This thesis discusses female friendship in three plays, by a prolific dramatist of eighteenth century England, Susannah Centlivre. I extend recent feminist criticism of Centlivre through an in depth analysis of how female friendship transforms patriarchal institutions. I argue that Centlivre's writing reconstructs the emergent bourgeois ideal that supported fraternity and found women to be weak and emotionally unstable. I examine female friendship throughout The Beau's Duel, The Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret, and The Artifice to show that Centlivre's radical feminist writing creates agency, for women, through friendship. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2005. / April 12, 2005. / Friendship, Susannah Centlivre, Bourgeois / Includes bibliographical references. / Helen Burke, Professor Directing Thesis; Sheila Ortiz-Taylor, Committee Member; Nancy Warren, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_182521 |
| Contributors | Fryett, Sarah (authoraut), Burke, Helen (professor directing thesis), Ortiz-Taylor, Sheila (committee member), Warren, Nancy (committee member), Department of English (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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