Nursery of the Nation: Mothers, Midwives and National Identity on the Eighteenth-Century Comedic Stage

The fifth chapter explores the alternative representation of parental influence provided in Aphra Behn's Sir Patient Fancy (1678). Sir Patient, an absurd patriarch, falls victim to two mother figures who subvert his control in order to secure happiness for their families. In doing so, they ensure the perpetuation of a more appropriate version of masculine authority. These positive representations of female authority challenge popular beliefs about women's duplicity by presenting strong female figures who responsibly fulfill their maternal roles without the tyranny that characterizes men in similarly powerful positions. Behn also reverses common representations of the female body as weak and permeable by making Sir Patient a hypochondriac who displays the fallibility of his own body. His ailing body, in turn, symbolizes his lack of fitness to rule. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Savage, Elizabeth Anne

Contributors dc:contributor

• Suvir Kaul

• Literature, English

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3314883

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/81439