing with the relationship between them, the authors concentrated their attention on several particular emotions, love is one of them. As Taylor and Lavagnino comment: “Patience bolstered by reason, tolerance, and faith in the reforming and regenerative power of love wins the day against uncontrolled, generally self-serving, passion” (282). On the one hand, Middleton and Dekker can be perceived as optimists, on the other hand, it is necessary to bear in mind that The Honest Whore is one of

Elizabethan comedies that often involve some kind of happy ending.

The position of men and women differed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; as Kreps adds: “Transformation of biological sexual difference into the disparity of legal, economic, and political gender roles created conditions which institutionally disabled almost all women…” (83). As far as marriage is concerned, the marital status of women played an important role in society. When a couple entered

22 marriage, their relationship represented some kind of a deal or a contract. Though they were supposed to be one flesh and one body, it was the husband who handled the important issues and decided crucial and difficult questions. Unlike the femme sole22, who could act as her own agent, the femme covert23 had no legal identity independent of her husband’s, which meant that in all financial matters she was subject to her husband… (Kreps 86). As far as adultery is concerned, both genders engaged in it.

Furthermore, that was the only area in which a woman could (or even should) have defended herself and her chastity. Due to the topicality of the issue of marriage, a lot of dramatists devoted themselves to this theme and mentioned some questions of English law to debate them, to examine them or simply just attract some attention to them.

Therefore many plays focused on marriage and the position of man and woman in it. As the interpretation of Thomas Dekker is concerned, he expresses both the grasp of meaning of the traditional orthodoxy and sincere sympathy for Bellafront. In fact

Dekker and Middleton show two slightly different perspectives: on the one hand they present the stereotypes concerning men and women, on the other hand they provide the audience with an alternative view on these two coexisting worlds. Their play seems to be rather optimistic than criticizing as a whole.

The central character of The Honest Whore is definitely Bellafront that covers the title plot. However, there are more well-depicted women characters. One of them is

Viola, Candido’s wife; the second subplot is connected with this couple. Viola embodies the woes of marriage but in a rather comic way. As Kreps says: “Viola is never guilty of gossiping nor is her fidelity to her husband ever in question-a further contravention of the standard misogynist's catalogue of the sins to which women are

22 In Anglo-American common law, a woman in the unmarried state or in the legally established equivalent of that state. The concept derived from feudal Norman custom and was prevalent through periods when marriage abridged women's rights (Britannica). 23 A married woman. 23 prone. Nor is she a spendthrift” (95). Though Viola bothers her husband in the first part, she represents some of the wifely virtues rather than the sins. The second heroine is

Infeliche, Hippolito’s latter wife, who embodies the submission of women in this play.

Though each of these women proves to be an extraordinary and memorable character, the focus of this thesis is the woman from the title of the play: Bellafront – the woman who undergoes the most significant conversion throughout the play.

3.3 The Character of Bellafront

Dealing with the character of a whore, the Elizabethan-Jacobean drama required specific types of characters. According to Stephen Gosson, an English satirist and

Dekker’s contemporary: “gods, goddesses, furies, fiends, kings, queens, and mighty men” in tragedies, and in comedies, “cooks, queans [whores], knaves, bawds, parasites, courtesans, lecherous old men, amorous young men” (Wiggins 87). Obviously, the character of a courtesan was already well-established in the Elizabethan drama, that way

Dekker and Middleton used a stock character. As Hoy adds: “Recent scholars have remarked on the possibility of Dekker’s role in introducing to the stage what an older generation of scholars termed “questionable scenes” (2: 10). Dekker does not depict

Bellafront as an ordinary courtesan but as a one who is courageous, caring and capable of a conversion. Bellafront is then presented as a whore, but with some virtues including honesty as well. Actually, this is one of Dekker’s paradoxes. On one hand, Dekker is able to criticize old patterns and achieve some kind of independence on them, on the other, the end of the play and Dekker’s conclusions prove to be rather stereotypical ones.

As mentioned above, Bellafront represents a stereotype as well as some kind of individuation. As far as Bellafront’s character is concerned, Dekker proves to be a

24 master at depicting characters with all their virtues and vices and Bellafront is the evidence of his abilities. Concerning her qualities, though she is a courtesan, she is witty and experienced. Moreover, when she talks to Hippolito, she reveals her affection and her desire for love as well. Thereby she proves to be an ordinary woman. In that moment, Bellafront’s conversion begins. It is ironic (and recognizably human) that

Bellafront’s conversion should have at least as much to do with her attraction to the man who converts her as it has with anything he says; what he says by way of depicting the foulness of the life of a courtesan impresses her chiefly because it makes clear how unacceptable she must be in her present state to such a virtuous figure as Hippolito

(Hoy 2: 13). In fact, the act of transformation and its result are more important than its cause. Obviously Dekker does not discredit Bellafront; moreover, he gives her an opportunity to change herself and inspects her ability to resist.

Bellafront undergoes conversion from a courtesan to an honest whore in Part I and from an honest whore to a submissive wife in Part II. Dekker suggests that the conversion is not an easy process and is only for strong personalities. Even Matheo perceives Bellafront’s conversion as a miracle when he claims:

Its possible, to be impossible, an honest whore! I haue

Heard many honest wenches turne strumpets with a wet finger;

But for a Harlot to turne honest, is one of Hercules labours: It was

More easie for him in one night to make fifty queanes, then to make

One of them honest agen in fifty yeeres.

(III.iii.100-104)

Nevertheless, Bellafront’s conversion is just the beginning of the whole process of transformation and alteration of her position in society. Though she notices the impulse embodied by Hippolito and starts the conversion, Dekker does not does not

25 make this situation less difficult for her – he lets Bellafront to be tested. Whilst Part I is about the conversion and the ability to change, Part II is rather about the possibility to persist the conversion.

In Part II Dekker subjects Bellafront to a test of the reliability of her conversion.

The first difficult situation appears when her husband requests her to turn courtesan repeatedly due to his debts; she resists. Her earlier love, Hippolito, plays the crucial role in the second trial of Bellafront. As Berlin says: “The man who caused her to convert, her savior, is now her temper. But she resists and presents a speech against harlotry equal in moral fervor to his former speech” (269). Constancy is one of the themes of the play and by these tests Dekker detects whether is Bellafront constant enough to succeed in living in this society. As Braunmuller and Hattaway claim: “Once converted,

Bellafront stands as an emblem of chastity and constancy, a role she maintains through the second part of the play, although poverty almost compels her to revert to her trade”

(117). Bellafront proves to be a strong character, who succeeds in her conversion and who is immune to the pressures of people who surround her. The fact is that even though she has not gained her love and her saviour, she has changed and persisted. As

Berlin claims: “Dekker makes her new way of life a continuous trial, a trial which ennobles her nature, a trial in many ways similar to the trial of the legendary whore,

Thais, who also turned honest and had to suffer greatly before she gained Paradise”

(269).

