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Performing the Petrarchan Mistress in Early Modern England

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Performing the Petrarchan Mistress in Early Modern England Disappearing Acts: Performing the Petrarchan Mistress in Early Modern England Author: Katherine Rose Kellett Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/1405 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2010 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of English DISAPPEARING ACTS: PERFORMING THE PETRARCHAN MISTRESS IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND a dissertation by KATHERINE R. KELLETT submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2010 © copyright by KATHERINE R. KELLETT 2010 ABSTRACT Disappearing Acts: Performing the Petrarchan Mistress in Early Modern England Author: Katherine R. Kellett Advisors: Mary Thomas Crane and Caroline Bicks Disappearing Acts interrogates the concept of Petrarchism and the role of the Petrarchan mistress in early modern England. Critics from the early modern period onward have viewed Petrarchism as limiting to women, arguing that it obstructs female agency. This view stems from a long history of trying to establish the parameters of Petrarchism itself, a body of literature whose inchoate nature makes it difficult to define. Disappearing Acts takes as its starting point the instability of Petrarchism, embracing the ways in which it functions as a discourse without boundaries, whose outlines are further blurred by its engagement with other genres, forms, and contexts. Examining the intersections between Petrarchism and other early modern discourses—religious, political, theatrical, humanist, romantic—illuminates the varied ways in which the role of the mistress is deployed in early modern literature and suggests that, as a term, the “Petrarchan mistress” loses the coherence that critics often impose on it. Rarely ever entirely there or entirely missing, the figure of the mistress instead signifies an unstable, liminal role that results in far more complex representations of women. This project emphasizes the complexities of the Petrarchan mistress and examines this figure as a performative role that is negotiated rather than simply inhabited as a prison. Each chapter traces the intersections between Petrarchism and another early modern discourse in England. Chapter One examines the overlap between Reformist language and Petrarchan language, particularly in the “absent presence” of the Eucharist and the female beloved. I argue that the elusive persona of the Protestant martyr Anne Askew is produced by the conjunction of Petrarchan and Reformist discourses. Chapter Two interrogates the relationship between the theory of the king’s two bodies and the concept of the Petrarchan female double, pairing Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene with the writings of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. I suggest that female queens of the sixteenth century both secured and imperiled their authenticity by comparing themselves to a false version. Chapter Three examines the relationship between Petrarchism and the figure of the ghost in early modern England. I consider Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale in relation to the female complaint, a popular genre appended to sonnet sequences in which a ghost complains about her fate, and I argue that Shakespeare’s evocation of ghostliness enables Hermione to return from her immobilized position to perform a Pertrarchan role in which she can speak her own desires. Chapter Four reexamines Mary Wroth’s character, Pamphilia, as two different characters produced by two different genres: one by the prose romance The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania and one by the sonnet sequence Pamphilia to Amphilanthus . While the Pamphilia of the sonnets proclaims her constancy, the Pamphilia of the romance exposes the tensions produced by the varied historical uses of the term in discourses from martyrology to stoicism. i CONTENTS Acknowledgments ii Introduction 1 1 Absent Presence: Women and the Elusive Body in Reformation England 26 2 Queenship and the Female Counterfeit in Early Modern England 72 3 Old Wives’ Tales, the Petrarchan Complaint, and The Winter’s Tale 135 4 Questioning Constancy in Mary Wroth’s Urania 186 Conclusion 234 Bibliography 236 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have benefited from the tremendous support and encouragement I have received from the people in my life as I worked on this project, and this dissertation would not have been possible without them. First, I have been lucky to have worked with such an outstanding dissertation committee. Mary Thomas Crane, my advisor and co-chair of this dissertation, has seen me through every stage of my progress at Boston College. Always available for her students and timely in her feedback, Mary provided the crucial insight on my work that enabled me to move forward. I am in awe of both her intellect and her tireless advocacy for her graduate students. Caroline Bicks, co-chair of this dissertation, always received