Paradox of Female Body

The female body is portrayed in literature during early modern Europe as grotesque, leaky and repulsive; however, these perceptions are those of men and religious sentiments. Women of this period, however, seem to have a different outlook on their bodies, in fact, many of them find their bodies to be the source of their limited liberation. Women were born into misfortunate circumstances of subservience and hardships, and in order to escape this struggling life, they embraced their bodies, a response society considered to be deviant. In Middleton’s A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, one of the gossips comments on the Allwit baby, asserting that she is “A very spiny creature, but all heart;/ Well mettled, like the faithful, to endure/ Her tribulation here and raise up seed” [22]. This quote portrays the troubles wives endured as subjects to their husband’s demands. In contrast, a whore was not devoted to one man; thus, they seemed to lead more free lives. For as in the dialogue between a suburb bawd, a courtesan and a pimp in 1650, Scolopendra, the courtesan referred to whores as “cats” claiming that they enjoy lives of “priviledge…, who play and sport with their Tails, and yet fear no censure for so doing” [10].

Though whores were believed to be dirty and repulsive, there was also something intriguing and alluring about the freedom they exhibit in their bodies and within their daily lives. Men were infatuated with their unique existence and some women became envious of their seemingly liberal way of life. In Thomas Dekker’s The Honest Whore, Bellafront claims you can “Dress her [a whore] up in civilest shape a courtesan,/ Let her walk saint-like, noteless, and unknown,/ Yet she’s betray’d by some trick of her own” [9]. Bellafront, a whore herself, claims that a whore can appear beautiful and almost angelic if dressed civilly, seeming innocently mysterious to the world. Yet, she herself knows the truth about her disgraceful means using promiscuity. Other women, however, only see her appearance, which seems liberating, and they desire such freedom. As a result, many women during Renaissance England could no longer suppress their desires and they give into them by having affairs with other men. Because women are expected to follow the same routine, there is very little choice in how they can live, so those who do choose to transgress these boundaries are considered to be deviant. The liberation many Renaissance women were attempting to achieve was “unnatural”, for their only escape from male dominance required a scandalous, independence not permitted to women during the time. Whores epitomized this existence, but there were even some women who could not be called whores, who demanded control or at least some say in their own lives. Martin Ingram, in his essay, “Love, Sex and Marriage” described that during Renaissance England men held authority in the household; however, women were feared, yet fascinating for “the sharpness of their tongues” [36]. Ironically, women were repulsed for their unrestrained tongues and bodies; however, this “unnatural liberation” is also what captivated men.