In no other early modern English interlude but in John Redford’s Wit and Science (datable about 1534-40 and written to be performed by St Paul’s choristers) do women play the role of lovers. Lady Science is, from the beginning of the text, promised to Wit and in the end the two get married, after Wit has killed the monster Tediousness at his second attempt. During a first fight, though, Wit is struck dead by the monster and is brought back to life by Honest Recreation with music and dancing. Idleness lulls him when, after the dance, he sits down too tired to keep standing and falls in her lap. The specific characteristic of Redford’s play that is highlighted in this article is that, contrary to most Tudor moral interludes, female characters are depicted as agents in a love story, and not as either saints or reprobates. The following investigates the dialogue between Honest Recreation and Idleness from a pragmatic point of view, reading it as a series of reciprocal insults and offences, in other words, as a case of deliberate impoliteness.
The language of (allegorical) women’s rivalry in Wit and Science
Roberta Mullini
2023
Abstract
In no other early modern English interlude but in John Redford’s Wit and Science (datable about 1534-40 and written to be performed by St Paul’s choristers) do women play the role of lovers. Lady Science is, from the beginning of the text, promised to Wit and in the end the two get married, after Wit has killed the monster Tediousness at his second attempt. During a first fight, though, Wit is struck dead by the monster and is brought back to life by Honest Recreation with music and dancing. Idleness lulls him when, after the dance, he sits down too tired to keep standing and falls in her lap. The specific characteristic of Redford’s play that is highlighted in this article is that, contrary to most Tudor moral interludes, female characters are depicted as agents in a love story, and not as either saints or reprobates. The following investigates the dialogue between Honest Recreation and Idleness from a pragmatic point of view, reading it as a series of reciprocal insults and offences, in other words, as a case of deliberate impoliteness.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
