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IV. Emilia's Choice

Emilia is the dramatic counterweight to Theseus as well as his political victim. While Emilia is the only figure in the drama capable of what Weiler describes as a "conscious articulation" of desire (for chastity and the company of women), criticism has neglected and misread her to an astonishing degree.⁴⁹ Roberts argues that "the Amazonian Emilia comes closer to being a simple allegorical figure than any of the men. Like Hippolyta, she remains curiously static, seeming more a projection of a male problem than an interesting dramatic character."⁵⁰ But Emilia's unwavering consistency is a sign of valued self-knowledge in a play (and a period) where inconstant desires and shifting appetites are deeply stigmatized, and her "persuasion" for women in itself offers a check to the male process of "projection." Rose describes Emilia quite misleadingly as the "remote superior lady" of courtly love tradition.⁵¹ But rather...

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1. Introduction
2. I. Chastity and the Space Of Female Friendship
3. II. Improvisations On the Friendship Form
4. III. Theseus's Power
5. IV. Emilia's Choice
6. V. Conclusion
7. Copyright