"Performing Marriage in Early Modern England: Wooing and Wedding in ""The Shoemaker's Holiday"", ""The Taming of the Shrew"", ""The Spanish Tragedy"", and ""Titus Andronicus"

In Chapter One I draw on and rethink social history and performance theory to investigate drama's unique and self-conscious role in reshaping marital ideologies. Chapter Two argues that The Shoemaker's Holiday's clandestine wedding allows Rose to work against her father's demands, against class endogamy, and toward a choice which provides her with economic and emotional benefits. Chapter Three argues that The Taming of the Shrew challenges the notion that early modern marriage merely indoctrinated couples into dominant/submissive gender roles, suggesting that Kate deftly works from within marriage to incorporate her wit and sexuality even into her performances of subjection. Chapter Four argues that The Spanish Tragedy's Bel-Imperia only appears to acquiesce in her dynastic arranged marriage so that she can use its very rituals to rebel against familial, political and social order. Chapter Five argues that Titus Andronicus' Lavinia and Tamora disruptively enact the wooing and wedding rituals which reiterate dynastic marriage; their exchanges, betrothals, and marriages thus emphasize that marriage can make the state vulnerable rather than secure.

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

• Smith, Amy Lou

Contributors dc:contributor

• Carol Thomas Neely

• Theater

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI9990145

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/81518