ABSTRACT
This chapter entertains an alternative conception of Aemilia Lanyer, with Wilkins' name being employed to publish her writing. Lanyer's education and feminist influences from her patrons, the Berties and Margaret Clifford, are reviewed. George Wilkins is believed to have contributed to two plays by John Day: Humour Out of Breath (1608) and Law Tricks (1608). Both plays are feminist, with Day admitting that his “Patron was worthy of the Sisterhood,” in Humour Out of Breath. Law Tricks is about the “she-satyre,” Emilia, her friend the Countess, and her hostile husband, the “sea-captain.” It appears to be allegorical of the situation between the poet, Aemilia, her friend and patron, the Countess of Cumberland, and her sea-captain husband. Some of the sources and style of Pericles (1608) are examined. The “Wilkins” style resembles the Lanyer style, including the “moralizing sententiousness.” This style is evident in the liberal employment of the word “sin” in the first two acts of Shakespeare's play, Pericles (1609), which are attributed to Wilkins. In contrast, the last three acts attributed to Shakespeare, which include the brothel scenes, do not employ the word “sin” at all.