In conclusion, Bellafront is rather an untypical woman whose position in society is not easy. Her relationship with men is difficult; moreover, the relationship with one particular man is the cause of her conversion. This conversion demonstrates that even though people have prejudice against her she is not a bad character. Moreover, she

26 proves to be individuality and a positive and strong character capable of change and persisting in it.

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4 The Roaring Girl

The Honest Whore is not the only result of Dekker’s collaboration with

Middleton. The exact year of the publication of their next play, The Roaring Girl, was for a long time a subject of controversy among scholars, who proposed various years from 1604 to 1611. However, the establishment of the right date of the record about

Mary Frith contained in the Correction Book together with the external and internal evidence allowed to state the probable year of origin: the play was published in the late spring of 1611 bearing the title The Roaring Girle, or Moll Cut-Purse. As it hath lately beene Acted on the Fortune-stage by the Prince his Players. As stated in the title, it was performed at the Fortune Theatre by the Prince’s Players.

When considering the authorship “The Roaring Girl poses all the problems of a

Dekker-Middleton collaboration that are familiar from I Honest Whore, a fact which has not prevented other critics … from declaring the possibility of determining with precision the shares of the two collaborators” (Hoy 3: 12). Different critics express contrasting opinions on the contribution of each of these two authors. For instance T. S.

Eliot, an admirer of both Thomas Middleton and The Roaring Girl, denies Dekker’s crucial participation on the creation of Moll and rather ascribes all the credit to

Middleton. On the other hand critics like Arthur Henry Bullen24 and Richard Hindry

Barker25 seem to be able to identify the scenes that had been written by each author unaided as well as the parts on which they worked together. It is Henry Bullen who reminds the similar conduct of Mistress Gallipot and Laxton in The Roaring Girl and

Witgood and Hoard in another play written by Middleton – A Trick To Catch the Old

One. However, all these assumptions are questionable, and Cyrus Hoy concludes the discussion by claiming that “All that can confidently be said concerning the authorship

24 An English editor and publisher who specialized in the sixteenth and seventeenth century literature. 25 An author of several books about Thomas Middleton. 28 of The Roaring Girl is that Dekker’s unaided work is most apparent throughout the whole of Act I; in II.ii; and in V.i. Middleton’s unaided work is most evident in II.i and

III.i. For the rest (III.ii-iii; IV.i-ii; V.ii) the work of both dramatists is present in an admixture that I would not attempt to separate” (3: 13).

As far as the topic of the play is concerned, Middleton and Dekker were not the first authors dealing with the real-life character of Mary Frith. She was as well a subject of John Day’s A Booke called the Madde Prancks of Merry Mall of the Banskide that originated already before 1611 (probably in August 1610); however, today there are no existing copies of this play or chapbook therefore its effect on Middleton and Dekker cannot be assessed. Cyrus Hoy comments on their choice of the topic: “If anything more droll could be conceived than to dramatize the repentance of a courtesan, Dekker and Middleton must have considered it to be the stage representation of the scandalous

Mary Frith as an honest, generous and courageous young woman, leading a fiercely independent and self-sufficient life on the edges of the London underworld where her every act is true to herself in her unconventional fashion” (3: 9). By this choice Dekker and Middleton managed to combine the public interest in an unusual character with their shrewd professionalism and the result is a mixture of Dekker’s slight romantic comedy and Middleton’s intrigue sub-plot. Paul Mulholland concentrates on why they chose Mary Frith as their model: “The appearance of the play in printed form was designed to exploit Moll’s celebrity at a high point during the legal process26 – while at the same time through the favourable dramatic representation of her, to help her damaged reputation” (23-24). Middleton comments on their angle in the preface of the play entitled To the Comic Play-Readers, Venery and Laughter: “we rather wish in such discoveries, where reputation lies bleeding, a slackness of truth than a fullness of

26 She was involved in several legal processes, for instance in January and in spring of 1611 and than again on Christmas Night of 1611 when she misbehaved in St Paul's; most of the evidence comes from the Consistory of London Correction Book. 29 slander” (25-28). Furthermore, this is the feature that distinguished Middleton and

Dekker from other authors mentioning Frith in their works: they alter the real-life Mary to the courageous and witty character of their play; moreover, they do not judger her and they omit the unpleasant and negative facts about her. As Middleton adds in the preface “but ’tis the excellency of a writer to leave things better than he finds ’em” (19-

20).

The play concentrates on the story of Moll Cutpurse, a single woman with unconventional behaviour. Therefore this chapter aims to introduce Moll as an image of real-life Mary Frith and as a single woman living in seventeenth-century society as well as to summarize all the inconveniencies this position brings. However, the main purpose is to prove that it is Moll’s individuality and her character, not her singleness and strangeness that differentiate her from the rest of society.

4.1 Synopsis

The play begins with the scene of Sebastian and Mary Fritz-Allard who are in love; however, Sebastian’s father does not support this relationship. Therefore Sebastian intended to pretend that he loves and wants to marry Moll Cutpurse instead of Mary.

His father is worried and paid Trapdoor to spy Moll who afterwards finds her and offers to be her servant. This way he can inform Sebastian about their secret meetings and plans. Later Sebastian decided to confess his plan to Moll who agrees to help them.

Afterwards Sir Alexander and Sir Guy Fritz-Allard, Mary’s father, take a bet on whether Sebastian will marry Moll or somebody else. Because Sir Alexander loses a half of his land goes to the newly married couple. The play ends with Sir Alexander’s apology and promise that he will not judge anybody according to public opinion anymore.

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The subplot deals with Mistress Gallipot and Laxton, who flirts with her only to get her money. When is Mrs. Gallipot pushed to ask his husband for a loan of thirty pounds for Laxton, she introduces him to Mr. Gallipot as her former suitor, who blackmails her. However, he continues and demands a larger sum of money. When Mrs.

Gallipot reveals the truth her husband believes her; Laxton is not punished.

4.2 The Position of Single Women in the Seventeenth Century

In the Elizabethan and Jacobean period the ideological debate about the role of women in society intensified and the controversy over gender roles appeared.

Moreover, as Adrienne L. Eastwood comments: “[...] patterns in the ways in which women are represented in pamphlets and plays indicate that during this period new ideologies about women were constructed and old beliefs changed” (7). However, male dominance over women was still obvious and the traditional patriarchal ideologies persisted; therefore unmarried women’s agency was denied in early modern England.

These single women lived on the social margins, were poorer and their social activities were limited. The society expected them to get married otherwise their singleness could have been viewed as something strange even unacceptable.

