Research Topic: Homosociality and Marital Anxiety in Renaissance Literature

We have discussed, briefly, the homosocial relationship between Arden and Franklin in Arden of Faversham. It interests me greatly that, though he suspects that Alice is cheating on him, Arden nonetheless seems content to spend his time with Franklin and leave Alice to her own devices. Further on this point, though Arden initially expresses outrage at Mosby for pursuing Alice behind his back (or at least, this is what he suspects), Arden nevertheless believes Mosby when he tells Arden that he is not (even though he is). Further, Arden mentions that he once saw Mosby with Arden's own wedding ring, though he does not act on this knowledge.

For my research, I would like to explore how homosocial relationships interact with heterosexual marriages in early modern English drama. While the focus of my paper will of course be Arden of Faversham, I think that it would also be prudent to pull in Shakespeare's Othello as well, since both plays are closely related: the titular characters of both plays show that they are pressured by societal concerns (social status in Arden's case, racism [and thus also social status] in Othello's); both characters demonstrate a close, homosocial bond within the play (Arden with Franklin, Othello with Cassio); and both plays end in tragedy/domestic violence. While the circumstances are different between the two plays, close homosocial bonds and innate trust in this bond facilitates a show of domestic violence. Also, while Arden of Faversham is based on historical events and is thus somewhat difficult to critique, Franklin is an addition by the anonymous author. This addition of Franklin seems to call for the need to analyze his function within the text.

Some primary sources on the topic include:

Bacon, Francis. "Of Friendship." The Essays of Francis Bacon. Forgotten Books, 2008. Google Books. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.

Brathwait, Richard. The English Gentleman.

Montaigne, Michel de. "Of Friendship." Montaigne’s Essays, in Three Books. Trans. Charles Cotton. London: n.p., 1743. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.

**All three of these sources discuss, to some extent or another, homosociality/male friendship within the context of the early modern time period. As this is a central aspect of my topic, I think these would make great primary sources from which to draw in writing my paper.

Some related secondary sources include:

Bach, Rebecca A. Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature Before Heterosexuality. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.

Boose, Lynda. “Othello’s Handkerchief: ‘The Recognizance and Pledge of Love.’” Critical Essays on Shakespeare’s Othello. Ed. Anthony Gerard Barthelemy. New York: G. K. Hall, 1994. 55-67. Print.

Danson, Lawrence. “‘The Catastrophe is a Nuptial’: The Space of Masculine Desire in Othello, Cymbeline, and The Winter’s Tale.” Shakespeare Survey: An Annual Survey of Shakespeare Studies and Production. Ed. Stanley Wells. Vol. 46.  Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994. 69-80. Print.

Fletcher, Anthony. Gender, Sex, and Subordination in England 1500-1800. London: Yale UP, 1995. Print.

MacFaul, Tom. Male Friendship in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print.

Masten, Jeffrey. Textual Intercourse: Collaboration, Authorship, and Sexualities in Renaissance Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Print.

Matz, Robert. “Slander, Renaissance Discourses of Sodomy, and Othello.” ELH 66.2 (1999): 261-276. Print.

Österberg, Eva. Friendship and Love, Ethics and Politics: Studies in Mediaeval and Early Modern History. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2010. Print.

Walker, Garthine. Crime, Gender and Social Order in Early Modern England. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003. Print.

**I realize that the most noticeable gap in my scholarship is that I have nothing dealing with Arden of Faversham specifically. I am finding it difficult to find sources treating this topic in this text, though the play certainly lends itself to such analysis. As I am aware that such scholarship would be greatly beneficial to my paper, I will continue to search for sources to fill this gap.

**Boose, Danson, and Matz all treat the subject of marital anxiety, male friendship, and domestic violence in Othello. Fletcher and Walker treat the subject of domestic violence in early modern England. Bach, MacFaul, Masten all treat the subject of male friendship in Renaissance literature and drama, which is no doubt be essential to my research. While I have yet to read Österberg's work, it seems that this would be a decent supplement to the works of Bach, MacFaul, and Masten.