Hymeneutics

Description:

This book examines the socio-medical and anatomical construction of the virginal female body in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century texts in order to develop a historically and culturally specific understanding of virginity and chastity in early modern England. This investigation permits a reevaluation of a series of plays by John Fletcher and his collaborators approximately between 1609 and 1620 that concentrates heavily on the virginal and chaste woman. Instead of seeing Fletcher's frequent, violent interrogations of these women as springing from his personal, pornographic proclivities (a charge which has often been levelled), contemporary medical and anatomical discourses demonstrate that the uncertainty about women's virginity which fuels such interrogations is widespread in the early modern period.

subjects: Virginity in literature,  Women and literature,  English drama,  Chastity in literature,  History and criticism,  Rape in literature,  History,  English drama, history and criticism, early modern and elizabethan, 1500-1600,  Drama--english,  English drama--history and criticism,  English drama--early modern and elizabethan, 1500-1600--history and criticism,  Women and literature--history,  Women and literature--england--history--16th century,  Pr658.v52 l68 1997,  822/.309353,  Drama,  English

Places: England

Times: Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600,  16th century