The depiction of these women in literature differed and this topic caused disagreement among authors. Playwrights were keenly aware of the contested position of the single woman in culture and within the gender debates, and their characterization of unmarried women who transgress their social and political limitations exploit both sides of the controversy (Eastwood 9). Plenty of authors perceived this controversy, however they did not include it always in the play27. The heroine of the play, the single

27 Earlier efforts at gender construction, while not systematic, do appear in variety of texts prior to 1640, and as Hull’s work demonstrates, issues concerning the nature and social role of women were among the more popular topics (Eastwood 9). Hull focuses on this topic in her Chaste, Silent & Obedient: English Books for Women 1475-1640. 31 woman, is in some cases similar to the actual woman: she avoids containment, she lives on the social fringes and the attitudes she represents are often dismissed. Some authors only present the character, which remains unchanged and the others trace the heroine and become witnesses of heroine’s transition. For instance, William Shakespeare is one of the authors who present to the audience the archetype of a disobedient woman who becomes obedient only because she gets married. As Eastwood claims: “A woman who never married could not achieve her culture’s standards of true femininity; therefore the figure on the stage would have evoked more conflicting responses” (10). This way the authors include the audience: it is up to them whether they question the persisting ideal of femininity and discover its negatives or stay indifferent. As suggested the figure of a single woman generally represents some gender controversies and in The Roaring Girl

Moll Cutpurse is the embodiment of these controversies.

There are more women in the play that could be analysed; however, none of them is as controversial as Moll. For instance, Mary Fritz-Allard seems to be a strong woman who knows how to accomplish what she wants – to get married. In fact, this is the feature that distinctly differentiates her from Moll, on the other hand cross-dressing is what these two share. There appears a group of women in the play; Mistress Prudence

Gallipot represents this group of wives that is introduced when flirting with the gallants and she embodies some of the typical seventeenth-century wife characteristics. She is sly and more or less bored with her life. Cyrus Hoy comments on them when saying “In the end, the wives of the subplot affirm their virtue, appearances notwithstanding, and their affirmations go unchallenged” (3: 9). However, Moll Cutpurse is the most significant women character in this play; therefore her detailed analysis as a single woman existing on the social fringes will be provided.

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4.3 The Character of Moll Cutpurse

The character of Moll Cutpurse was based on a real life single woman: Mary

Frith28, who was notoriously known in London. Eastwood comments on the conjunction of the play and her life: “The Roaring Girl, published in 1611, clearly capitalized on the celebrity of this unmarried woman who rejected her culture’s conventional ideologies of femininity” (16). The source materials about the life of real Mary Frith are not complete; they are rather fragmentary therefore some of the stated facts are still discussed. However, Mary Frith lived at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth century and died in 1659. During her life she drank hard and committed illegal deeds therefore she was arrested several times. As far as the sources providing some extra information about Mary Frith are concerned one of them is The Life and Death of Mrs.

Mary Frith. Commonly Called Mal Cutpurse. Exactly Collected and now Published for the Delight and Recreation of all Merry disposed Persons that was anonymously published in 1662. This source is regarded as an authentic one but some of the mentioned information is not capable of proof. Other contemporary authors dealing with Mary Frith's life and her biography include George Horton29 and Alexander

Smith30. However, the authors differ in some facts (her marriage to Lewknor Markham, her will etc.); it only confirms the ambiguities in the available contemporary sources.

When considering the recent literature dealing with Frith at least two authors should be mentioned. Recent research by Gustav Ungerer reveals that unlike the play’s heroine,

Mary Frith married – and carried on a profitable business as a broker of stolen goods while also serving as intermediary between pickpockets (of whom she had been one for

28 Andrew Gurr in The Shakespearen Stage 1574-1642 mentions her as Marion Frith. 29 George Horton’s The Womans Champion; or The Strange Wonder Being a true Relation of the mad Pranks, merry Conceits, Politick Figaries, and most unheard of Stratagems of Mrs. Mary Frith, commonly called Mall Cutpurse, living near Fleet-Conduit; even from her Cradle to her Winding-Sheet was published in 1662. 30 Smith's A Complete History of the Lives and Robberies of the Most Notorious Highwaymen, Shoplifts and Cheats of Both Sexes was published in 1719. 33 many years), their victims and the authorities (Taylor and Lavagnino 721). The second one is Margaret Dowling’s A Note on Moll Cutpurse – “The Roaring Girl” which can serve as a useful source because Dowling provides documents dealing with an affair and offence which Mary Markham alias Frith was involved in. This source reveals that affair and Dowling concludes that: “Moll appears to be very much the kind of woman described by Dekker and Middleton” (70). In fact, some authors describe Mary in a rather negative way, even as a monster or a deviant – this is the most significant difference between them and the authors of The Roaring Girl who are sympathetic to her and present an individual woman rather than a monster. For instance, Moll appears in at least one more play, Nathan Field’s Amends for Ladies; however, she figures only in one scene. Nevertheless, Field introduces an unattractive figure in contrast with

Dekker and Middleton. In effect, Dekker and Middleton's Moll Cutpurse is a nexus of interchanges between the living woman and the fictional character, the performed and the real (Taylor and Lavagnino 721). To compare the similarities and differences the actual Moll, as the playwrights promised, occurred on stage at the Fortune after one of the performances of The Roaring Girl. The actual Moll appeared cross-dressed, unprepared and delivered some lascivious speech during which she even invited the audience to her home. As Taylor and Lavagnino add: “Mary Frith [...] may well have been the first English woman to perform in a public theatre” (721).

Dealing with the cross-dressing that both Mary31 and Moll have in common, this feature was nothing new and it was very common in the Elizabethan-Jacobean period. A single woman could have masqueraded herself as a wife, a widow or a man. Even

Taylor and Lavagnino claim that she was not the only one who wore a doublet: “We can also find precedents for her dress among bourgeois or gentry women, for whom a

31 Mary Frith was even accused of cross-dressing. 34

‘broad-brimmed hat and wanton feather’ topping ‘ruffiantly short locks’ became the latest fashion in the 1570s and 1580s, and again around 1620” (722). Thereby they were able to find a work that only men could do and interact with everybody in the public sphere. As Eastwood declares: “Frith’s rejection of the cultural construct of femininity allows her to move about freely in London, and to frequent places that would have been off limits to most women” (16). In the play Moll dresses like a man, she is even portrayed on the front page of the book dressed like a man; throughout the whole play

Dekker depicts her men clothes to highlight her nature, for instance “Enter Moll in freese lerkin and a blacke saueguard” (II.i.155). Men’s clothes prompt or authorize the wearer to impersonate male behaviour, to perform a stylized kind of aggressive, self- assertive masculinity like that of the ‘roaring boy’, a recognized social type in early seventeenth century London on which Mary Frith patterned herself (Taylor and

Lavagnino 722). Therefore she is due to her cross-dressing and her nature able to interact with men and enjoy the activities that are designed only for men, for instance smoking and drinking. Moreover, her mobility and agency increase. As Eastwood claims: “Middleton and Dekker’s play responds to this cultural tendency (or the desire) of women to transcend both social rank and gender prohibitions in order to purchase certain commodities and entertainments that would ordinarily been off limits to them”

(17). This is the next reason of her cross-dressing: to shake gender order. By refusing the traditional women clothes32 she protests against some gender signifiers. Particular authors and scholars understand and interpret this feature in different ways.33 However, for a conclusion of the feature of cross-dressing in Molls life the quote from Kathleen E.

