Drama by Lady Mary Wroth

This entry discusses how the decision of Lady Mary Wroth (1587–1651) to write a tragicomedy is explained by her membership of a literary family, the Sidney-Herberts, and her familiarity with court entertainments. Contrasts between Wroth’s two manuscripts of Love’s Victory and its conjectured date are outlined. The entry argues that its theatrical qualities strongly suggest it was designed for real or imagined performance. The roles of Cupid and Venus, who vow revenge on the mortals, are analyzed with reference to masque tradition. The entry shows how Wroth’s shepherd and shepherdess characters draw on a family tradition of pastoral romance, while her plot is influenced by a fashion for pastoral tragicomedy in the commercial theater. The expressions of love between friends and by lovers (made by the eight protagonists and the minor characters) are analyzed. The entry argues that the play’s romantic entanglements are understood not as a direct reflection of Wroth’s own relationships with her husband and her cousin and lover, William Herbert. Instead, drama and performance create prismatic refractions of her experiences of unrequited love, arranged marriage, and infidelity. The multilayered folding of heightened emotions in the script opens ways of sympathizing across gender boundaries. Wroth’s authorial power to rewrite her own fortunes through drama is discussed with reference to the Book of Fortunes. The entry concludes, from recent evidence about the Penshurst manuscript, that the play functions primarily as a family drama, intended to incorporate Wroth into the Herbert family through an alliance with William Herbert.