Beliefs in Virtue Versus Conduct in Elizabeth Carey’s The Tragedie of Mariam
Between the years 1602 and 1604 Elizabeth Carey is believed to have written her closet play The Tragedie of Mariam. Herod, Mariam’s husband, was believed to be dead at the beginning of the play, and so the characters experience a newfound freedom from his tyranny. From this, we see how characters understand the idea of virtue in different ways. I am going to focus on two characters, Mariam and Constabarus, in order to demonstrate how Carey creates a world in which being consistently virtuous or ethical in conduct is impossible because of their personal interests. Mariam’s privilege allows her to realize her own female agency in freedom from Herod but remains unethical
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We learn that Constabarus values public approval when his wife, Salome, discusses her decision to get a divorce so that she can marry her new lover Silleus. Constabarus says of a woman’s chastity, “How much a virtuous woman is esteemed / Thou wouldst like hell eschew deserved shame / And seek to be both chaste and chastely deemed” (1.6.392-394). Salome responds by saying that she raised Constabarus up in class by marrying him, and that “...the sons of Baba are not dead - / To me thou dost both life and fortune owe” (1.6.403-404). This leaves Constabarus feeling emasculated because what she said is true and he can only hope that she will not tell her brother, Herod, (he had previously ordered Babus’ sons to be killed.) Moreover, Constabarus’ gives a second response to the divorce, “Let all the world be topsy-turvyed quite! / Let fishes graze, beasts swim, and birds descend” (1.6.424-425). Women were supposed to be chaste, silent, and obedient, and in his eyes, Salome tries to change the “natural” order of things. Again, Constabarus feels emasculated by his wife’s actions, as well as knowing that their divorce will reflect badly on his reputation or will end in his death. His emasculation will result in his unethical conduct that leads to his friend’s
In the plays female sexuality is not expressed variously through courtship, pregnancy, childbearing, and remarriage, as it is in the period. Instead it is narrowly defined and contained by the conventions of Petrarchan love and cuckoldry. The first idealizes women as a catalyst to male virtue, insisting on their absolute purity. The second fears and mistrusts them for their (usually fantasized) infidelity, an infidelity that requires their actual or temporary elimination from the world of men, which then re-forms [sic] itself around the certainty of men’s shared victimization (Neely 127).
According to Elizabethan society, the center of Olivia’s dilemma with her marriage was ensuring her wealth, not marrying a man she loved (Joseph 170). Social class increases division among individuals in society. This play “ is not the story of a Juliet's or an Orlando's love .., but of the very realistic struggles and intrigues over the betrothal of a rich Countess, whose selection of a mate determines the future” (170). Readers looking past these boundaries created by class and gender, can find striking similarities in emotions characters have for each other. The personal struggles the characters face in this play demonstrate the obstacles that individuals faced because of their gender or place in the social hierarchy.
Imagine a world where women were completely subservient to men. Imagine what it would be like to live in a society where women were home-schooled, and not allowed to attend any type of university. What would today’s society be like if women lawyers, doctors, actors, and military soldiers were nonexistent? It would be a modern day version of the Elizabethan era in England. This was a time period where women had little rights, but the dramatic arts flourished due to Queen Elizabeth’s appreciation for them. It was during this time period that literary genius William Shakespeare wrote his many plays including The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Living in this time period caused him to look at women in a somewhat submissive way and portray them as so.
The story of Lucretia begins with men boasting about their wives, trying to determine who is the best of them all. It is clear to them that Lucretia is the winner when she is found “hard at work by lamplight upon her spinning” (Livy, 100). She then moves on to be a gracious host to all of these men, again showing success in her womanly duties. Later that night one of the visitors, Sextus Tarquinis, comes into her room, and forces himself upon her, telling her that if she does not comply he will make it look like she had an affair with on of the servants (Livy, 101). She yields to him because she does not want it to seem as if she had an affair and n...
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The title page offers an immediate insight into the patriarchal constraints placed on women in early modern England. Although The Tragedy of Mariam is the first known English play to be authored by a woman, the fact that Cary is unable to give her full name is indicative of the limitations on women writers of the period. This semi-anonymous authorship...
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