ABSTRACT
The figure of Moll Cutpurse has lived on for four centuries in heroic, anti-heroic and mock-heroic veins, the epitome of riotous female power. Beholders marveled at her body and how she carried it. The actions she is said to have performed - joke telling, singing and lute playing - were all popular pastimes, as was the institution of theatergoing. The Irish mantle Moll wore and the sword she carried were both associated with the queen, who displayed them at public occasions and/or had them depicted in official portraits. Mary Frith playing herself at the Fortune shortly afterwards would have been able to piggyback on this imagery. In The Roaring Girl, the choice of a bass viola da gamba to accompany the dream song reinforces Moll's characterization as a self-fashioned sexual enigma. It could be held across the lap, a mode considered decorous for women, or between the legs in a style that could lead to indecent shaking of the instrument.
