In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Bravehearts: Images of Masculinity in Shakespeare's History Plays Graham Holdemess and Carol Banks Nine of Shakespeare's chronicle history plays were written in the 1590s, the last years of Elizabeth's long reign.1 These plays are predominantly about m e n and war; they construct images of an England which was undoubtedly 'man's estate', a violent world ruled and dominated by m e n , according to masculine, military values; a bygone age in which power w a s equated with m a n , and masculinity with military prowess. The few w o m e n w h o wield power in these plays, do so by adopting the ways of men: Queen Elinor claims she is 1 Ten plays are listed as 'Histories' in the First Folio of Shakespeare's collected works. The tenth, Henry VIII, originally entitled All is True, is believed to have been produced in collaboration with John Fletcher in 1613. It was during a performance of this play that the Globe theatre was burned to the ground on June 29th of that year. Henry VIII differs significantly from the earlier histories both in content and in dramatic style. 2 William Shakespeare, Twelfe Night, or What you will, line 2564, quoted from The First Folio of Shakespeare (London: Hamlyn, 1968). All quotations from Shakespeare's plays are taken from this edition and future references, identified by line number, appear in the text. 'Man's Estate' is also the title of Coppelia Kahn's study of Masculine Identity in Shakespeare, (Berkeley: University of California Press 1981). P A R E R G O N ns 15.1 (July 1997) 138 Graham Holderness/Carol Banks 'a Souldier, . . . bound to France' (The life and death of King John, 158) Queen Margaret is described as an 'Amazonian trull' (The third Part of Henry the Sixt, 579), and most notably La Pucelle crosses the gender divide by appropriating the appearance and the fighting sktils of the aristocratic warrior, competing with m a n in single combat (The first Part of Henry the Sixt). This masculine world is very different from the Elizabethan context from which those plays emerged, a context described by contemporaries as 'effeminate and 'a woman's paradise'.4 Ruled by a w o m a n for as long as most people could remember, in the 1590s the kingdom, the power and the glory of this sceptred isle remained singularly hers—Elizabeth I's—for the virgin Queen chose never to marry and share her estate with a husband. Lower d o w n the social scale English w o m e n were gaining a reputation for freedom and insubordination. A Swiss traveUer observed in 1599 that: 'the women-folk of England . . . have far more liberty than in other lands, and know just h o w to make good use of it' and 'the m e n must put up with such ways, and m a y not punish them . . . indeed the good wives often beat their men'.5 From within such a context, and coexisting as they did with the 1590s comedies such as Loves Labour's Lost and The Merry Wiues of Windsor (plays in which w o m e n wield power), one might interpret the histories astittlemore than an opportunity for m e n to behave badly in retaliation against female supremacy, or at least to flout old-fashioned masculine ideals in the face of female power. Thomas Nashe, a young Cambridge graduate, suggested as m u c h in 1592, claiming that: 'Playes . . . borrowed out of our English Chronicles, wherein our forefathers valiant actes . . . are reuiued', might provide 'reproofe to these degenerate effeminate dayes of ours'. Masculine valour, seemingly eclipsed by female rule, might shine out again in the Elizabethan 3 Thomas Nashe's 'degenerate effeminate dayes' for example, see note below. 4 Thomas Platter's journal reprinted in Peter Razell, ed., The Journals of Two Travellers in Elizabethan England, (London: Caliban Books, 1995), p.46 5 Ibid, pp.45-6. 6 Thomas Nashe, Pierce Penilesse his Supplication to the Deuil (1592) Press Facsimile'; Aldsershot: Scolar Press, 1969), p.26. Bravehearts 139 theatre via those images of masculinity—the 'Bravehearts...

pdf

Share