This thesis considers Thomas Middleton’s female trickster figures using A Mad World, My Masters, and No Wit No Help Like a Woman’s as example plays. I argue that by having his female characters successfully live by their wits, using their wit to manipulate custom in their intrigues, Middleton allots his women, who are not formally educated, a sophisticated understanding of social and gender politics. This level of understanding requires the women to possess a substantial amount of inherent intelligence and reason, offering a view of women’s capacity for intelligence that diverges considerably from traditional early modern English views.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OOU-OLD./20109 |
| Date | 20 July 2011 |
| Creators | Nycz, Adrianna |
| 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 | Thèse / Thesis |
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