Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Social Class, Literacy, and Elizabeth Cary: The Participation of Servants in Early Modern Private Drama

Moran, Caitlin
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1398612946

Abstract Details

2014, Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, English.
In this paper, I investigate the possibility of servants participating in early modern dramas and the implications such performances had on class relations of that time. I argue that servants did likely perform in these dramas, using the voices of various characters to create a complex social commentary on the period's strict social structure. Through a close examination of early modern literacy rates, household politics, and private dramas, I determine that it is likely servants were capable of not only reading, but also performing in private dramas. Then, with a critical reading of Elizabeth Cary's biography and play, titled The Tragedy of Mariam, I show that early modern women often used private dramas to express their opinions of social and political issues publicly, specifically regarding gender politics. These two main points then allow me to come to my final argument. I conclude that servants might have used characters' lines to voice their own opinions regarding the constraints of class politics, allowing these servants to speak freely to the upper class that had authority over them.
Elizabeth Mackay, PhD (Advisor)
Ari Friedlander, PhD (Committee Member)
Margaret Strain, PhD (Committee Member)
47 p.
British and Irish Literature; Education History; Gender; History; Literacy; Social Structure
private drama; Elizabeth Cary; servants; early modern servants; early modern household dynamics; social structure; patriarchy; The Tragedy of Mariam; literacy; early modern literacy; participation of servants; servants in drama; Graphina

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Moran, C. (2014). Social Class, Literacy, and Elizabeth Cary: The Participation of Servants in Early Modern Private Drama [Master's thesis, University of Dayton]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1398612946

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Moran, Caitlin. Social Class, Literacy, and Elizabeth Cary: The Participation of Servants in Early Modern Private Drama. 2014. University of Dayton, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1398612946.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Moran, Caitlin. "Social Class, Literacy, and Elizabeth Cary: The Participation of Servants in Early Modern Private Drama." Master's thesis, University of Dayton, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1398612946

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

dayton1398612946
833
© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Dayton and OhioLINK.