”Murderess of Two Husbands”: Female Agency as Female Loyalty in the History of the Nun-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

”Murderess of Two Husbands”: Female Agency as Female Loyalty in the History of the Nun

Published:2018-12-01 Issue:1 Volume:17 Page:20-44
ISSN:2286-0134
Container-title:Gender Studies
language:en
Short-container-title:

Author:

De Dios Torralbo Caballero Juan¹

Affiliation:

1. University of Córdoba , Cardenal Salazar Square, Córdoba , Spain

Abstract

Abstract This work studies the behaviour of the protagonist of The History of the Nun: or, The Fair Vow- Breaker (1689) to investigate both what motivates her decisions (from pious woman to murderer) and what the objectives of her author may be. The conclusion reached is that female agency and the transgressive desire developed by Aphra Behn presented a new conception of femininity. Behn challenges the social contract and subverts seventeenth century conceptions of gender. Through Isabella’s behaviour Behn challenges established feminine morality, postulating a new role for women within society. The implication is that the act of breaking a holy vow, and the courage shown by a woman determined to take responsibility for her own life and make her own decisions in society, inevitably ends in tragedy and disaster.

Publisher

Walter de Gruyter GmbH

Subject

Gender Studies

Link

https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/genst-2019-0003

Reference49 articles.

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2. Armstrong, Nancy. 1987. Desire and Domestic Fiction. A Political History of the Novel. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

3. Backscheider, Paula R. 2000. Revising Women. Eighteenth-century „Women’s Fiction” and Social Engagement. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

4. Bacon, Francis. 2000. “Of Deformity.” The Major Works including the New Atlantis and the Essays. Ed. Brian Vickers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 426-427.

5. Ballaster, Ros. 1993. “ʽPretences of Stateʼ: Aphra Behn and the Female Plot.” Rereading Aphra Behn. History, Theory and Criticism. Ed. Heidi Hutner. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, pp. 187-211.