The queens of Pathetic Tragedy: Belvidera, Isabella and Anna Bullen acted by the prestigious English actress Elizabeth Barry

Abstract

During the last quarter of the seventeenth century, well before the opening of Nicholas Rowe’s (the first editor of works of Shakespeare) theatrical career, women acquire an extraordinary prominence in the drama. Many of the most celebrated and influential plays, including those of Thomas Otway, John Banks, and Thomas Southerne, depend on the designation of a female protagonist. In this paper Thomas Otway’s Venice Preserved (1682), John Banks’ Anna Bullen, Vertue Betrayed (1682) and Thomas Southerne’s Fatal Marriage are going to be analyzed within the framework of pathetic tragedy. These tragedies were successfully acted by Elizabeth Barry, who was a successful comedian depicting a variety of Restoration comedy heroines throughout her career, however, her greatest impact on Restoration drama was as a tragic actress. Her capacity for projecting pathos was an inspiration to playwrights, Thomas Otway and Thomas Southerne in the three famous tragic roles they wrote for her: Monimia in Otway's The Orphan (1680), Belvidera in Otway's Venice Preserved (1682), and Isabella in Southerne's The Fatal Marriage (1694). Keywords: woman in distress, pathos, pathetic tragedy, restoration drama, she-tragedy

Keywords

• she-tragedy
• restoration drama
• patriarchal society
• woman in distress
• pathos

The queens of Pathetic Tragedy: Belvidera, Isabella and Anna Bullen acted by the prestigious English actress Elizabeth Barry

Öz

On yedinci yüzyılın son çeyreğinde, Nicholas Rowe'un (Shakespeare'in eserlerinin ilk editörü) tiyatro kariyerinin başlamasından çok önce, kadınlar dramada olağanüstü bir önem kazanır. Thomas Otway, John Banks ve Thomas Southerne da dahil olmak üzere en ünlü ve etkili oyunların çoğu, bir kadın kahramanın belirlenmesine bağlıdır. Bu bildiride Thomas Otway'in Venice Preserved (1682), John Banks’in Anna Bullen, Vertue Betrayed (1682) and Thomas Southerne’nın Fatal Marriage adlı yapıtları pathetic tragedya çerçevesinde incelenecektir. Bu tragedyalar, kariyeri boyunca çeşitli Restorasyon komedi kadın kahramanlarını tasvir eden başarılı bir komedyen olan Elizabeth Barry tarafından başarıyla canlandırılmıştır, ancak Restorasyon draması üzerindeki en büyük etkisi tragedya aktrisi olmasıydı. Acımasızlığı yansıtma kapasitesi, oyun yazarları Thomas Otway ve Thomas Southerne için onun için yazdıkları üç ünlü trajik rolde bir ilham kaynağı oldu. Otway'in The Orphan'ındaki Monimia gibi Venice Preserved’ün Belvidera’sı, John Banks’in Anna Bullen’ı ve son olarak Thomas Southerne’nın Fatal Marriage’in Isabellası dönemin kadın sorunlarını resmetmiş, Barry kadın sorunlarını Rönesans Tiyatronun aksine patriarkal düzenin neden olduğu ve kadınların yaşadığı sıkıntıları sahnede performe etmiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Acınma duygusu, pathetic tragedya, Restorasyon Tiyatrosu, she-tragedy, felakete sürüklenen kadın

Anahtar Kelimeler

• woman in distress
• pathos
• pathetic tragedy
• restoration drama
• she-tragedy

References

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2. Brown Laura. (1982). “The Defenseless Woman and the Development of English Tragedy”, Restoration and Eighteenth Century, 22(3), (Summer), 429-443 Rice University,
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6. ------- (2006). Fatal Desire: Women, Sexuality, and the English Stage, 1660-1720, Cornell University Press. Otway, Thomas. (1797). Venice Preserved, Or, A Plot Discovered: A Tragedy, Bell’s British Theatre.
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8. Pando Mena, Paula. De. (2006).“Emasculated subjects and subjugated wives: discourses of domination in John Banks’s Vertue Betray’d” University of Seville.

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10. Southerne, Thomas. (1808). Isabella or The Fatal Marriage: a tragedy in five acts. Matthews and Leigh