Subject Formation in A Chaste Maid in Cheapside

The dynamic spatial malleability of early modern London as represented in A Chaste Maid in Cheapside reveals a fertile environment for marginal figures to develop identities that are socially and economically viable. The characters acclimate to these urban environments while reshaping the spaces in return. Open urban spaces, economic and social transactions, unclear physical delineations from one body to another—all of these expose the spatial fluidity that characterizes Middleton's play. The result is a subjectivity that is inexorably tied to its physical environment.