McLuskie’s book seems to be the most suitable: “Cross-dressing released the heroine

32 In the sixteenth century legislation was adopted; women had to wear clothes according to their marital status to distinguish themselves. 33 Susan E. Krantz mentions in The Sexual Identities of Moll Cutpurse in Dekker and Middleton’s Roaring Girl and in London different attitudes of Stephen Orgel and Jean Howard. They discuss Moll Cutpurse in terms of the marriage market, female desire and even some kind of homoeroticism. 35 for a more active role in the plotting, making her the subject as much as the object of action” (133).

Different scholars perceive Moll in different ways: not only due to her cross- dressing some of them classify her even as the physical hermaphrodite, prostitute or bisexual ideal.34 Scholars differ in their attitudes as well as do the characters surrounding Moll in The Roaring Girl. Some misunderstandings of her occur as well.

As Krantz comments: “Like her insistence that she is different from other women, this something else is not easily understood by the ‘normal’ characters in the play” (12). For instance Laxton and Misstress Openwork perceptions of Moll as a whore are incorrect.

Others considered her being a monster, for instance Sir Alexander: “A thing / One knows not how to name [...] This woman more than man, / Man more than woman”

(I.ii.128). Due to her distinction the characters misread her.

Concerning her qualities, Dekker and Middleton introduce her various talents that positively affect her relations with the positive characters around her including

Sebastian and Jack Dapper. Moll helps both of them and she even saves Jack from being imprisoned. On the other hand, when dealing with rather negative characters, for instance when talking to Mistress Openwork, she is able to use strong and shrewd arguments and when encountering Laxton she can even force him to dispel all his ill thoughts about her. These qualities ascribed to her only highlight the positive approach of the authors as mentioned above.

Moll Cutpurse embodies an advocate for women’s right. She desires to be independent and self-sufficient; however, her freedom can bear harsh consequences as well. On the one hand, she is independent of men and society on the other hand society seems to punish her for her difference and freedom. Although her position in the society

34 These attitudes are mentioned only to demonstrate the miscellaneousness of existing views, however, the subject of this work is rather the traditional point of view of established authors. 36 is complicated due to her freedom, she is consistent in her behaviour and in her demands. Moll does not change either her attitudes or her qualities. It seems that she does not long for incorporation into the society; her singleness is not unsolvable, however, Moll takes a firm stance in the questions of marriage. Even though she criticizes it and she does not perceive it as necessary, she is helpful to other people in achieving what they want even if it is marriage. However, Moll harshly continues in criticizing men throughout the play:

In thee I defy all men, their worst hates,

And their best flatteries, all their golden witchcrafts,

With which they entangle the poor spirits of fools.

(III.i.92-94)

As Eastwood claims: “[...] much of her social commentary brings men to task for their shabby treatment of women” (19). However, Moll is an objective character and she is strict with women who she criticizes often as well, mostly for their subordination.

Because she is able to face to other characters’ disguise, she is brave and courageous and in fact she is a stronger character than other figures in the play.

Generally, women’s virtues are tested in The Roaring Girl, and Moll Cutpurse even though she differs and her attitudes are not prevailing she proves to be the strongest and most persistent of all women presented in the play.

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5 The Witch of Edmonton

Probably in 1619 Dekker was liberated after several35 years in prison and he tried to continue in his carrier as a dramatist. He returned to the theatrical world; however, that world had changed during the several years of his imprisonment: some dramatists were not composing anymore, including Marston, Webster and Day, some died in the meantime (William Shakespeare died in 1616 as well as the theatrical entrepreneur Philip Henslowe). Nevertheless, Dekker started to write again and in that period that lasted for five years he probably wrote six plays, two of which were collaborations.

One of these seven plays, possibly the most significant one, is The Witch of

Edmonton36 which was written in 1621. In contrast with The Honest Whore and The

Roaring Girl there is almost no doubt about the year of its publication because in April

1621 Mother Sawyer, a model for the heroine of The Witch of Edmonton, was executed and the play was performed shortly after that event. Concerning the authors, they can be stated with absolute precision: Dekker collaborated that time with William Rowley and

John Ford. For Ford this was probably the very first collaboration with other authors and first stage play he wrote, on the other hand Rowley, a long time actor and dramatist, collaborated already with many authors, for instance Day, Wilkins, Heywood and

Middleton. The participation and share of each of these authors is still discussed.

Dealing with the main plot, the authors wrote the play on the basis of the real trial with

Elizabeth Sawyer who was executed in 1621 and most of the facts were derived from

Henry Goodcole’s pamphlet. When considering the second plot about Frank Thorney some connections to William Rowley appears. Similar topics, the topic of double

35 According to different sources, he spent in prison six or seven years. 36 The full title is The Witch of Edmonton: a known true Story. Composed into a Tragi-comedy by divers well-esteemed Poets; William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, John Ford, etc. Acted by the Prince’s Servants, often at the Cockpit in Drury Lane, once at Court, with singular applause. Never printed till now. 1658. 38 marriage and some kind of bigamy, occur in other Rowley’s plays: in All’s Lost By Lust

Don Antonio marries both Margaretta and Dionysia and in The Maid in the Mill Don

Antonio seduces both Ismenia nad Isabella who finally turns to be Ismenia in disguise.

The character of Cuddy Banks demonstrates another bond with Rowley – some critics even claim that Rowley created this character for himself; these characters were

Rowley’s specialization, in fact similar character is present in Rowley’s All’s Lost By

Lust as well. Even though the topic is based on a real trial, Marlowe’s motif (the agreement with the Devil) is supposed to affect the way of the treatment with the

Goodcole’s pamphlet; on the other hand the motif of the deal with the devil and the character of Satan appear often in the contemporary plays.37 By many authors the domestic tragedy included in the play is commonly agreed to be the product of both

Dekker and Ford, whilst the comedy scenes are assigned to Rowley. However, critics and scholars generally agree that Dekker38 supplied the play with the original characters and intelligent humanity and created the pitiful and grotesque character of the whole play. Cyrus Hoy concludes their contribution subsequently: “Dekker and Rowley’s work is often found together in the same scene. Rowley’s independent scenes are those featuring Cuddy Banks and the morris dancers (III.i and III.iv). As for the Frank

Thorney plot, Rowley’s scenario (if it were indeed his) was composed by Dekker and

Ford. Sometimes Ford seems to have worked alone (as in I.i, II.ii, III.ii); at other times,

Dekker and Ford seem to have worked jointly on single scenes (I.ii;III.iii, IV.ii;V.iii)”

(3: 237).

