Tested Virtue, Sexual Slander, and the Romance Plot in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline
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This article examines how slandered heroines in Shakespeare’s works navigate the restrictive gender expectations of early modern England, where women were expected to remain silent to be considered chaste, and where gendered reputation was highly precarious in the face of slander. It focuses on Cymbeline, one of his late plays, which explores themes of wager and sexual slander, alongside other texts on slander, particularly his early narrative poem Lucrece and another late play, The Winter’s Tale. Through this analysis, I argue that Shakespeare adopted romance elements from Greek and medieval traditions to circumvent gendered restrictions on female agency, allowing heroines to undertake spatial and temporal journeys, ultimately to be vindicated while still retaining their feminine virtue. While heroines often restore their reputations and gain further glory as chaste wives, their honor is frequently appropriated by male narratives, as seen in Lucrece and Cymbeline. However, this dynamic shifts in The Winter’s Tale, where female voices take on greater prominence. By comparing these texts, I suggest that Shakespeare’s use of romance creates space for female experiences that challenge conventional gender expectations. By tracing the romance tradition of slandered heroines and the appropriation of their fame in Shakespeare’s texts, this study contributes to scholarship on gender and the romance genre in Shakespearean literature.
Abstract
This article examines how slandered heroines in Shakespeare’s works navigate the restrictive gender expectations of early modern England, where women were expected to remain silent to be considered chaste, and where gendered reputation was highly precarious in the face of slander. It focuses on Cymbeline, one of his late plays, which explores themes of wager and sexual slander, alongside other texts on slander, particularly his early narrative poem Lucrece and another late play, The Winter’s Tale. Through this analysis, I argue that Shakespeare adopted romance elements from Greek and medieval traditions to circumvent gendered restrictions on female agency, allowing heroines to undertake spatial and temporal journeys, ultimately to be vindicated while still retaining their feminine virtue. While heroines often restore their reputations and gain further glory as chaste wives, their honor is frequently appropriated by male narratives, as seen in Lucrece and Cymbeline. However, this dynamic shifts in The Winter’s Tale, where female voices take on greater prominence. By comparing these texts, I suggest that Shakespeare’s use of romance creates space for female experiences that challenge conventional gender expectations. By tracing the romance tradition of slandered heroines and the appropriation of their fame in Shakespeare’s texts, this study contributes to scholarship on gender and the romance genre in Shakespearean literature.