Strict Restraints: Abstinence\u27s Gender Problems in Measure for Measure

Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure poses questions about sexual coercion and governmental corruption that resonate today. Recent scholarship has examined sexual abstinence in Measure for Measure in terms of its historical economic and religious context regarding Isabella. However, Angelo and the Duke, the play\u27s other central characters, also make claims about the value of abstinence. I put these characters’ claims into dialogue with Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity and extensive scholarship on Shakespearean England. I argue that abstinence is the axis around which Measure’s main characters revolve, and that Measure locates these characters’ abstinences as competing performances of manhood and womanhood to normative manhood and womanhood in 1583-1604. I further suggest that we experience parallels to Measure’s gendered double standards, and Measure studies should be interdisciplinary

Complete Bosoms, Incomplete Men: Reading Abstinence in Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure has often been called one of Shakespeare’s problem plays, and as recent productions show, Measure’s problems — including sexual coercion and governmental corruption — resonate with readers and audiences today. Recent scholarship has examined sexual abstinence in Measure for Measure in terms of its historical economic and religious context, arguing that protagonist Isabella represents a radical break from merchant economics by opting out of the sexual economy. However, Angelo and the Duke, the play\u27s other central characters, also make claims about the values of abstinence, and those claims are at odds with Isabella\u27s claims. My research will put these claims into dialogue with each other in a broader historical context than recent scholarship. Locating Angelo, Isabella, and the Duke’s parallels in Shakespeare’s sixteenth-to-seventeenth-century English culture can further critical interpretation of the play and contribute to contemporary discussions of gender and morality. Through a close reading of Measure for Measure and period texts like The Rape of Lucrece, and extensive engagement with scholarship on Shakespearean England, my research investigates the dynamics of abstinence in the play

The Grizzly, March 22, 2018

Black Hawk Down Author Speaks About New Book • Writer from The New Yorker Gives Talk on Opioid Empire • Kimberton Whole Foods Opens Near Campus • Q&A with UCSG President and Vice President Candidates • What\u27s Next for Retiring Professor Dr. Carol Cirka? • History Professor\u27s Legacy Becomes More Historic • Opinions: Gender Politics of Men\u27s Bathrooms at Ursinus; Failure of Representation in The Shape of Water • Clara Baker: A Leader for the Women\u27s National Team • UC Teams Hit the Road for Spring Breakhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1641/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern, 2017-2018

On Dissociation • Untouchable • After Rocket Man • The Science Fair • Cardinal Rule at Stephen J. Memorial • Quentin & Sylvie • Cabello • The Get Out • Painting Day • Black, White and Grey • Family Pruning • How to Remove a Stain • Becoming Ourselves • Wonderbread U • Overture • Pescadero • Gross • Stage Fright • Lucky Daddy • Sarah • Rumble • Silvermine • The Green Iguana • A Poem for Ghost Children • A Poem for Lost Boys • Mother • Drop of Grease • Don\u27t Wanna be White • I • Amelia Earhart Disappeared Into My Vagina: An Ode to Cunts, Menstrual Cups and All Things Woman • Suburban Summer • Nightmares and Dreams Induced by My Mother • Teacups, Skins, etc. • Three Thoughts About My Bedroom • Dear Siri • 2 Queens (Beyonce in Reference to Sonia Sanchez) • Voyeurs • In Front of the Bathroom Mirror • To a Rose • Howl • Mice • Mirror • Language Accordion Volcano Mouth • Lucky Woman • Butterscotch • To Persephone • Wolf • Notes Never Passed • Topple • Bust • Kyoto • Identity • Sunflower • Tornabuoni Bubbles • Olympia • Decayed Hall • Perspectivehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1186/thumbnail.jp

The Curtain Club\u27s Closing Curtain

The Curtain Club was Ursinus\u27 student theater organization that definitively originated in 1930, but it disappeared in 1968. During the same year, the club changed its name to ProTheatre. By analyzing past articles from the Ursinus Weekly, Ruby yearbooks, diversity ratios among students, performances, and campus trends from the 1950s until 1968, we demonstrate that the name signifies Ursinus\u27 focus on the transition into a more inclusive and democratic environment. Reorganizing the Curtain Club into ProTheatre signifies Ursinus\u27 shift into being pro-change.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/digital_history_projects/1009/thumbnail.jp