ABSTRACT
Women playwrights were more willing to challenge the stereotypes and feminine ideals that had restricted the heroine's movement for centuries. Despite their limited access to the world of theater, women playwrights occupied a unique position where they could change perceptions about women's ability to rationalize, deliberate, and lead. The earliest forms of drama systematically excluded women from active roles as playwrights, protagonists, or even spectators. In the Aristotelian model, drama served to facilitate and positively reinforce correct choices. Throughout the seventeenth century and into the eighteenth, these male-constructed models influenced the works of early modern women playwrights. In some respects, heroines in works by female playwrights conformed to those featured in plays by their male counterparts. Early modern women playwrights combated negative female stereotypes, not only through the kinds of heroines they produced but also through their participation as playwrights. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
