WOMEN AND SHAKESPEARE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Transcription

1 WOMEN AND SHAKESPEARE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY analyses the significant role played by women in the construction of Shakespeare s reputation that took place in the eighteenth century. The period s perception of Shakespeare as unlearned allowed many women to identify with him and in doing so they seized an opportunity to enter public life by writing about and performing his works. Actresses (such as Hannah Pritchard, Kitty Clive, Susannah Cibber, Dorothy Jordan and Sarah Siddons), female playgoers (including the Shakespeare Ladies Club) and women critics (like Charlotte Lennox, Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Griffith and Elizabeth Inchbald) had a profound effect on Shakespeare s reception. Interdisciplinary in approach and employing a broad range of sources, this book s analysis of criticism, performance and audience response shows that in constructing Shakespeare s significance for themselves and for society, women were instrumental in the establishment of Shakespeare at the forefront of English literature, theatre, culture and society in the eighteenth century and beyond. fiona ritchie is an Assistant Professor of Drama and Theatre in the Department of English at McGill University. She is co-editor, with Peter Sabor, of Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

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3 WOMEN AND SHAKESPEARE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FIONA RITCHIE McGill University, Montréal

4 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny , usa Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. Information on this title: / This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2014 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Ritchie, Fiona. Women and Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century /, McGill University, Montreal. pages cm Includes bibliographical references. isbn (hardback) 1. Shakespeare, William, Influence. 2. Women and literature History 18th century. I. Title. pr2976.r dc isbn Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

5 To Andrew Stoten and in memory of Andrew Ritchie

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7 Contents List of Tables and Illustrations Acknowledgements page viii ix Introduction: Women and Shakespeare in the Restoration 1 1 Actresses in the Age of Garrick 26 2 Women Critics in the Age of Johnson 54 3 Theatrical Women Respond to Shakespeare 81 4 Jordan and Siddons: Beyond Thalia and Melpomene Women Playgoers: Historical Repertory and Sentimental Response 141 Conclusion: Part of an Englishwoman s Constitution 175 Notes 181 Bibliography 227 Index 245 vii

8 List of Tables and Illustrations Tables 1 Elizabeth Pepys s Shakespearean Playgoing page 17 2 Dorothy Jordan s Shakespearean roles Sarah Siddons s Shakespearean Roles Impact of the Shakespeare Ladies Club on the Repertory Plays Requested by the Shakespeare Ladies Club 151 Figures 1 Francis Hayman, The Wrestling Scene from As You Like It, oil on canvas (c ) Tate, London Valentine Green after Johan Joseph Zoffany, Mr Garrick and Mrs Pritchard in the Tragedy of Macbeth, mezzotint (1776) Trustees of the British Museum 38 3 Peter van Bleeck, Mrs. Cibber in the Character of Cordelia, mezzotint (1755) Trustees of the British Museum 40 4 Charles Rolls after George Henry Harlow, Mrs Siddons in the Character of Lady Macbeth, Act I, Scene V, etching and engraving (1829) Trustees of the British Museum Charles Knight after Henry William Bunbury, As You Like It, stipple and etching (1788) Trustees of the British Museum Daniel Gardner, The Three Witches from Macbeth (Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne; Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire; Anne Seymour Damer), gouache and chalk (1775) National Portrait Gallery, London 178 viii

9 Acknowledgements I owe a great debt to Ann Thompson and Elizabeth Eger, whose pioneering work in the field of women and Shakespeare in the eighteenth century has inspired me and who supervised the doctoral dissertation from which some of the material in this book is drawn; they have generously continued to encourage my research in the years since graduation. I would also like to thank others who were influential during my time at King s College London (and have remained so since): Anne Gill, Nicky Leach, Sonia Massai, Gordon McMullan, Lucy Munro and Lucie Sutherland. I have benefited from a similarly supportive research environment at McGill and am especially grateful to Erin Hurley, Peter Sabor and Paul Yachnin for their engagement with and encouragement of this project. Jen Drouin, Allan Hepburn, Tom Mole, Monica Popescu and Alanna Thain have also offered advice and moral support for which I am very thankful. Students at McGill have continued to provide new insights into my subject that have shaped the development of this book, and I have benefited enormously from the work of several research assistants: special thanks are due to Tom Fish and Will Robinson. Alan Andrews read several portions of this manuscript and made invaluable suggestions. I am delighted to be part of thriving communities of research into Shakespeare, eighteenth-century studies and theatre history. Many scholars have generously shared with me their expertise in these fields. Thanks are due to Michael Dobson, Jack Lynch, Felicity Nussbaum, Kathryn Prince, Kate Rumbold, Richard Schoch and Diana Solomon. I would also like to record my gratitude to several scholars who have been influential in conceptualising this project but who sadly were not able to see its completion: Robin Dix, Inga-Stina Ewbank, Jane Moody and Sasha Roberts. My time working at Dr Johnson s House enabled me to benefit from the advice and friendship of Natasha McEnroe, Kate Chisholm, Michael Bundock and many others. For financial support I am indebted to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Fonds Québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture, ix

10 x Acknowledgements McGill University, Chawton House Library, the Huntington Library and the Lewis Walpole Library. Parts of Chapter 1 appeared in Shakespeare in Stages: New Theatre Histories, edited by Christine Dymkowski and Christie Carson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010); some of the material in Chapter 2 was published as Elizabeth Montagu: Shakespear s Poor Little Critick? in Shakespeare Survey 58 (2005). Parts of Chapter 3 are excerpted by permission of the publishers from The Influence of the Female Audience on the Shakespeare Revival of : The Case of the Shakespeare Ladies Club,inShakespeare and the Eighteenth Century, edited by Peter Sabor and Paul Yachnin (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008). Work derived from this book has been presented at a number of conferences and seminars including the American and Canadian Societies for Eighteenth-Century Studies, the Department of English at Birmingham City University, the Johnson Society of the Central Region, the Montreal British History Seminar, the Shakespeare Association of America and the Shakespearean Performance Research Group of the American Society for Theatre Research. I would like to thank their organisers and audiences for opportunities to gain valuable feedback. I am grateful to the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate and the British Museum for granting permission to reproduce the images in this book and to the staff of those institutions for their assistance. I also thank the staff at the British Library, Chawton House Library, the Huntington Library, the Lewis Walpole Library, McGill University Library and its Rare Books and Special Collections and Senate House Library for their assistance with my research. I am deeply grateful to my editor, Linda Bree, and to the Press s anonymous readers for their insightful and productive reading of my work and for their invaluable suggestions, which have greatly strengthened the book. I am extremely thankful to friends and family who have supported me during the completion of this project, including Steve Day, Louise King and Sam Marsden. My mother, Sue, and brother, Michael, have provided unwavering support. This book is dedicated to two Andrews. To my father, Andrew Ritchie, who did not live to see its completion but who would, I hope, have been proud of the result. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to convince the historian in him that the eighteenth century was interesting after all. And to my husband, Andrew Stoten, partner and proofreader extraordinaire. His diligent eye has saved the manuscript from many errors and his love and support have saved me from many personal ones.