Women, class, and the language of madness in early modern English drama

Authors

  • Sandra Clark Institute of English Studies - University of London

Keywords:

madness, language, nonsense, transgression, taboo, impertinency, popular tradition, ballads, gender, liberation, imagination, sexuality

Abstract

This paper discusses the depiction of madwomen in a range of early modern English plays including some by Shakespeare in order to show how their madness operates at the intersection of gender, genre, and social class. Its particular focus is on language, and it argues that the speech styles of madwomen are essentially similar whatever their social class. For women, madness is a linguistically liberating condition, bringing together high and low cultural discourses. While stage madwomen’s language has similarities with that of madmen, it is more licentious and transgressive because the violation of social and behavioural norms is more extreme.

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Published

2021-12-16

Issue

Vol. 24 (2014)

Section

Articles

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