She-tragedy

Tragic form that developed in the 1680s. The term is believed to be coined by the Restoration playwright Nicholas Rowe. The she-tragedy focused on the suffering of pure women, with such topics as rape, suicide, and female distress (Stewart 50).

Development

The growing popularity of the she-tragedy came after a shift from heroic to pathetic tragedy. Several reasons for the decline of the heroic drama, and the emergence of the pathetic drama have been assumed. Firstly, the „loss of faith in old masculine ideals of behaviour may have been accompanied by a new desire to use women as social models“ (Howe 108). Secondly, the emergence of the she-tragedy „coincided with other female developments“. These developments included the rule of Queen Mary in the 1690s, the publishing of several pamphlets on extolling the rights of women, and the production of The Female Spectator, the first English periodical that was designed solely for women (Howe 109).

Works

• Thomas Otway: The Orphan (1680)
• John Banks: Virtue Betrayed, or, Anna Bullen (1682)
• Thomas Southerne: The Fatal Marriage (1694)
• Nicholas Rowe: The Fair Penitent (1703)
• Nicholas Rowe: Lady Jane Grey (1715)

Sources

Howe, Elizabeth. The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 1660–1700. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Stewart, Ann Marie. The Ravishin Restoration: Aphra Behn, Violence, and Comedy. Susquehanna University Press, 2010.