This course explores women's relation to the dramatic writing of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England, examining how females were defined and constructed by male playwrights, and how such representations change when penned by a woman. The course looks at a range of drama by male and female, canonical and non-canonical playwrights, in order to demonstrate the generic diversity of drama in this period and considers the cultural and political contexts from which the plays of the time have sprung in the light of modern critical approaches.

*Course content subject to change