My project, entitled, “Taking the ‘Vir’ Out of ‘Virtus:’ Feminine Demonstrations of Virtus in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline,” examines the impact of the Queen from Cymbeline participating in the ancient Roman idea of masculinity, virtus, as this idea was received in early modern England. There were a couple questions I wanted to answer through my research: first, how was the city of Rome, Romanness, and virtus received in early modern English culture/drama, and, in particular, what effect did this have on the perception of gender roles? Subsequently, what was the effect of a woman demonstrating some of these emulatory, Roman forms of masculinity in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline? This project delves into the field of Classical Reception by examining how certain themes from antiquity were adapted and appropriated in early modern English drama. Using several resources offered by King Library, I was able to access a wide range of sources, both printed and online, for my research. I turned prominently to printed works by Coppelia Kahn and Jodi Mikalachki for theories about Romanness in early modern English drama. Online sources such as JSTOR and Early English Books Online (EEBO) were crucial in my search for secondary sources as well as access to scanned images of primary sources from early 17th-century England. In using these resources from King Library, I was able to research the reception of Roman antiquity in 17th-century England and map this onto an analysis of Cymbeline. My research led me to the conclusion that ideas on Romanness and virtus greatly influenced early modern English perceptions of masculinity as this tied into the formation of a national identity. Interestingly, the Queen in Shakespeare’s play Cymbeline convincingly demonstrates virtus through her devout nationalism and influences British men in the play who sought to emulate Roman masculinity themselves; thus, the Queen challenges the supposedly rigid structure of virtus, masculinity, and the emulative relationship between Britain and Rome. Moving forward, I hope to do a postscript about Imogen, the other woman in Cymbeline, to pursue a study on the appropriation of antiquity in this period potentially to reinforce certain racist ideologies and/or hierarchies, as well as to study the appropriation of Classics in the present day. My work on this independent research project directly aided and applied to my pursuit of a career in higher education: I used this paper as my writing sample for graduate school applications, and I have been fortunate enough to receive and accept an offer to an MA program in Classical Arts and Humanities at the University of Missouri for this fall.
Author: Bridget Farahay
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Deborah Lyons, Classics Department
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