Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Bell in Campo

I’m interested in Bell in Campo’s presentation of Madam Jantil. Her virtue and selflessness are obvious, but one can see her (negatively) as a slave to traditional wifely devotion. Still, she is held in closest comparison to Madam Passionate throughout the play and, despite the fact that Jantil eventually dies, her fate is arguably preferable; Jantil’s willing submission to death in anticipation of meeting her husband in heaven compares favorably to Passionate’s fate of misery and a marriage that “is like to prove [her] grave” (IV.17). Can Jantil’s character, though, be praised in a play that celebrates the ability of women to excel independently? How should the reader react to Jantil’s virtue?

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