This article shows that a consideration of early modern performance conditions is essential to the construction of gender difference via the binary opposites of speech and silence in early modern England. The convention of the boy actor in Renaissance Drama is an arena of ideological turbulence in which gender difference is subverted. The boy actors overthrow gender stereotypes, opening up subjective spaces for interrogating male figures’ voices. While the boy actors impersonating female figures challenge and criticise the masculine construction of gender difference, I argue that silencing the boy actors, who are no more able to impersonate the female figures vocally, opens up an uncanny subjective space that challenges male voices and their fantasy of female passivity.

Title

Bilal Tawfiq Hamamra

Publisher

Taylor and Francis

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

None

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

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Year

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Pages

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