History 2185 Lecture Notes - Gender Bender, Upper Class, English Reformation

• School: Western University
• Department: History
• Course: History 2185
• Professor: Monda Helpern

Document Summary

In england during the renaissance their focus was not on visual art but on the written arts like literature and plays and these show is many of their attitudes about sex and sexuality. Many of the plots were about sex and women couldn"t be expected to act these moments out and their exclusion was seen as something for their own protection. Acting was very low on the scale of occupations and the social status was really no better than being a prostitute. A lot of issues on the stage were related to gender confusion and involved incest, homosexuality and more either committed unwittingly or knowingly (shakespeare is a good example of this) There was a lot of ambivalence about the topic of sex and how certain themes could be handled on stage.