The Patriarchy of Shakespeare's Comedies by Marilyn L. Williamson (review)

Reviews89 at a time when reform was in the air. There is no explanation, though, for the admitted lesser importance of the Virgin, a notably "Catholic" preoccupation. The consideration of the plays in the Towneley manuscript , in line with the "unified author" approach, places greater emphasis than usual upon the Wakefield Master as "author" of the whole. But the argument here seems strained, especially on p. 117 where the accuracy of the copying of the manuscript is strangely adduced to support the concept of authorship. This is a pity because the presentation of the Wakefield Master's sense of language and history is convincing, and the exploration of the conventional identification of the nine-line stanza when it ought to be seen as a thirteener is well sustained and should change the textbooks . The treatment of the versification, including frons, cauda, and bob, is also very illuminating. As with the consideration of the Chester cycle, where there is also emphasis upon the idea of a single author, the actual evidence given in favor of uniformity of the Towneley is limited. To base the case primarily upon the survival of the manuscripts and the implied presence of one compiler does not accord with our perception of differences of texture, especially in the case of the plays in the Towneley manuscript. The leading theme for the N-Town cycle is its figurai interpretation and typological design (p. 221). In order to reach this point Professor Stevens, rightly dissatisfied by the imperfect relationship between the proclamation and the play, divides the cycle into seven narrative sections which he calls "acts" (pp. 195-209), hoping thereby to illuminate structural principles. One might go along with the divisions, but it is not easy to perceive why they should seem such an advantage to the interpretation he offers. There may indeed be figurative parallels within the cycle, but here is a case where negative evidence needs to be heard. Are there not also figurative principles at work in the other cycles? And if this is so, the primacy of this feature in N-Town needs exposition. Other aspects of his view of this cycle are much more convincing, particularly the exploration of the trial motif, and the consideration of the Mary play as an "underplot" for the cycle as a whole. There are many other aspects of these plays which are effectively handled in this book, particularly the nature of the Regynall at York, the influences of the Stanzaic Life and the Gospel of St. John on Chester, and the revision of Prima Pastorum into Alia Eorundem. The author, as one would expect, is conscious of and adroit with current work on the cycles. It all makes for a book which shows affection and respect for its subject, but the final achievement is circumscribed by the limits accepted by the author and to some extent by his handling of evidence. PETER HAPPÊ Barton Peveril College Marilyn L. Williamson. The Patriarchy of Shakespeare's Comedies. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986. Pp. 207. $24.95. Marilyn Williamson's book The Patriarchy of Shakespeare's Comedies introduces perspectives into Shakespeare criticism that will ultimately 90Comparative Drama change the shape of the discipline. Williamson's analysis of power relationships in Shakespeare's comedies combines feminist thought and poststructuralist analysis like that of Michel Foucault. She shifts the emphasis of feminist thought that has always centered on Shakespeare's female characters to the structure determining male/female relationships, the forms of patriarchy, which alters its a priori structure enough between Elizabeth and James to make the early comedies and the last comedie romances radically different. Williamson uses Foucault's thought to show that power never really lies only in one person or gender but that it resides in varying measures in one person or any relationship: "So the capacity of a Renaissance wife to make her husband a cuckold—because she is his property—is a form of power; his very possession of her invests her with power" (p. 12). Furthermore, Williamson thoroughly grounds her work in historical and sociological research; but she is very aware that "any historical moment is conceived as one in which ideas and ideologies are...