Experimentation Through Disguise in Shakespearean Comedies
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EXPERIMENTATION THROUGH DISGUISE IN SHAKESPEAREAN COMEDIES ____________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University Dominguez Hills ____________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in English ____________ by Melvianne Quarles Andersen Summer 2019 THESIS: EXPERIMENTATION THROUGH DISGUISE IN SHAKESPEAREAN COMEDIES AUTHOR: MELVIANNE QUARLES ANDERSEN APPROVAL PAGE APPROVED: ______________________________ Kimberly Huth, Ph.D. Thesis Committee Chair ______________________________ Debra Best, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________ Helen Oesterheld, Ph.D. Committee Member COPYRIGHT PAGE Copyright by MELVIANNE QUARLES ANDERSEN 2019 All Rights Reserved DEDICATION Mike, This… this is for you. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. —King James Version Gal. 6.9 Unlike any other experience I have had, writing a thesis has been an extremely solitary endeavor. It becomes disheartening to work in the isolation required to complete it. A strong support system makes all the difference in the world. I offer my most heartfelt gratitude to those who supported me during this grueling process. To my mother, Alicia, who always put her children first: thank you for the example you set for me, for the long talks, and for the constant love and support. I always know that you have my back in any situation. You are an amazing woman. Thank you for who you are and for who you helped me become. You made me believe I could do and be anything, and that nothing is impossible. I love you with all my heart. My sister and brother, Akida and Jahid, have always provided a place of safety and laughter. We have had some wonderful experiences together. Being able to reach out to you both has helped me get through some of the toughest times in my life. Just knowing that you are there has made me want to do and be better. My thesis committee became an integral part of my support system: Dr. Kimberly Huth who encouraged me to join the MA program in the first place, then pointed out the kernel of wisdom that eventually became this thesis; Dr. Debra Best who transitioned from the Graduate Coordinator who took a chance on me to a true mentor and friend; and Dr. Helen Oesterheld who throughout the long grueling process remained enthusiastic about my work, even when I didn’t. v My DH Friends became like family and are too numerous to name. Lastly, to my Father God, who has set before me “life and death, blessing and cursing”; I choose life. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS APPROVAL PAGE ........................................................................................................................................ II COPYRIGHT PAGE .................................................................................................................................... III DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................................. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... V ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................................VIII CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................................. 13 LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST AND KNOWLEDGE IN DISGUISE ............................................................... 13 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................................. 33 EXPERIMENTING WITH ORLANDO’S LOVE IN AS YOU LIKE IT ..................................................... 33 CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................................. 49 THE VALUE OF PORTIA IN THE MERCHANT OF VENICE .................................................................. 49 CHAPTER 5 ................................................................................................................................................. 68 EPILOGUE ................................................................................................................................................... 68 WORKS CITED ........................................................................................................................................... 72 vii ABSTRACT This study explores Shakespeare’s use of experimentation in three plays: Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like It, and The Merchant of Venice. In each play, the female protagonist dons a disguise to experiment with her love interest, testing his suitability as a husband, and developing agency for herself in the relationship. Only in the triangulation of disguise, experimentation, and comedy does this agency become fully realized. The various iterations of the experimentation provide the women an avenue to acquire agency in their romantic relationships. These iterations also illustrate Shakespeare’s engagement with Early Modern scientific discourse. Each play approaches the experiment differently and achieves different results. That difference reveals the true nature of each relationship. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Recent scholarship in Shakespearean studies has focused on what Shakespeare knew about science. Howard Marchitello argues that Shakespeare includes machinery in his texts, and experimentation produces machinery. Elizabeth Spiller argues that The Tempest was Shakespeare’s acknowledgement of the shift from Aristotelian based knowledge to experimental fact-based epistemology, and B.J. Sokol explores intellectual matters, such as science, that are reflected in Shakespeare’s works. Of course, the term “science” as we know it today was not used during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Contrary to popular belief, however, the term was in use in these and previous eras. In fact, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) indicates that the first use of “science” was in 1350. The OED defines this, science’s first use as “the state or fact of knowing; knowledge or cognizance of something; knowledge as a personal attribute” (“Science, n1a”). This definition provides an understanding of science as it relates to Shakespeare because of its focus on knowledge. A now archaic definition, “particular area of knowledge or study; a recognized branch of learning; spec. (in the Middle Ages) each of the seven subjects forming the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy)” (“Science, n3a”) proves inappropriate for this research because no branch of scientific study existed during the Early Modern period, and the trivium did not include it amongst its subjects. Of course, today’s more common understanding of science, “the intellectual and practical activity encompassing those branches of study that relate to the phenomena of the physical universe and their laws” (“Science, n5b”) does not apply here either. A more tangible connection between Shakespeare and science is the OED definition, “a branch of study that deals with a connected body of demonstrated truths or with observed 2 facts systematically classified and more or less comprehended by general laws, and incorporating trustworthy methods (now esp. those involving the scientific method and which incorporate falsifiable hypotheses) for the discovery of new truth in its own domain” (“Science, 4b”). This definition, with its focus on observed facts incorporating trustworthy methods for the discovery of new truth, seems to apply most effectively to Shakespeare since he incorporates observation, testing and new discoveries along with the changing nature of knowledge about the natural world in his plays. Shakespeare also included in his plays an understanding of societal norms, which he often circumvented. For example, society place limitations on those who could participate in this new understanding of science, especially women. Women’s lack of agency often limited their ability to participate in cultural activities outside the home. The Early Modern culture excluded women from practicing the general form of science that slowly developed. In her consideration of women and science Kathleen P. Long poses the questions, “what is at stake when women participate in scientific enterprises and discourses? In what contexts do women engage in scientific inquiry, how might that engagement be limited, and how do women bypass or overcome these limitations?” (18). Shakespeare devices a way to do just that. Certainly, Shakespeare has proven masterful at displaying intelligent women. He includes these knowledgeable women in all genres. However, the combination of women’s knowledge and the practices of science by women in disguise becomes more apparent within Shakespeare’s comedy plays. Shakespeare uses the stage convention of disguise to allow women to bypass social limitations and participate in experimentation. This in turn allows women to acquire agency