Shakespeare and the Suffragettes

Synopsis: Five young scholars re-evaluate the playwrights work. In the opening programme Sophie Duncan reveals how Shakespeare’s heroines helped transform Victorian schoolgirls into Edwardian activists. The 19th century actress Ellen Terry told the suffragettes that they had more in common with Shakespeare’s female characters than with the fragile, domestic ladies of Victorian novels. Duncan’s new research starts with the unanticipated results of a competition run in the Girls’ Own paper in 1888 to find its readers’ favourite Shakespearean heroine. It moves into more conventional scholarly territory with an analysis of a Suffragist-led production of The Winter’s Tale in 1914, and its impact on English Suffragettes as a depiction of violence against women and the transformative power of female friendship.
Series: Essay: Shakespeare 400, The
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Radio
Transmission details: 25 Apr 2016 at 22:45 (Channel: BBC Radio 3)
Duration: 15 mins

General: The series was recorded in front of an audience in Shakespeare’s old classroom at the Guildhall in Stratford-upon-Avon.

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