The Islamization of Spain in William Rowley and Mary Pix: The Politics of Nation and Gender

In the mid-1990s a manuscript was discovered containing the poetry and prose of a previously unknown female author, Lady Hester Pulter. The poems, likely written during the 1640s–'50s, demonstrate Pulter's wide reading and her near-fanatical Royalism. The prose romance, The Unfortunate Florinda, however, displays a very different politics. Basing her fiction on the legends surrounding the Muslim conquest of Spain, I argue that Pulter adjusts her sources to present an alternative, Augustinian view of rape, one that blames the rapist, not the victim. The monarchs in Pulter's fiction use absolutist rhetoric to justify rape, and,contraher earlier poetic denunciations of Charles I's execution, rape now justifies regicide. I suggest that the sexual corruption of Charles II's court prompted Pulter to create a romance with distinctly republican overtones in which chastity is the highest value, sexual corruption the lowest vice, and rulers who commit such crimes forfeit both their right to rule and their right to live.

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The Islamization of Spain in William Rowley and Mary Pix: The Politics of Nation and Gender

Cited by 4 publications

References 8 publications

English Women’s Writing and Islamic Empires, 1610–1690

English Women’s Writing and Islamic Empires, 1610–1690

New Life In Drama and Music: From Poetry To Theatre

Lady Hester Pulter'sThe Unfortunate Florinda:Race, Religion, and the Politics of Rape^*

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The Islamization of Spain in William Rowley and Mary Pix: The Politics of Nation and Gender

Cited by 4 publications

References 8 publications

English Women’s Writing and Islamic Empires, 1610–1690

English Women’s Writing and Islamic Empires, 1610–1690

New Life In Drama and Music: From Poetry To Theatre

Lady Hester Pulter'sThe Unfortunate Florinda:Race, Religion, and the Politics of Rape*

Contact Info

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Resources

About

Lady Hester Pulter'sThe Unfortunate Florinda:Race, Religion, and the Politics of Rape^*