1989/01/01 by Richard Levin
Arts and Humanities · #Historical Art and Culture Studies #Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism #Literature: history, themes, analysis
paper · doi:10.2307/2870817
N HER RECENT CRITIQUE OF WHAT SHE CALLS the mimetic, essentialist model of liberal feminist critics of Shakespeare, Kathleen McLuskie argues that we should look for a sympathetic treatment of the of in Shakespeare's plays because were the products of an entertainment industry which, as far as we know, had no women shareholders, actors, writers, or stage hands. This account is correct; but if the plays are to be viewed as products of an industry (which they obviously were, among other things), then McLuskie has omitted the crucial group of people who would have the greatest influence in determining the nature of those products-the customers. For the enterprise could make a profit only if its plays satisfied the needs of shareholders, actors, writers, or stagehands but of the audience. Or to shift to Ben Jonson's analogy in the Prologue to Epicoene, the purpose was not to please the cookes tastes, but the guests.2 And among those paying guests in the audiences there were many women. We do know how many women were in those audiences, and we probably will never know. Andrew Gurr, who has given us the most thorough study of the question to date, concludes that there was a high proportion of women at the playhouses throughout the period 1567 to 1642, and that they came from every section of society, ladies down through citizen wives or city madams to apple-wives, fishwives, and prostitutes.3 He does hazard any figures since the evidence does permit it, and since, as he points out, the number of women spectators (and their social status) must have varied in the different kinds of theatres and at different times during this period. But if we are concerned with their possible effect on the drama, that would depend on their absolute numbers or proportions of the audience but on whether they were regarded by the playwrights and acting companies as a constituency whose interests and feelings should be considered.