UC Irvine UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Feminist Views of the Fallen Woman: From Hrotsvit of Gandersheim to Rebecca Prichard Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7vz696r6 Author McCue, Lauren Gray Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Feminist Views of the Fallen Woman: From Hrotsvit of Gandersheim to Rebecca Prichard DISSERTATION Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Drama by Lauren Gray McCue Dissertation Committee: Professor Bryan Reynolds, Chair Professor Ketu H. Katrak Professor Emily Roxworthy Professor Mark Le Vine Professor Anthony Kubiak 2015 DEDICATION For my parents who taught me the value of education and encouraged my insatiable curiosity and Adam whose brilliance and steadfast belief in my work gave me the strength to bring my project to fruition ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii CURRICULUM VITAE viii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION x INTRODUCTION: Representations of gender based violence and prostitution 1 (forced and consensual) in western theatre I. Where are the women playwrights?: western plays about prostitution pre-1970s 2 II. Where are the women playwrights?: western plays about prostitution and sex work 4 post-1970s III. Marriage and pornography as prostitution 10 IV. Approaching the millennium: gender based violence in American and British plays 15 of the 1990s V. 2000 and beyond: gender based violence in performance 18 VI. Chapter Outline 19 Notes 29 Figures 33 CHAPTER 1: Containment strategies and outrageous myths: the prostitution problem and the emergence of the theatrical figure of the white slave I. Introduction 36 II. Woman-authored plays about prostitution, 1676-1850 38 III. Fallen, female, and contagious: Camille and the C.D. Acts 42 IV. Naturalization Act of 1870: 46 The right of the few to become naturalized American citizens V. The Page Act of 1875: prostitution and Asian immigration to the United States 47 VI. The rise of the white slave panic 48 VII. False accusations: blaming the Jews, French, and Chinese for the problem of 52 white slavery iii VIII. Rachel Crothers’s Ourselves: 58 the only woman-authored white slave play to be produced IX. Fighting the octopus: the war on white slavery 59 X. Prostitution in New York 1896-1910: 64 the Raines law hotel and impure commercial amusements XI. The immigration act of 1907: commercial amusements and sex 65 XII. Falling into white slavery: the dangerous, erotic stage 66 XIII. The Mann Act and America’s red-light districts 71 XIV. Conclusion 75 Notes 76 CHAPTER 2: From Hrotsvit to Williams: unraveling acts of gender based violence and the virgin/whore dichotomy in fallen woman plays I. Introduction 83 II. Definitions 89 III. Gender based violence and falling into prostitution: Mary in Hrotsvit’s Abraham 92 IV. A dramaturgical impossibility: Mary jumps from her small window to have sex 97 with a monk V. The art of disguise: performing the rapist (monk), rescuer (soldier), and john 98 (lover) VI. Historicizing the moral crusade to shelter virgins and rescue Magdalenes 101 VII. Fallen and stuck in prostitution: Thais in Hrotsvit’s Paphnutius 104 VIII. Corruption and discipline 106 IX. Psychological and emotional vulnerabilities 111 X. Sex trafficked after death: Drusiana in Hrotsvit’s Callimachus 112 XI. Gender based violence, twice fallen into prostitution: 116 Camille in Alexandre Dumas fils’ The Lady of the Camellias XII. Curing and stigmatizing the sickly courtesan 121 XIII. Feeling “wretched”: the failure to perform “respectability” and polite society’s 123 stigmatization of prostitution in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray XIV. “I didn’t go wrong all at one jump”: the fallen woman’s testimony of 126 gender based violence in Anna Christie XV. A historical look at prostitution and domestic work in late 19th-early 20th century 130 Minnesota iv XVI. Empathizing with the fallen woman: The Importance of Female Camaraderie 131 XVII. Performing virginity within the “love triangle” 132 XVIII. The “she-divil” and “dat ole davil sea” 133 XIX. The contamination of Blanche’s belle reve and her fall into prostitution 135 XX. Blanche performs the role of virgin 138 XXI. Dreams of spiritual purification through suffering 141 XXII. Conclusion 144 Notes 145 CHAPTER 3: The theatrical figure of the sex trafficked been-to in Kirkwood’s it felt empty, Prichard’s Dream Pill, Bissett and Smith’s ROADKILL, and Cunningham-Huston’s The Walk I. Introduction 153 II. Nigeria to Italy or the United Kingdom: the common flow of sex trafficked been-tos 158 III. Humble and rustic beginnings in Nigeria 164 IV. Spiritual bondage through juju ritual 166 V. Survivors of sex trafficking as theatrical inspiration 180 VI. Towards a conclusion 182 Notes 184 Works Cited 191 v LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1.1 western plays and musicals featuring