This thesis examines the historical and fictional character of Margaret Nicholson (1745-1828), a labouring woman who became notorious for her failed attempt to assassinate King George III in August 1786. After a quick trial, Nicholson was diagnosed as insane and spent the rest of her life in Bedlam. Her story continued to interest readers: she was the subject of multiple biographical chapbooks, the supposed author of a collection of radical poetry actually written by Percy Bysshe Shelley, and a source of mingled terror and fascination for both eighteenth- and nineteenth-century readers. The thesis evaluates how Nicholson's story has undergone fictionalization from her time to the present, and examines how the boundaries between fact and fiction in the case have become so nebulous that history itself has become fictionalized. / Ce mémoire examine le personnage historique et fictif qu'est Margaret Nicholson (1745-1828), une ouvrière qui devint notoire pour sa tentative infructueuse d'assassiner le roi George III en août 1786. Lors d'un procès rapide, Nicholson fut déclarée folle et passa ensuite le reste de sa vie à l'Hôpital psychiatrique de Bedlam. Son histoire continua à intéresser les lecteurs: elle fut l'objet de nombreux opuscules biographiques; on la crut l'auteure d'un recueil de poésie radicale dont le véritable auteur était Percy Bysshe Shelley; elle resta une source de terreur et de fascination aux dix-huitième et dix-neuvième siècles. Le mémoire examine la façon dont la vie de Nicholson devint fiction au fil des siècles et la façon dont les limites entre faits et fiction devinrent tellement brouillées que l'Histoire elle-même devint romancée.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.32373 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Holland, Joanne |
| Contributors | Peter Sabor (Internal/Supervisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of English) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | Electronically-submitted theses. |
Page generated in 0.1497 seconds