DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit “Intriguing Heroines and Scheming Servants. Unconventional Female and Lower-Class Characters in Selected Plays by Susanna Centlivre and Mary Davys” Verfasserin Christine Grossberger angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. phil.) Wien, 2008 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 344 353 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: LA Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreuerin / Betreuer: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Margarete Rubik CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by OTHES 2 3 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank Univ.-Prof. Dr. Margarete Rubik, the first female Professor of English Literature at the University of Vienna, for sparking my interest in Restoration and eighteenth-century drama and for her ongoing support during the completion of this thesis. I would also like to thank Jessica Munns, editor of Restoration and Eighteenth- Century Theatre Research for making Jane Milling’s valuable article “A Gotham Election: Women and Performance Politics” available for me. Additionally, I would like to thank Susan Glover for providing me with bibliographical reference of her article “Laying Claim to Title: Mary Davys and Authorial Dispossession.” Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my partner, Michael Schmid, and to the fulfilment of our dreams, to my parents, Silvia and Alfred, to my siblings Gabriele, Gerhard, and Günter Grossberger, and to my second family, Roswitha and Peter Schmid. Thank you all for your loving and understanding support, motivation, and encouragement. 4 5 CONTENTS I. SETTING THE PLAYS AND THEIR PLAYWRIGHTS IN CONTEXT ............. 9 1. Introduction ............................................................................................ 9 2. Establishing the historical and political context............................... 12 2.1. End of the Interregnum and Restoration of the Stuart monarchy .. 12 2.2. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 - William III and Mary II .............. 15 2.3. Queen Anne 1702-1714 ................................................................ 16 2.4. George I 1714-1727 ...................................................................... 17 2.5. The problem of periodisation ......................................................... 17 3. Social context of the playwrights ....................................................... 19 3.1. Life in early eighteenth-century England ....................................... 19 3.1.1. The court, the courtiers, and the City ............................................. 20 3.1.2. The upper classes: nobility and gentry .......................................... 20 3.1.2.1. Marriage ........................................................................................ 22 3.1.2.2. Education ...................................................................................... 23 3.1.3. Middle class and merchants .......................................................... 24 3.1.4. Lower classes ................................................................................ 26 3.2. Women .......................................................................................... 27 3.2.1. Social situation and education ....................................................... 27 3.2.2. Legal situation ............................................................................... 28 3.2.3. Marriage ........................................................................................ 29 3.2.4. Motherhood and childbirth ............................................................. 31 3.2.5. Widows and spinsters .................................................................... 33 3.2.6. Work .............................................................................................. 36 3.2.7. Political involvement ...................................................................... 39 4. Theatrical conventions and context ................................................... 42 4.1. Theatres ........................................................................................ 42 4.2. Audiences ...................................................................................... 44 4.3. Acting............................................................................................. 46 4.4. The craft of playwriting ................................................................... 48 6 5. Popular dramatic genres and their “major” and “minor” representatives ............................................................................................... 50 5.1. Serious drama ............................................................................... 50 5.2. Italian opera and ballad-opera ....................................................... 52 5.3. Other forms of entertainment ......................................................... 53 5.4. Farce ............................................................................................. 54 5.5. Comic drama and its sub-genres ................................................... 57 5.5.1. The development of Restoration comedy ...................................... 59 5.5.2. Augustan comedy and the time of transgression: humane comedy and reform comedy ....................................................................................... 62 5.5.3. Spanish intrigue comedy or Spanish romance .............................. 63 5.6. The canon: “major” comic playwrights ........................................... 64 5.7. A short history of female writers of Restoration comedy ............... 66 5.8. Susanna Centlivre (1669?-1723) – a major female playwright ..... 72 5.8.1. The Busie Body (1709) .................................................................. 74 5.8.2. A Gotham Election (written in 1715) .............................................. 76 5.9. Mary Davys (1674-1732) – a minor female playwright .................. 78 5.9.1. The Northern Heiress (1715) ........................................................ 80 5.9.2. The Self-Rival (published 1725) .................................................... 82 5.10. Minor vs. major female playwright ................................................. 83 5.11. General differences in plays by male and female dramatists and the issue of the female playwrights’ ambivalence .............................................. 84 II. WHAT’S IN THE PLAYS .............................................................................. 90 6. Stock plots and stock characters ...................................................... 90 7. Male characters in Restoration comedy ............................................ 92 7.1. The rake or gallant ......................................................................... 92 7.1.1. The libertine rake ........................................................................... 92 7.1.2. The old rake ................................................................................... 93 7.1.3. The reformed rake ......................................................................... 94 7.1.4. Soldiers .......................................................................................... 96 7.2. The rake’s or gallant’s friend ........................................................ 100 7.3. The fop ........................................................................................ 100 7.3.1. Bareface (The Northern Heiress) ................................................. 101 7.3.2. Marplot (The Busie Body) ............................................................ 103 7 7.4. The male humour-butt ................................................................. 106 7.5. The male blocking figure .............................................................. 107 7.6. Some minor male characters ....................................................... 108 8. Female characters in Restoration comedy ...................................... 109 8.1. The virtuous heroine or coquette ................................................. 109 8.2. Active heroines in the plays ......................................................... 111 8.2.1. Miranda (The Busie Body) ........................................................... 111 8.2.2. Maria (The Self-Rival) .................................................................. 116 8.2.3. Kitty/ Emilia (The Self-Rival) ........................................................ 119 8.2.4. Isabella and Louisa (The Northern Heiress) ................................ 122 8.3. The heroine’s friend ..................................................................... 126 8.4. “Good-natur’d old Maid” vs. “Affected Old Maid” ......................... 127 8.5. The female humour-butt .............................................................. 133 8.6. Mothers and wives ....................................................................... 135 9. Portrayal and power of characters from the lower and lower middle classes .......................................................................................................... 137 9.1. The development of the servant figure in English drama ............. 137 9.2. Portrayal of individual servants .................................................... 140 9.2.1. Scheming maids .......................................................................... 140 9.2.2. A clever servant ........................................................................... 145 9.3. Portrayal of tradesmen and -women ............................................ 147 10. Party politics