Abstract

A critical analysis of the position of women in English Renaissance drama, this book examines the impact of male domination in the drama and non-dramatic treatises of the day and scrutinizes the kaleidoscopic images of women found in selected plays of Shakespeare, Webster, and Middleton. The book shows how the masculine code led to disintegration, defiance, and death for women, and to madness for men. Set against a generalized image of archetypal Eve, woman nevertheless could emerge as an individual, as a «splendid fighter for self».