37 For instance, both Jonson’s The Devil is an Ass and Shakespeare, Dekker or Heywood’s The Merry Devil of Edmonton (the authorship is uncertain) deal with the devil, however, in an absolutely incomparable way. 38 As Clifford Leech, a British-born professor and an expert on the sixteenth and seventeenth century’s authors, in his Ford and the Drama of his Time claims: „It is a remarkable play, perhaps the best in which Dekker was ever concerned“ (26-27). 39

This chapter summarizes the feature of witchcraft as introduced in this play therefore it provides the most important facts concerning witchcraft in sixteenth- and seventeenth- century society of England. However, the main purpose of this chapter is to conclude the effects of society on the main heroine Mother Sawyer and prove that she is not a negative character.

5.1 Synopsis

The play follows two main plots. The one that provided the play with the title is based on the real-life person, Elizabeth Sawyer, and the authentic trial that was held in

1621. In the play she is titled as Mother Sawyer. People in the neighbourhood avoid

Mother Sawyer due to her old age, poverty and wrong conditions she lives in. She is miserable therefore she asks for “some power good or bad” (II.i.102), then the Dog appears to offer her some help with her revenge. At the beginning of the play Mother

Sawyer cursed Old Banks therefore when later his horse falls sick he blames Mother

Sawyer for that as well as for all his misfortune. When they set on fire a straw from her hovel and she immediately appeared, she is finally accused of being a witch.

The second plot deals with Frank Thorney who secretly marries two women, first Winifred, who is pregnant but not with his child and later Susan, a daughter of a wealthy yeoman named Old Carter. When he realizes how troublesome his situation is he decides to kill Susan. However the truth is soon revealed by Susan’s sister Katherine and their father. At the end of the play both Mother Sawyer and Frank Thorney are brought to the gallows where they are later executed. Old Carter offers to pregnant

Winifred to stay with them and with her words the whole play ends.

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5.2 The Witchcraft in the Elizabethan Period

Dekker, Ford and Rowley chose a current issue for their play. The most significant era of English witchcraft was just in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

As Evans reminds: “witchcraft [...] was generally accepted by many of the best minds of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries” (262). The evidence of contemporary situation in England is convincing; however it is necessary to bear in mind that the situation in Scotland was even worse, the North Berwick Witches39 trial is one of the proofs. In England, as Evans says: “[...] hundreds of ‘witches’ were brought to trial between 1550 and 1700 and all too many were convicted and executed” (263). Almost every year of Elizabeth’s reign some prosecution happened and it got even worse when

James I. who had a prominent role in the above-mentioned trial in Scotland, acceded to throne in 1603. The death penalty for ‘witches’ was approved during his reign: in 1604.

Because these prosecutions and trials were frequent, people discussed witchcraft commonly. Records show that women were accused in many places, for instance in

Middlesex, Essex, Chelmsford etc. This persecution was caused by the position that society assumed therefore it is necessary to take into account that some economic and social facts could have influenced their attitudes. As Braunmuller and Hattaway claim:

“Although England witnessed some outbreaks of persecution of female (and male)

‘witches’ led by religious zealots, voices were raised in the period to suggest that the driving forces [...] derived from social stress and prejudice” (115). There exist several possibilities how that prejudice originated. It could be possibly based on the low social status of those witches who were single, poor and old; moreover, often they avoid any contact with society and that way they revived even bigger hatred against themselves.

Braunmuller and Hattaway explain another very probable reason: “witchcraft

39 More than seventy people were accused during those trials in Scotland that began in 1590 and lasted for two years. 41 accusations were desperate remedies for communities with neither the science to explain accident, illness, and disease nor a constabulary table to investigate properly”

(115).

If a description of a witch should be provided, she could be compared to another similar character: a wise woman. In contrast with the witch, the wise woman had some professional status. The witch often living in a shabby hut was considered to be immoral moreover she bewitched and cast spell on people only for her own prospects.

Witches usually gained their abilities from the Devil by bartering away their souls.

Due to the topicality of this subject it was reproduced in literature as well. “The dramatists [...] manifest the fullest preoccupation with witchcraft and all related themes during the thirty years 1597-1627 or thereabouts” (Herrington 479). In the years 1601-

1620 they focused on witchcraft most of all. Witchcraft was depicted in many works, for instance in the Witch written by Middleton, Sad Shepherd and Masque of Queens written by Jonson, The Late Lancashire Witches written by Heywood and Brome, and these motives appeared in Shakespeare’s Macbeth (the Weird Sisters) too. The amount of plays dealing with this topic proves that Dekker, Ford and Rowley were not the only authors inspired with this theme and that this subject gained great popularity at that time in general. Concerning Dekker’s attitude to witchcraft, even though we do not know whether he believed in witches and magic or not, his attitude is suggested through the opening speech of Mother Sawyer. He simply declares that the cruelty of people is one of the ultimate sources of the process of witch-making.40

Not only witches appeared often in the plays, supernatural beings (gods, fairies, etc.) were popular with some authors in general. Concerning supernatural beings,

Herrington claims that: “[There] are prominent the conjurer, the wise woman, the witch,

40 The influence of society on witch-making is analyzed in this thesis later. 42 and similar figures by whatever names called” (467). Fairies, real mythology characters and others often appeared in several plays; some ordinary people got in touch with them and sometimes they even gained their qualities.41 Another supernatural being already mentioned above, is the Devil that appeared often too; he could have functioned as an emissary or as the one who came to punish the victim for his or her wrong doings. It should be noted that Dekker focused on these features already in his earlier works; he was concerned with folk-motives in Old Fortunatus (1599) and with the Devil in If It be not Good, the Devil is in It (1610).

5.3 The Character of Mother Sawyer

As mentioned above, the story is based on a real-life character that was accused of three torts and afterwards found guilty in one of them: murdering Ann Ratcliffe.42

Concerning the crimes of Elizabeth Sawyer, three different sources can be analyzed: first, the contemporary evidence and facts that provide the information about Sawyer’s confession, her trial and execution. Goodcole’s The wonderfull discouerie of Elizabeth

Sawyer a Witch is the second source that presents some additional information.

