Women in breeches and modes of masculinity in Restoration comedy
Keywords:
Restoration comedy, gender identity, masculinity, breeches rolesAbstract
The dramatic tradition that featured female characters dressed in men’s costume was revived after the theatres reopened in the Restoration, with the difference that this time these roles were played by actresses. It has been argued that the contemplation of the female body reinforced the erotization of the actresses for the sake of predominantly male audiences. Their performances in “breeches roles” have also been interpreted as evidence of a progressive acknowledgement of the social possibilities of female agency. My own contention is that these roles did not only raise female agency to a level equal – if not superior, occasionally – to male agency, they also served to disrupt certain fashionable notions on the nature of masculinity, and therefore illustrate a trend that promoted new gender modes. To argue this thesis, I will focus on three comedies that represent as many stages in the development of this trend: the anonymous The Woman Turned Bully (1675), Thomas Shadwell’s The Woman Captain (1680), and Thomas Southerne’s Sir Anthony Love (1691), all of them featuring women wearing breeches
Downloads
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
The copyright holder of the published contributions is SEDERI.The hardcopy and an open-access version of the journal will be published simultaneously. The issues will be available online in the SEDERI website (http://www.sederi.org/yearbook/) and other repositories that have signed an agreement with SEDERI.
The authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
a) SEDERI retains copyright of the essay.
b) If the author wishes to republish or rewrite the essay for another journal, or include the essay published in SEDERI in their personal repositories, or in any other way, they should contact the editors to obtain permission to do so. This will entail citing SEDERI as the original source and sending the editors a copy of the new version, or the link to the website, in case of online publishing.
The author(s) hereby warrant(s) that:
a) The essay submitted for publication is an original creation and does not infringe any copyright or property right of another journal, author or publisher.
b) The essay submitted for publication has not been previously published, whole or in part, and is not being considered for publication elsewhere.
c) Written permission has been obtained for any material from other sources included in the essay submitted for publication.