Colonial women
Subtitle: race and culture in Stuart drama
By: Heidi Hutner.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 141
Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.; Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689.; English drama -- 17th century -- History and criticism.; Women and literature -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century.; English drama -- Restoration, 1660-1700 -- History and criticism.; Women and literature -- Great Britain -- Colonies.; Land tenure in literature.; Imperialism in literature.; Colonies in literature.; Culture in literature.; Women in literature.; Race in literature.
Description: "Colonial Women examines the women-as-land metaphor in English colonial dramatic literature of the seventeenth century, and looks closely at the myths of two historical native female figures - Pocahontas of Virginia and Malinche of Mexico - to demonstrate how these two stories are crucial to constructions of gender, race, and English nationhood in the drama and culture of the period." "Heidi Hutner's interpretations of the figure of the native woman in the plays of Shakespeare, Fletcher, Davenant, Dryden, and Behn reveal how the English patriarchal culture of the seventeenth century defined itself through representations of native women and European women who have "gone native." These playwrights use the figure of the native woman as a symbolic means to stabilize the turbulent sociopolitical and religious conflicts in Restoration England under the inclusive ideology of expansion and profit. Colonial Women uncovers the significance of the repeated dramatic spectacle of the native women falling for her European seducer and exploiter, and demonstrates that this image of seduction is motivated by an anxiety-laden movement to reinforce patriarchal authority in seventeenth-century England."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-130) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: I.; title: Introduction: Colonial Women and Stuart Drama 3; title: The Tempest, The Sea Voyage, and the Pocahontas Myth 21; title: Restoration Revisions of The Tempest 45; title: The Indan Queen and The Indian Emperour 65; title: Aphra Behn's The Widow Ranter 89 Afterword Notes Index.