Reverend Goodcole was convinced of Sawyer’s guilt, he watched the whole trial and was strict in the persecution of Elizabeth Sawyer and all these features are apparent in his pamphlet. The third source is The Witch of Edmonton written by Dekker, Ford and

Rowley. If the attitudes of the authors of two mentioned works should be compared, some differences would be found. As Atkinson claims: “In the pamphlet [...] the witch confesses to several evil acts such as the killing of children; the dramatists, however,

41 As Herrington claims: “Faustus, Bacon, and their fellows during the Renaissance may be termed “practising magicians.” Magic is for them a science, an art, practiced like the other learned professions [...] For the fuller possession of supernatural powers they have either bartered away their souls, or else placed themselves in constant peril” (459). 42 Even though Sawyer got the death penalty for the murder of Ratcliff, Dekker avoids this affair and does not clarify who is responsible for her death. 43 concentrate upon her relationship with the Dog rather than her crimes” (431). Not only does the focus of the authors differ, their opinions on Elizabeth Sawyer vary as well.

Whereas Goodcole's pamphlet is an account of Sawyer’s guilt and the author is relentless in his judgment, Dekker’s play rather provides a moral analysis of Mother

Sawyer. Even Braunmuller and Hattaway compare these two works as well: “The play, unlike the pamphlet, places as much stress on the poverty of heroine and the way in which she is harassed by wealthy neighbours as it does on her ‘malice’ and consequent dealings with the Devil” (116).

However, Mother Sawyer is not the only female character in this play. The characters of Winifred, Susan and her sister Katherine are significant in some way as well. Each of them embodies a special personal quality. For instance Susan embodies innocence and gentleness that lead to becoming the victim of evil. Her essential weakness is her passivity that is highlighted when dying and still calmly talking to her husband, her murder. Katherine than represents rather some kind of kindliness, and

Winifred personifies honesty. However, Mother Sawyer is the most significant woman in the play and she is not the prototype for all women. Therefore she is the focus of this thesis.

Mother Sawyer is depicted as an old and lonely person living on the margins of society. When she first appears, she is described as “Poor, deform’d and ignorant, / And like a Bow buckl’d and bent together” (II.i.4-5). Though she is poor, she does not steal, only sometimes few sticks, and she does not intend to hurt anybody. However, due to her nature and lifestyle she is perceived as a wrong person and avoided and rejected by society. In fact she is painfully aware of this position in society: “Still vexed! Still tortured [...] I am shunned / And hated like a sickness; made a scorn / To all degrees and

44 sexes” (II.i.132-135). However, she is not a bad person, but the ill-treatment of society causes her grudge and the feeling of bitterness. As Mother Sawyer claims:

Why, then, on me,

Or any lean old beldam? Reverence one

Had wont to wait on age; now an old woman,

Ill-favoured grown with years, if she be poor,

Must be called bawd or witch.

(IV.i.188-192)

Society is an important factor. Its approach in general and attitudes of some individuals concretely, for instance Old Banks, affect her in particular ways: they especially provoke her into signing the deal with the Devil and her execution can be perceived as a result of this provocation. Dekker, Ford and Rowley create this way a complete picture of the society surrounding Sawyer and circumstances under which she lives in contrast with Goodcole who rather condemns her without considering all the facts. The society is uncompromising and Sawyer's bitterness is the consequence of the social pressures on her. As she says:

If every poor old woman

Be trod on thus by slaves, reviled, kicked, beaten

As I am daily, she to be revenged

Had need turn witch.

(IV.i.158-161)

These pressures mentioned above not only provoke Mother Sawyer but they raise questions why she is the blamed one:

And why on me? why should

The envious world

45

Throw all their scandalous malice upon me?

’Cause I am poor deformed and ignorant.

(II.i.1-4)

She gives herself an answer: she is an eccentric, old and poor woman, and the society lacks education therefore people blame her and accuse her of all bad things happening in the village. Therefore she is desperate for and worried about her position in society she asks herself:

Would some power, good or bad,

Instruct me which way I might be reveng’d,

Upon this Churl, I'd go out of myself,

And give this fury leave to dwell within

This ruin’d Cottage, ready to fall with age

(II.i.102-106)

These lines are crucial; even though she is aware of the harm caused by society she is totally oblivious to and careless about the consequences of her words and forthcoming results. Moreover, she can be viewed as little naive and ignorant. When the

Dog43 embodying the devil appears, she signs the pact with him, thereby she creates a bond or a relationship between them. In fact, by signing the deal she turns the fantasy of people into reality. As Atkinson says: “Drawn by the furtherance of her revenge, and increasingly by the affection that the Dog apparently offers her in her otherwise isolated existence, she is unable to resist the blandishments of the devil” (431). The fact is that the relationship between them is unbalanced. Whilst Mother Sawyer is dependent on the

43 The Dog in the play is of considerable importance. As Hoy mentions: „The dog can function so effectively in a variety of dramatic contexts: as mischievous devil [...]; as witch’s familiar carrying out Mother Sawyer’s desperate schemes for revenge; as demon ever lurking at hand to catch the soul…” (3: 238). 46

Dog, he shows that the only reason of their meeting is his profit, and he demonstrates total independence from her.

Mother Sawyer becomes aware of her misunderstanding of their relationship absolutely at the end when she unfortunately cannot change her fate anymore. Her fate is set and when going to the gallows it seems that there is no hope for achievement of salvation. On the other hand, Atkinson analyzes the final part subsequently: “[...] she does finally leave the stage with some sense of having attained, with difficulty, a new measure of goodness in her repentance” (432). This repentance is caused just by her realization of the wrongness of her deal with the devil and of the fact that evil beats good.

The struggle between good and evil is one of the most significant themes of the play and appears in other Dekker's plays as well. In this case, Dekker does not blame

Mother Sawyer for the crimes she commits. Her depravity lies rather in her bad decisions and in the fact that she succumbs to the devil. However, her biggest sins are signing over her soul and her weakness that allowed her to do so, not her desire for revenge. Even though she tries to defend herself by claiming that there are crimes that are not punished by the society and that she cannot be blamed for everything, she is first ostracized by the community and then found guilty. She even asks questions like “A

Witch? Who is not?” and “Is every Devil mine?”. The authors do not answer, besides the answer would probably be ‘no’. But concerning the struggle between good and evil she is guilty therefore she must be punished.

In conclusion, Mother Sawyer is not a negative character. She is influenced by the society as much as she lets the Dog change fantasy into reality and by signing the pact with him she becomes a real witch. Therefore it is not Mother Sawyer but the society that should be blamed and accused. Even though Dekker, Ford and Rowley had

47 to observe the real trial and Goodcole’s pamphlet they were able to create an impassioned story with a likeable character.

48

6 The Similarities and Differences among Bellafront, Moll Cutpurse and Mother

Sawyer

This chapter is a summary of the observations in the previous chapters. It compares all three analyzed female heroines from different points of view. The concentration is focused on three main features: the heroines’ position in society, their reactions to these positions and their (possible) conversions. The purpose of this chapter is to show that even though Dekker created three different female characters, that at first sight do not have anything in common, they share some similar features.

