How Relationships Were Presented Through Sonnets in a Patriarchal Society
How Relationships were Presented Through Sonnets in a Patriarchal Society
By Marcelle Rowbotham
This essay concentrates on the portrayal of male heterosexual love within two sonnet sequences. I will be analysing Pamphilia to Amphilanthus by Mary Wroth, and Astrophil and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney. Pamphilia to Amphilanthus and Astrophil and Stella are cohesive in their themes of male hedonism, unpredictability and guile. At the time that these sonnets were written, females had very little power and influence in society; men were accepted as the more dominant and important sex. This in turn influenced Wroth and Sidney to challenge these Patriarchal views of males being of higher worth than females through their sonnets. Both Wroth and Sidney present their opinions on male heterosexual love in a particularly derisive manner, and the convergence of these opinions is the basis for this examination. Love is not heralded as a bringer of joy in these sequences, but more a destructive force which controls and inflicts pain upon the protagonists, leaving them dumbfounded.
Mary Wroth was an English Renaissance poet, and the niece of Philip Sidney and Mary Sidney, both of whom were accomplished poets. Wroth spent most of her childhood in the care of her aunt and uncle due to fact that her father, Robert Sidney, was appointed as the Governor of Flushing in 1588. Mary Wroth came from a family where it was expected that females should be educated and have access to culture and literature; beliefs which were not widely held at the time. Mary Wroth was married to Sir Robert Wroth in 1604, a man who was a reputed gambler, drunkard and womaniser, and his death in 1614 left Mary in vast amounts of debt. Mary was also mistress to her cousin, William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke, and bore two illegitimate children to him. This scandal lead to Mary being exiled from court, which may have been the catalyst for her most prolific piece of work; Pamphilia to Amphilanthus,
By Marcelle Rowbotham
This essay concentrates on the portrayal of male heterosexual love within two sonnet sequences. I will be analysing Pamphilia to Amphilanthus by Mary Wroth, and Astrophil and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney. Pamphilia to Amphilanthus and Astrophil and Stella are cohesive in their themes of male hedonism, unpredictability and guile. At the time that these sonnets were written, females had very little power and influence in society; men were accepted as the more dominant and important sex. This in turn influenced Wroth and Sidney to challenge these Patriarchal views of males being of higher worth than females through their sonnets. Both Wroth and Sidney present their opinions on male heterosexual love in a particularly derisive manner, and the convergence of these opinions is the basis for this examination. Love is not heralded as a bringer of joy in these sequences, but more a destructive force which controls and inflicts pain upon the protagonists, leaving them dumbfounded.
Mary Wroth was an English Renaissance poet, and the niece of Philip Sidney and Mary Sidney, both of whom were accomplished poets. Wroth spent most of her childhood in the care of her aunt and uncle due to fact that her father, Robert Sidney, was appointed as the Governor of Flushing in 1588. Mary Wroth came from a family where it was expected that females should be educated and have access to culture and literature; beliefs which were not widely held at the time. Mary Wroth was married to Sir Robert Wroth in 1604, a man who was a reputed gambler, drunkard and womaniser, and his death in 1614 left Mary in vast amounts of debt. Mary was also mistress to her cousin, William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke, and bore two illegitimate children to him. This scandal lead to Mary being exiled from court, which may have been the catalyst for her most prolific piece of work; Pamphilia to Amphilanthus,
Bibliography: Moore, M.,1998. Desiring Voices: Women Sonneteers and Petrarchism. Southern Illinois University Press. Roche, T., 1987. Astrophil and Stella: A Radical Reading. Clarendon Press. Sidney, Sir P., 1967. Astrophil and Stella. Anchor Books. Wroth, Lady M., 2010. Pamphilia to Amphilanthus. www.lulu.com