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Was Mary Wroth Shakespeare’s dark lady?
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Oliveira, Rita J. (2014) Was Mary Wroth Shakespeare’s dark lady? Op. Cit. A Journal of Anglo-American Studies, 2nd Series (3). 4. ISSN 2182-9446.
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Official URL: https://sites.google.com/site/opcitapeaa/issues/20...
Abstract
In 2004, Jonathan Gibson wrote an article entitled “Cherchez la Femme” in which he suggested that Lady Mary Wroth, Shakespeare’s contemporary, might have been the Dark Lady who features in sonnets 127 to 152. He is the first and only person to have done so, probably because both authors have always been studied separately. William Herbert, Wroth’s cousin and lover, is believed to have been Shakespeare’s Young Man who features in sonnets 1 to 126. Furthermore, the relationship between Wroth’s characters Pamphilia and Amphilanthus is believed to have been based in the love affair between her and William Herbert. Besides the fact that both The Sonnets (1 to 126) and Pamphilia and Amphilanthus seem to have been dedicated to him, there is evidence that Wroth also addresses Shakespeare in her work. What is even more significant than this is that Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilan - thus holds intriguing similarities with Shakespeare’s The Sonnets. Indeed, the physical description and other types of information about the Dark Lady contained in The Sonnets match the bibliographical information we have of Wroth. Furthermore, like Shakespeare’s The Sonnets, Wroth’s work also consists of a sonnet sequence followed by a lover’s complaint. In my paper, I explore similarities and links between the two works such as these, and explain the reasons why Gibson’s hypothesis could be right.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PR English literature | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > English and Comparative Literary Studies | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. -- Sonnets, Wroth, Mary, Lady, approximately 1586-approximately 1640, Gibson, Jonathan, 1965- | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Op. Cit. A Journal of Anglo-American Studies | ||||||||
Publisher: | Associacao Portuguesa de Estudos Anglo - Americanos (A P E A A) | ||||||||
ISSN: | 2182-9446 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 2014 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 2nd Series | ||||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||||
Article Number: | 4 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Description: | Author now publishing under name Rita Dashwood |
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Date of first compliant deposit: | 24 January 2019 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 29 January 2019 | ||||||||
Open Access Version: |
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