The Female Grotesque Amid the Carnival of Renaissance Drama

View/ Open
Issue Date
2009-04-24Author
Guy, Corinee Wooten
Publisher
University of Kansas
Format
337 pages
Type
Dissertation
Degree Level
Ph.D.
Discipline
English
Rights
This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Abstract This dissertation discusses the female grotesque within carnivalesque societies as portrayed in some Renaissance drama. The ideal female interacts with the grotesque virago, whore, witch, and scold to deform the milieu producing her and to demonstrate the similarity between the two types. After defining carnival, the grotesque, and the ideal, the study compares each type within comedies and tragedies and reveals that women become transgressors due to patriarchal degradation. To diminish the female's effects, comedy tries to contain her within social expectations, whereas tragedy suggests the impossibility of correcting human behavior and ends in bloodshed. As a result of the female grotesque's actions and her degenerate environment, language reduces to the billingsgate of carnival, as it focuses on the lower bodily stratum. For order to return, society and the female grotesque must undergo the processes of reformation and/or purgation; however, carnival lurks offstage, waiting to return.
Collections
- Dissertations [4660]
- English Dissertations and Theses [449]
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.