prostitution, 1937-1966 33-34 Figure 1.2 plays/musicals about incest and child sexual abuse 34 Figure 1.3 plays about domestic violence 34 Figure 1.4 plays featuring hardcore pornography (including “snuff” films) 34 Figure 1.5 plays about sex work 35 Figure 1.6 “The Octopus on the Lake” from Federick Martin Lehman, 62 The White Slave Hell (Chicago, 1910) 101. Figure 1.7 “Dangerous Amusements—The Brilliant Entrance to Hell Itself” 67 from Ernest A. Bell, Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls, or War on the White Slave Trade (G.S. Ball, 1910) 50. Figure 1.8 “The Tragedy of The Stage” from H.M. Lytle and John Dillon, 70 Part Two: Tragedies of the White Slave, From Dance Hall to White Slavery: The World’s Greatest Tragedy (Chales C. Thompson CO, 1912) 17, 229. Figure 3.1 Adura Onashile as Martha, on left, and Mercy Ojelade as Mary, on right, 179 in St. Anne’s Warehouse 2013 production of ROADKILL. Photograph by Robert Stolarik for The New York Times. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to my committee chair, the genius Professor Bryan Reynolds, who has been my compassionate and inspirational mentor for over a decade at UC Irvine. I would not have survived graduate school without his unwavering support, friendship, and boundless creativity. I am also grateful to Professor Anthony Kubiak whose sage advice, superior intellect, and unique energy motivated and guided me during my academic journey. I am also indebted to the remaining members of my amazing dissertation committee: Professors Ketu H. Katrak, Emily Roxworthy, and Mark Le Vine. I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all of you for your scholarly feedback, patience, and generous support over the years. In addition to my committee, I would like to thank the doctoral faculty in the joint program in drama and theatre between University of California, Irvine and University of California, San Diego. It has been an honor to learn from Professors Stephen Barker, Daphne Lei, Ian Munro, Frank B. Wilderson III, Marianne McDonald, and John Rouse. I am especially grateful to Drs. Stephen Barker and Daphne Lei who helped me jump over some unanticipated academic hurdles these past few years. I would also like to thank the UC Irvine Drama Department for financial support in my doctoral studies. There are also many scholars, playwrights, artistic directors, and literary agents outside of the department who generously shared their original scripts and performance DVDs about sex trafficking that inspired the contemporary sections of my dissertation. Unfortunately I only had time to utilize some of these affective and politically significant women-authored plays about prostitution and sex trafficking, but I plan to use them in a future version of this project. In particular, I would like to sincerely thank Cora Bissett and Catherine Cunningham-Huston for sharing their time and dramatic materials with me. My doctoral colleagues, especially Dr. Glenn Kessler, Dr. Daniel Moorhead, Dr. Jaye Austin Williams, and Sam Kolodezh, were also generous with their time and I thank them for their encouragement. I also thank my friends Sarah Skaer, Paula Berkenstadt, Jennifer Kelly, Daryn Mack, Stephanie Draude, Dr. George Wang, Robyn Saxer, and Roy Rodriguez for their tolerance and emotional support. I am especially grateful to Dr. D. for his intelligence, strength, and humor. Thank you for standing steadfastly by my side this past year. I would be nothing without the love and support of my family. Over the course of graduate school, I lost my dear Grandma Dot and courageous Aunt Suzie but I also gained the wonderful Bryx family. I thank Suzie for teaching me the importance of persevering and laughing in the face of fear. I also thank the Bryx family for their wisdom, support, and the invaluable gift of travel. I also thank my sister, the Renaissance woman Dr. Christine Stockton, for being an academic role model to me during my formative years. Chris, I am fortunate to have you as my sister. I am equally lucky to have Frances and David McCue as my intelligent, loving, and supportive parents. Mom, thank you for never missing one of my shows, sewing my theatrical costumes, and cheering for me throughout this process. You taught me through example—earning your college degree at 43-years-old—that it is important, and never too late, to pursue your dreams. Dad, thank you for supporting my artistic passions, taking me to the bookstore as a kid, and making me smile with your strange sense of humor. And finally, thank you to my best friend Dr. Adam Bryx whose formidable intelligence and unconditional love sustains me. vii CURRICULUM VITAE Lauren Gray McCue DEGREES University of California, Irvine Ph.D. in Drama and Theatre, 2015 Dissertation: Feminist Views of the Fallen Woman: From Hrotsvit of Gandersheim to Rebecca Prichard Dissertation Committee: Bryan Reynolds (chair), Emily Roxworthy, Ketu H.