Abstract:
This MA dissertation focuses on the influence of the Italian Renaissance on English culture and
society. The overall structure takes the form of three chapters. Chapter One looks at the effects that
this new current had on the education of English women during the early modern period: virtuous
models of behaviour for women are proposed to define woman's role in society. The main aim of
this chapter is to investigate contributions of Italian Renaissance thought and how they were
proposed in early modern England. During this period, through prose, poetry, and artistic works
female behaviour models were suggested. Chapter Two and Three focus on plays from the
Elizabethan and Jacobean theatres. The educational message addressed to women is explicit,
especially in two plays from approximately the same period which use the city of Padua as a
setting: William Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew and John Webster’s revenge
tragedy The White Devil. In the first play a parallel between the Italian setting and Shakespeare’s
England is shown, with the vivid descriptions of sixteenth-century scholars and the investigation of
how the theme of education is linked to the taming of the shrew. In Webster’s play, the focus is on
the consequences for the female protagonist after her adultery. In the trial scene, the woman faces
the situation using her daring eloquence as a defence. Her transgressive words lead her to dark
consequences. A parallel between the play and historical accounts of Vittoria Accoramboni is also
explored. The thesis ultimately proposes to investigate how female transgression was represented in
the above plays, and how educational lessons were imparted to their female protagonists as a result
of their transgressions.
