Representing Women in Renaissance Drama: From Silence to Agency

This course will offer fascinating insight into the world of English Renaissance drama and will provide an analysis of social views on women, power and sexuality, from the Church to the Courts of Elizabeth I and James I. Renaissance women, as portrayed in art, literature and treatises, were perceived as innately sinful and needing to be silenced – to be submissive, modest, and chaste – and subjugated to the male head of the household in all matters legal, social and physical. But many women were also in positions of authority and exerted power over the national and familial sphere through their actions and their dignity in defiance of stereotypes and persecution. By examining contemporary views of women set against critical readings of Paulina and Hermione in The Winter’s Tale and the duchess in The Duchess of Malfi, we will see how drama created space for depictions of women’s strength, stoicism, agency and solidarity.


Group Leader: SARAH J MCKENZIE
Venue: Online
Meets on: Monday 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Starting: Apr 7
Sessions: 6
Class Size: 25
Teaching Style: Seminar
Weekly Preparation: 1 - 2 hours
Dr Sarah J McKenzie is the Director of Academic Operations for Shorelight, an education company based in Boston. She has a PhD in Death and Inheritance in Early Modern Literature from the University of Warwick. She has taught many literature and drama courses over her career, both here in the USA and in the UK, and continues to lecture when she can to international students. Originally from the UK, Sarah has called Boston home for the last six years. She is an avid walker and charity fundraiser.