my ideas positively and with excitement. Caroline encouraged my interest in women writers and in performance theory, and she helped me formulate the initial idea of this dissertation. She gave me invaluable responses to my work. Amy Boesky was a wonderful reader. She asked astute questions about my work, and she always helped me to see the bigger picture. The support I received from the doctoral and dissertation fellowships at Boston College gave me the uninterrupted time I needed to complete this project, and my relationships with other members of the English department gave me new perspectives on my work. My conversations with Robert Stanton, Andrew Sofer, Dayton Haskin, Chris Wilson, Judith Wilt, and Kevin Ohi at Boston College provided me with warm encouragement and helpful guidance. My professors at Framingham State College inspired me to enter this profession in the first place, and they demonstrated the rewards iii of a life of scholarship and teaching. My undergraduate advisor, Elaine Beilin, took a continued interest in my work, and she remained an unfailing source of advice and wisdom during my years as a graduate student. I have continued to enjoy the friendships of Lorretta Holloway, Desmond McCarthy, Arthur Nolletti, Jr., and Lynn Parker. The graduate students at Boston College cultivated an atmosphere of collegiality and friendship. I have found many kindred spirits in this department, and I am especially grateful to Jaime Goodrich, Amy Witherbee, and Matthew Heitzman, who were always willing to lend a listening ear. I particularly thank Matt for taking the time to translate a poem for me from early modern French. The participants in the early modern reading collaborative—Alice Waters, Emma Perry, Anne Malchodi, Matthew Freedman, Jason Kerr, and Mary Crane—made discussing early modern literature so much fun, and they helped me brainstorm about many of the ideas present in my dissertation. Matthew VanWinkle, Sara Hong, Alex Puente, Alison Van Vort, Becky Troeger, David Tennant, and Patrick Moran were also wonderful friends and colleagues. During my years as a writing tutor at the Center for Academic Support and Advising at Framingham State College, my colleagues gave me much encouragement on my work. Many thanks to LaDonna Bridges, Katherine Horn, and Joey Gould for their support and friendship. My summer working at the Burns Library provided me with a great outlet as I worked on my dissertation. I enjoyed working with David Horn, Amy Braitsch, Elizabeth Sweeney, Matthew Heitzman, and AnneMarie Anderson on very rewarding projects, and my time there gave me a way to focus my energy on other tasks as I made progress on my chapters. iv Finally, my family supported me with much love during this long journey. My parents, Owen and Rosemarie Kellett, have always encouraged my intellectual pursuits, and they provided a strong foundation for me. They are exceptional role models. My siblings—Owen, Brian, Megan, and Maureen Kellett—as well as their significant others—Katy Kellett, Kate Kellett, and Chris Ray—have always been there for me. I have enjoyed their company and sense of humor while working on this project. I am especially indebted to my sister Maureen for taking the time to copyedit my dissertation. My in-laws, Russell and Mary Sue Brandwein, have given me enthusiastic support throughout this process. My husband, Peter Brandwein, deserves his name on this degree as well. He has taken me on countless trips to the library, patiently listened to me read my chapters aloud, and sustained me during all the times when the writing was not going so well. He is a true partner and companion, and I dedicate this dissertation to him. 1 INTRODUCTION To literary scholars, Petrarchism is a term that gives the impression of coherence. Usually defined as a body of writing that imitates Petrarch’s works, Petrarchan literature has been seen as a shaping force in early modern culture. Despite its pervasive use in criticism, however, the stability of the term “Petrarchism” is illusory, and there is no agreement in the field about what Petrarchism actually is. Some define it as a set of tropes—oxymorons, antitheses, common metaphors—while others define it by its subject matter—desire, gender relations, praise—while still others define it primarily as a form— the sonnet—that spurred imitations in the many sonnet sequences that followed Petrarch. The history of the criticism on Petrarchism traces a long struggle over how to define the term, and critics from the early modern period through today have tended to cope with the diffuseness of the term by evaluating Petrarchan works, demarcating the “good” imitators from the “bad” and “real” Petrarchism from “false.” Critics thus substitute a value judgment for a clear definition, betraying their need to establish parameters around a field of literature difficult to define. This project takes as its starting point the instability of Petrarchism. Although Petrarchism has recognizable features, it has never been confined to one form (the lyric) or one thematic issue, nor can it be defined as one set of tropes.
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