ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author argues that science and religion play a significant role in her view of a reformed stage, particularly in De Monfort and in some of her last plays. As Marjean D. Purinton points out, 'Both gothic and science were discursive fields upon which anxieties about social identity and physicality could be displaced, and the gothic conventions of drama were particularly convenient for playwrights' use in negotiating the influences of science upon culture'. Joanna Baillie states roundly that of all human principles ‘Religion is the strongest’, and that ‘in the whole circle of the sciences’ there exist no truths of equal importance for human happiness. In 1790 Baillie published a small volume of miscellaneous poems, again with an important Preface, which received considerable acclaim. In the United States, Joseph Donohue began a reconsideration of Romantic theatre in the 1970s, recognizing Baillie's importance while being unsparing in his criticism.
