Pregnant Bodies from Shakespeare to Ford: A Phenomenology of Pregnancy in English Early Modern Drama

This book explores how the pregnant body is portrayed, perceived, and enacted in Shakespeare's and his contemporaries' drama through a phenomenological analysis and a recourse to early modern popular medical discourse on reproduction. It argues that the pregnant body constituted an embattled contradiction in a world where men were expected to grow isolated from their bodies. The analysis suggests that fictional characters experience reflects tangible realities of early modern women, while often deflecting the scientific consensus on reproduction in the period.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 25 March 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This captivating book delves into the intricate portrayal, perception, and enactment of the pregnant body in the drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries through a phenomenological analysis and a reliance on early modern popular medical discourse on reproduction. Phenomenology of pregnancy emerges as a relatively recent and groundbreaking philosophical framework that challenges the post-Cartesian divide between an almost autonomous reason and an enclosed and self-sufficient (male) body as the pillars of identity. Early modern drama, as argued, was written and staged amidst revolutionary transformations in medicine and science, where old and new theories on the embodied self clashed. In this world, where men were increasingly expected to distance themselves from their bodies, the pregnant body stood as a perplexing contradiction. Drawing upon the theories of embodiment, this book conducts a meticulous and comprehensive examination of a diverse array of pregnant characters and their "pregnant embodiment" in the pre-modern works of Shakespeare, Middleton, Webster, and Ford. The analysis in each chapter establishes an inseparable link between an intensely embodied experience of pregnancy as enacted in space and the processes that shape identity, leading to a heightened sense of selfhood and agency. Despite seemingly divergent experiences of the selected heroines and repeated attempts to contain their "unruly" bodies, the ever-evolving and "spatial" pregnant identities persist as sites of embodied selfhood and agency. Provocatively, this book suggests that fictional characters' experiences reflect tangible realities of early modern women, while often diverging from the scientific consensus on reproduction during that period.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367756239