Examinations of the representations of women’s speech in early modern England aim to understand more fully the various ways in which speaking women were categorized into appropriate and inappropriate, licit and illicit categories. Scholarship in the field reveals that early modern texts, including Shakespeare’s plays, record for us depictions of women negotiating these boundaries. At the same time, understanding the operation of these prescriptions against women’s speech in early modern society and the examples of women’s responses to these expectations enriches our understanding of the cultural contexts for Shakespeare’s plays today.
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