As far as the three heroines’ position in the society is concerned, Dekker discusses this topic throughout all these three plays. Not only that this feature is well depicted in Dekker’s work, but Bellafront’s, Moll Cutpurse’s and Mother Sawyer’s positions are more or less similar. First, all of them are women – this is the basic fact that influences their position in society, their further progress and all decisions they make or are going to make. Generally, people of that era had clear expectations about the position of men and women in society and of their roles in family – the socially constructed terms breadwinner and homemaker are associated with this era. As Worell claims: “Socially constructed means that they arise not because of innate differences between women and men and their abilities and predispositions, but rather from culturally accepted rules, from relationships of power and authority, and from differences in economic opportunities” (418). All these economic opportunities, the disbalance of power between men and women influence three mentioned heroines as well. Women in general could not enter some professions (medicine, law, politics etc.) and they were not allowed to enter a university or a school and to vote. More or less, all three plays are about women’s and men’s role, their positions and attitudes towards both of these groups in society. In conclusion, Elizabethan society was patriarchal and this

49 fact is obvious in Dekker’s plays as well in the lives of three analysed heroines. Second, all three heroines are single women. Because women were expected to get married and to become dependent on their husbands, the singleness is actually one of the disadvantages that disable them. They were not allowed to go to some places, to hold offices etc. Generally, single women at that era had a lower status; the social status of a single woman notably increased when she got married. Moreover, they attracted attention by being single; they were even looked upon with suspicion therefore they try to solve the problem and to protect themselves with cross-dressing (the feature of cross- dressing appears mainly in The Roaring Girl, however, some signs can be found in The

Honest Whore as well). Third, concerning the class, they all are lower-class single women. The fact is that lower-class Elizabethan women had to obey their husbands and men in general as well as the upper-class women. The difference was in women’s education – upper-class women were taught manners, music, dance etc.; on the other hand, the only sphere in that lower class women were taught was the household chores.

That is one of the most striking differences even though there exist more such dissimilarities including clothes, manners etc. Bellafront, Moll Cutpurse and Mother

Sawyer are all single lower class women. This position in society influences them but it influences the view of society on them as well. From this position the pressure of the society originates. All three heroines are under pressure that stipulates their deeds, behaviour and emotions. Though Bellafront is an honest whore, society judges her and criticizes her. Moll Cutpurse is another single woman who embodies the paradox of gender disbalance. Mother Sawyer, the third character, is supposed to be a witch mainly due to three features mentioned above – female gender, the singleness and belonging to the lower class (her loneliness, weirdness, age and bodily deformity can be discussed – whether they are parts of her character or whether are some of these features rather the

50 consequences of the pressure of society). To summarize, all three characters are the products of society, its expectations and standards and their qualities are the consequences of the pressure of society. Mother Sawyer’s words can serve as the evidence:

Some call me witch,

And being ignorant of myself, they go

About to teach me how to be one.

(II.i.9-11)

However, the significant fact is that some characters are able to admit prejudice originating from judging these women the same way as the rest of the society does. For instance, Sir Alexander in The Roaring Girl seems to be aware of his previous falsehood and prejudice when saying:

To all which shame and grief in me cry guilty.

Forgive me; now I cast the world’s eyes from me

And look upon thee freely with mine own.

(V.ii.242-4)

Though the position of these heroines is rather similar, their reactions and responses differ. Moll Cutpurse and Bellafront can be compared (in fact, Bellafront is a whore, however, some characters consider Moll to be a whore, or some kind of monster, as well); they are both active characters. However, the cause of their activity differs.

Bellafront’s reaction is provoked by a man thereby she realizes her low status and decides to struggle for female independence and change her status. On the other hand

Moll's actions are based on her anxiety about social inequities, her bravery and honour.

Actually, Moll is not unsatisfied with her position or with the attitude of people around

51 her even though they perceive her as a strange person and her cross-dressing is one of the reasons why they do so. Sir Alexander openly expresses this opinion:

Hoyda! Breeches! What, will he marry a monster

with two trinkets? What age is this? If the wife go in

breeches, the man must wear long coats like a fool.

(II.ii.93-95)

Moll rather attempts to confirm her current position. On the contrary Mother

Sawyer can be perceived as a passive character that accepts the situation as it is and is unable to alter it. She criticizes the society for being cruel and harsh however, this is the only sort of revolt that she is able to raise.

If every poor old woman

Be trod on thus by slaves, reviled, kicked, beaten

As I am daily, she to be revenged

Had need turn witch.

(IV.i.158-161)

Even though readers are not provided with the evidence whether she really is or is not a witch, they may view her like it because the do not witness any courageous and strong defence against this judgment. In conclusion, whilst Moll and Bellafront are active characters, Mother Sawyer is a passive person who does not struggle at all.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to bear in mind the fact that Mother Sawyer’s fate was established therefore any significant revolt was not conceivable.

The consequences of the heroines’ reactions to the contempt of society differ as well. Bellafront experiences a crucial change that is conditioned not only by the pressure of society but the man she loves participates on it as well. Moll does not change at all, however, she proves to be a strong woman already from the beginning.

52

She is capable to confront society and any position that she finds herself in no matter how harsh this position is. However, she keeps standing removed from all social connections and social interactions; her reactions do not help her to improve her status at all. Mother Sawyer is condemned to the most distinctive fate. Influenced by the death of a real witch Elizabeth Sawyer, Dekker lets her heroine die. Readers can be impressed by some of her speeches and her helplessness, and they can even regret her. However, it is this helplessness and her naivety in the relationship with the Dog that cause this inevitable fate. To conclude, Thomas Dekker treats Mother Sawyer otherwise from several reasons, succumbing to the devil is definitely one of them, however, he follows the fate of real Elizabeth Sawyer. Nevertheless, Mother Sawyer is not able to resist all the pressures of society and the temptation to revenge, this is one of the reasons why her fate differs from the ones of Moll and Bellafront.

The fact is that Thomas Dekker gives all his heroines an opportunity for change.

Nevertheless, each of the heroines accepts the possibility in a different way. Bellafront is the one that undergoes the most significant conversion. She decides to experience such a change just due to the fierce criticism of a man she loves who treats her with contempt:

To give those tears a relish, this I add:

Y’are like the Jews, scatter’d, in no place certain,

Your days are tedious, your hours burdensome

(II.i.400-402)

Even though she converts, Dekker tests her whether she is able to persist and not to succumb to Hippolito and her old life. She refuses him therefore she becomes a stronger woman and her conversion is completed. In The Roaring Girl there is no stimulus that would encourage Moll to change herself even though the pressures of society mentioned

53 above can be seen as one of the stimuli. Nevertheless, she longs to be the same and persist with her attitudes, for instance with her opinion on men and marriage:

[I] have the head now of myself and am man enough

for a woman; marriage is but a chopping and changing,

where a maiden loses one head and has a worse i’ th’

place.

