Nicholas Rowe and the Beginnings of Feminism on the London StageNicholas Rowe flourished during the first quarter of the 18thc: he was poet laureate to George I, the author of eight plays(three of which were great successes) and he was the esteemed translator of Lucan's PHARSALIA as well as the first modern editor of Shakespeare's plays. But most of all he was known as a playwright. Rowe's 'She-tragedies" gave great prominence to women characters and further developed the Whig virtues of the ruling political elite: individual freedom and a belief in a strong parliament which would bring the cause of the people before a constitutionally limited, reasonable monarchy. Professor Sennett's new monograph discusses Rowe's vision of women caught up by tragic, unreasonable threat or menace. He also explores the literary and the political stakes in late Stuart and early Hanoverian theatre.. New material on Rowe's life and his attempt to include ideas that can be described as incipient feminism are brought forward. While not a general biography, Sennett's new work is a contribution to the scholarship that has called for a new examination of Rowe and the Whig London of the early 18th century. |
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Page 24
... epilogue to The Fair Penitent where Rowe writes : Italian ladies lead but scurvy lives ; There's dreadful dealing with eloping wives ; Thus ' tis because these husbands are obeyed By force of laws which for themselves they made . With ...
... epilogue to The Fair Penitent where Rowe writes : Italian ladies lead but scurvy lives ; There's dreadful dealing with eloping wives ; Thus ' tis because these husbands are obeyed By force of laws which for themselves they made . With ...
Page 34
... epilogue to his play Tamerlane : Too well we saw what must have been our Fate , When Harmony , with Beauty joyn'd of late , Threaten'd the Ruin of our sinking State . At the end of his first tragedy , Rowe had Mrs. Bracegirdle approach ...
... epilogue to his play Tamerlane : Too well we saw what must have been our Fate , When Harmony , with Beauty joyn'd of late , Threaten'd the Ruin of our sinking State . At the end of his first tragedy , Rowe had Mrs. Bracegirdle approach ...
Page 119
... epilogue to his play , The Tragedy of Jane Shore . She had only a few years earlier penned the following words in a poem entitled , " The Introduction " ( quoted in Sitter , 160 ) : To write , or read , or think , or to enquire Wou'd ...
... epilogue to his play , The Tragedy of Jane Shore . She had only a few years earlier penned the following words in a poem entitled , " The Introduction " ( quoted in Sitter , 160 ) : To write , or read , or think , or to enquire Wou'd ...
Contents
CHAPTER ONE BACKGROUND ON THE STUDY OF NICHOLAS | 11 |
CHAPTER TWO THE BEGINNINGS OF ROWES CAREER | 25 |
CHAPTER THREE CHALLENGES FOR ACTRESSES | 47 |
Copyright | |
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