The New Woman and Comedy: Form and Function on the Modern British Stage

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2015-06-29
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Abstract
This thesis focuses on female comic characters in modern drama as they relate to the emergence of first-wave feminism in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Britain. More specifically, it examines the position of the figure of the new woman within the conventions of traditional comedy. Analyzing specific character traits and elements of dramatic composition that allow this figure to exist within the comic form, I consider how select playwrights deploy comedy in order to shape the reception of the new woman. Using three case studies that include parodies of Henrik Ibsen’s plays, suffrage comedy, and the work of George Bernard Shaw, I explore how comedy was used in different contexts to both empower and diminish the complexity of the new woman. I conclude that the comic new woman was defined by her reassessment and re-inscription on the modern stage as well as the social, political, and cultural change she facilitated.
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Citation
Flynn, R. (2015). The New Woman and Comedy: Form and Function on the Modern British Stage (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28257