Mary Wroth’s Critique of Female Constancy: Pamphilia’s Chastity-like Virtue and Constant Will
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This paper investigates Mary Wroth’s view on female constancy in order to show that she challenges patriarchal authority that suppresses female voices. In early Stuart England, constancy as gendered virtue is roughly divided into two types: male constancy as civic virtue and female constancy as passive endurance. Wroth’s use of constancy seems consistent with this Jacobean culture as she apparently deals with chastity-like constancy in her work, The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania, by providing numerous love stories where the relationship between man and woman is explored. However, Wroth strategically presents Pamphilia as a victim of female constancy to resist the traditional view on a gendered concept of constancy. In other words, Wroth casts Pamphilia in the role of a passive and faithful woman in order to question the gendered bias of social conventions. Pamphilia justifies her passive endurance under the name of female constancy. Yet, she complains about the disparity between female fidelity and male infidelity, and eventually moves to search for the inner strength to control herself on her own will, and not to be subjected to passion of love any longer. As such, Wroth attempts to replace enforced chastity as a prescribed role of women with constancy as an act of will, emphasizing the female volition. Through the criticism of female constancy, Wroth strives to alter the meaning of female constancy to women’s constant will to be autonomous.
Abstract
This paper investigates Mary Wroth’s view on female constancy in order to show that she challenges patriarchal authority that suppresses female voices. In early Stuart England, constancy as gendered virtue is roughly divided into two types: male constancy as civic virtue and female constancy as passive endurance. Wroth’s use of constancy seems consistent with this Jacobean culture as she apparently deals with chastity-like constancy in her work, The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania, by providing numerous love stories where the relationship between man and woman is explored. However, Wroth strategically presents Pamphilia as a victim of female constancy to resist the traditional view on a gendered concept of constancy. In other words, Wroth casts Pamphilia in the role of a passive and faithful woman in order to question the gendered bias of social conventions. Pamphilia justifies her passive endurance under the name of female constancy. Yet, she complains about the disparity between female fidelity and male infidelity, and eventually moves to search for the inner strength to control herself on her own will, and not to be subjected to passion of love any longer. As such, Wroth attempts to replace enforced chastity as a prescribed role of women with constancy as an act of will, emphasizing the female volition. Through the criticism of female constancy, Wroth strives to alter the meaning of female constancy to women’s constant will to be autonomous.
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