Gender Critics - DoM and PL

Question 1

D. Callaghan

Answer 1

“The Duchess asserts a radical female agency through her choice of marriage”

Question 2

James Shapiro compares the Duchess to Elizabeth I, (from the Mysterious Mr. Webster documentary)

Answer 2

The Duchess “captures a profound sense of nostalgia” as a “shining icon of regal virtue, surrounded by the darkest of oppressors.”

Question 3

K.Over argues that Eve is not a “sexual temptress” but a..

Answer 3

“complex being with a strong desire to acquire knowledge and be independent”

Question 4

James Shapiro says that the Duchess is a…

Answer 4

“beacon of virtue”

Question 5

T. Jankowski describes the Duchess as a..

Answer 5

“symbol of female resistance”

Question 6

Harriet Walter touches on the Duchess breaking the stereotype of female characters just being side characters. The Duchess is ‘centre-stage’, there hasn’t been an individual title role for a female before.

Answer 6

“The Duchess isn’t just somebody’s wife or lover, or mother or daughter”

Question 7

John Milton’s ‘Doctrine of Discipline and Divorce’

Answer 7

Milton’s treatise acknowledges the hierarchal nature of marriage due to Puritan beliefs, but argues that a marriage that stifles free will violates God’s intentions for human relationships