Abstract This thesis aims to analyze metadramatic elements in Shakespearean history plays mainly from the interplay between the actor and the audience. I do not focus on a particular history play but on two characters: Richard III and Prince Hal. Different from most critics of metadrama, I do not search for ruptures in a dramatic text or interpret those ruptures from the deconstructionist¡¦s perspective. Nor do I view metadrama as an established theory when I notice that most critics of metadrama fail to offer a succinct definition to the term. To be specific, metadrama is a kind of dramatic practice on the Renaissance stage. Furthermore, matadrama is constituted of types of metadramatic modes, and during my research, I gradually realize that self-reference is a peculiar phenomenon in history plays. The function of self-reference is to challenge the audience¡¦s fixed perception of things and to reexamine the part of exaggeration and counterfeit in the historical documents. Shakespeare uses self-reference to develop not only the personality of dramatic personae but also his theatrical perspective of historical characters.¡@By analyzing self-reference, I wish to clarify Shakespeare¡¦s attitude toward historical characters. Also, I shall argue that Shakespeare modifies the historical portrayals of Richard III and Prince Hal and authenticates the theatrical perspective of them.

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<p>Drawing on Katherine Eggert’s discussion of Joan la Pucelle’s dramatic skills, this thesis argues that, through effective performances on the characters around them, the women of Shakespeare’s first tetralogy achieve and exercise extensive political power and that the male project of silencing these women through vilification and condemnation is an attempt to diminish that political power. The women in these plays are not born to the power they achieve, and it is not bestowed upon them by others. The female characters of the first tetralogy use theatrical power to enter and, in some cases, dominate the masculine world of political authority through their theatrical skill. They persuade, seduce, manipulate, and argue their ways through the highest circles of political authority and, transgressing patriarchal notions of political authority, they wield decidedly unfeminine power.</p> <p>These plays demonstrate the potential public impact and rebellious or resistant power of the female voice. In the first chapter of this thesis, I argue that these characters, through dramatically effective speech, exert significant female political agency. In the second chapter, I further contend that the male project of silencing these women's voices, expressed through gendered slurs and accusations of sexual misconduct, is a method of subduing the women’s political power. By examining the subversive women of Shakespeare's first tetralogy, this thesis explores the ways in which these characters use voice to enter and, in some cases, dominate the masculine world of political authority.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

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