FEMALE ASSERTIVENESS IN SOCIETY THROUGH

In the Renaissance society, women had to prove their sexual affirmation. Linda Woodbridge deals with the idea of a chaste woman who coincided with male attempts to

223 F. FOUASSIER, op. cit., p.360.

224 Ibid., p.89.

deprive women of certain freedom and that if a woman proved to be both educated and feminine, she was labelled a whore²²⁵.

Women in the plays are strong characters and refuse to be submissive to men, in any ways, they also want to explore their own sexualities without shame²²⁶. The Duchess is "a heroine of a daily desire"²²⁷; Isabella intentionally chooses lifelong virginity and rejects every idea of sexuality²²⁸; Annabella has sexual intercourses with the only man that the patriarchy does not think of, her own brother. Thus, the female sexuality is well affirmed.

Social changes that occurred in the sixteenth and seventeenth century also affected women in the public and private spheres²²⁹. Their social independence can be viewed in the three plays as the authors present a social commentary of this period and open up the possibility of a significant social change, even though it ends badly for the female characters²³⁰.

However, the deaths of Annabella and the Duchess as well as the Duke's proposal to Isabella do not appear as the renouncement of female sexual affirmation. Firstly, the Duchess states "I am Duchess of Malfi, still" (4.2.170). If this statement appears to be political at first, we can also understand it as the acceptance of all the choices she has made including marrying Antonio. Her death does not change the power she has as a duchess and she will haunt the characters during the end of the play. Annabella is not compromised by the society as she stays in love with her brother, and by dying she even stays out of the corrupted world.

Thus, it is like she buries all the protagonists through the hand of Giovanni. Regarding Measure for Measure, the last words of the Duke can bring confusion as he proposes to Isabella. However, the fact that Isabella does not respond to him allows Isabella to have power over her future. Indeed, no one, but Shakespeare himself, can assume what her response would be. At the end of the play the suspense resembles very well to her character, as she keeps her absence or presence of future sexuality a secret.

Furthermore, the three plays under study place three pairs of twins: The Duchess and Ferdinand, Annabella and Giovanni and as the difference of age is not mentioned for Claudio and Isabella, there is no difficulty to imagine that they are twins as well. Therefore, the sameness is important. Because they are fraternal twins it produces an effect of reflection

225 S.M. STAHL, op. cit., p.5.

226 Team 18, LL516-Editorial, op. cit., p.1.

227 F. LAROQUE, op. cit., p.77.

228 F. FOUASSIER, op. cit., p.364.

229 S.M. STAHL, op. cit., p.6.

230 Ibid, p.6.

between female and male characters. The incestuous relationship is developed in the three plays. Ferdinand has incestuous desire which leads him to be jealous and kills his sister, Claudio wants Isabella to have a sexual intercourse with Angelo to save him and Annabella and Giovanni are the ones who make their sexual relationship concrete. By these twins' relationships we understand that women are sexually more powerful than men.

Also, Joan Kelly Gadol argues that women in the Renaissance experienced a setback during the Renaissance that their male counterparts did not²³¹. However, new historicists think that while women had experienced a contraction of their public role in society, they just as often objected or chose to ignore limitations imposed upon them²³². Other women in the plays affirm their own point of view towards their sexuality, such as Cariola, Putana and Mistress Overdone, they often are presented with negative names and deviant behaviours.

The name "Cariola" derives from the Italian word carriolo which refers to the trundle-bed in which servants slept in, she is only linked with her mistress even through her name and when Cariola affirms her wish to remain single it is to stay with the Duchess. However, when she is about to die, she begs that she is "with child" (4.2.173). The name "Putana" derives from the Italian word for "whore" firstly because of her sexual freedom but also because of her betrayal, when she tells Vasques about the relationship between Annabella and Giovanni:

"'Twas even no worse than her own brother" (4.3.223). Mistress Overdone has been married nine times and is the manageress of a brothel, which is understandable through her name,

"overdone" can be translated by "excessive" or "immoderate". Even the characters of Hippolita and Mariana are seen as bad women because of their quests for revenge over men using their charms to get what they want. Thus, the affirmation of sexuality is left to the only three main female characters, as their sexuality is shown in a positive way.

4. THE MODERNITY OF THE PLAYS.

4.1. ORIGINAL PLAYS.

In the Jacobean period, the theatrical art had already known its golden age through the Elizabethan period. The English Renaissance theatre took place approximately from 1562 to 1642. The Duchess of Malfi had been written in 1612-13, Measure for Measure

231 S.M. STAHL, op. cit., p.3.

232 Ibid, p.3.

originally published in 1623, and 'Tis Pity she's a Whore first published in 1633. The three plays laid in the middle of the Elizabethan theatre period. As such, the authors had to adapt from the past literature and fit to their own time as well.