In direct contrast to our modern understanding of incest, Incest and Agency in Elizabeth's England seeks to demonstrate that, during the Renaissance, a small number of important women used incest, imagined or actual, to empower their authorship.

Incest and Agency in Elizabeth's England

Maureen Quilligan

2005 | 296 pages | Cloth $59.95 | Paper $24.95
Literature | Women's/Gender Studies

Table of Contents

1. Halting the traffic in women: theoretical foundations
2. Elizabeth I (with a note on Marguerite de Navarre)
3. Sir Philip Sidney's queen
4. Mary Sidney Herbert (with a note on Elizabeth Cary)
5. Spenser's Britomart
6. Mary Wroth
7. Shakespeare's Cordelia

Epilogue: Milton's eve