(IV.43-7)

Therefore she refuses to convert and to conform to the requirements of society and chooses to fight for her concerns in the state she is. Mother Sawyer embodies the third pole of dealing with that possibility of conversion. She converts due to the pressures of society, however, she becomes supposed witch. She undergoes this conversion first unconsciously but at the moment she signs the pact with the Devil, she makes the crucial decision herself. Dekker punishes this conversion; first because it signifies

Mother Sawyer being a weak person, second because she dramatically declines by making this decision. Therefore she must be punished because she has chosen the easiest and the worst way of dealing with the opportunity to change herself. Thomas

Dekker introduces three different heroines and three dissimilar ways of handling with the given chance. Whereas Bellafront takes the advantage of the given change, Mother

Sawyer embodies the total opposite – she neglects her change or she even uses it wrongly. Moll Cutpurse stands between them by not choosing either the positive or the negative transition.

In conclusion, Moll Cutpurse, Bellafront and Mother Sawyer share similar positions in society – this feature connects all of them. However, the next two analysed features, their reactions to these positions and the possibility of their conversions, differ.

In each of these three heroines Thomas Dekker introduces three modes how to react to

54 this unfair position (to alter it, not notice it, and complain it but not improve it) and how to convert herself (convert to better, not convert at all and convert to worse).

55

Conclusion

This thesis has dealt with three heroines of the plays written by Thomas Dekker in the seventeenth century. One of the goals of this thesis was to present Thomas

Dekker as an author who did not gain such popularity as his contemporaries like

William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton and others even though he was engaged in many plays and collaborated with many authors. His ability to produce a detailed description of characters and situations therefore enhanced the value of some works. He collaborated with many authors, for instance with Robert Wilson, Henry

Chettle, Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton and others.

Even though the main goal of this thesis was to analyse Bellafront, Moll

Cutpurse and Mother Sawyer, three Dekker’s female heroines, and find out the similarities and differences among them, the theoretical part first of all briefly introduced Thomas Dekker. The most significant information about Thomas Dekker’s life and his works as well as facts about the genre of drama in the Elizabethan and

Jacobean eras were presented. These parts were rather brief; however, they provided useful facts about the drama and its changes during that period. A particular emphasis was put on the feature of collaboration because Thomas Dekker worked on most of his plays with another author, often with more than one, and because collaboration was a necessary part of writing in that period. Therefore some names and plays were stated to create the picture of the immense variety of the works that Thomas Dekker wrote. All these facts were mentioned to present a realistic picture of the drama of this period and provide a background for the following chapters.

In the following three chapters the three chosen plays, The Honest Whore, The

Roaring Girl and The Witch of Edmonton, were shortly introduced to create a background for the later analysis; the synopsis of each of the plays was provided as

56 well. As far as The Honest Whore is concerned, the relationship between men and women was one of the focuses of the chapter due to its significance for the whole thesis.

Dealing with The Roaring Girl, the position of single women in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century society was elaborated because this issue relates more or less to all analysed works. When analyzing The Witch of Edmonton a particular emphasis was put on the feature of witchcraft and its evolution in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century

England. The most significant features of each of the three plays that affect the development of the three heroines were presented that way. The final part of each chapter was dedicated to the main female heroine. Her character as well as her position in society was introduced. Whilst these three chapters deal separately with one of the analyzed works, the final chapter is a comparative one and compiles all the facts mentioned in the previous three chapters.

The main argument of this work was that Thomas Dekker created three female heroines that share some similarities as well as some differences and their characters supplied the requirements of the drama of that time. The whole text of the thesis and all the information mentioned in all chapters led to the final chapter that concluded all the facts, provided the comparison of three above-mentioned women and verified the main argument of the thesis. The concentration was focused on three main features: the heroines’ position in society, their reactions to these positions and their (possible) conversions. Whilst their position in the society is more or less similar (each of them is a single woman form a lower class living on the edge of the society), their reactions to these positions differ. Bellafront decides to change this position, Moll Cutpurse is aware of this position but she accepts it and Mother Sawyer complains about that, however, she does not improve it at all. The three female heroines differ in the way they convert as well. Bellafront converts to better, Moll Cutpurse stays the same throughout the play

57 and Mother Sawyer converts to worse. In conclusion, Thomas Dekker created three women characters that share some similarities as well as some differences.

58

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62

Czech Resume

Tato práce se zabývá třemi hrami Thomase Dekkera, spisovatele žijícího na přelomu šestnáctého a sedmnáctého století. Jelikož autor nedosáhl takové popularity jako někteří jeho současníci, je v práci stručně shrnut jeho život, tvorba a také nastíněn jeho přínos světové literatuře. Dílo je tedy úzce spjato s tzv. Alžbětínským a

Jakobínským dramatem, právě proto se práce taktéž soustředí na změny divadla a dramatu, aby tak byly poskytnuty obecné informace k lepšímu zařazení Thomase

Dekkera. Jelikož více než polovina tvorby tohoto autora je výsledkem spolupráce s dalšími autory, je zde také zmíněn význam a nutnost takovéto spolupráce v daném období.

V této práci je pozornost věnována třem konkrétním dílům Thomase Dekkera:

The Honest Whore (Počestná děvka), The Roaring Girl a The Witch of Edmonton

(Čarodějnice z Edmontonu) a jejich hlavním hrdinkám: Bellafront, Moll Cutpurse a

Elizabeth Sawyer. Jedná se o tři ženy, které jsou na první pohled rozdílné, ale při detailnějším zkoumání mohou být nalezeny jisté podobnosti. Práce si klade za cíl všechna tři díla stručně popsat, shrnout jejich hlavní problematiku a poté popsat vybrané hrdinky. Poslední kapitola shromážděná fakta sumarizuje a poskytuje srovnání těchto tří hrdinek.

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English Resume

This thesis focuses on three plays written by Thomas Dekker, an author living at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Because Thomas Dekker received less attention than his contemporaries, this work summarizes his life, creation and contribution to world literature. He is closely connected with the Elizabethan and

Jacobean drama therefore the thesis deals with the changes of theatre and drama as a genre. These facts are mentioned to provide a complete picture and some kind of background. Due to the fact that more than a half of Thomas Dekker’s works are the products of collaboration, the necessity of collaboration is presented in this work as well.

Three plays written by Thomas Dekker, The Honest Whore, The Roaring Girl and The Witch of Edmonton and their main heroines Bellafront, Moll Cutpurse and

Mother Sawyer are the subjects of this thesis. These three women are at first sight different, however, after careful observation some similarities can be found. The aim of this work is to summarize these three plays and describe the chosen female characters.

The last chapter summarizes all the facts gathered in this work and provides a comparison of the three heroines and their differences and similarities.

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