SOURCE: Staub, Susan C. “The Lady Frances Did Watch: Gascoigne's Voyeuristic Narrative.” In Framing Elizabethan Fictions: Contemporary Approaches to Early Modern Narrative Prose, edited by Constance C. Relihan, pp. 41-54. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1996.

In the following essay, Staub explores how voyeurism in the The Adventures of Master F. J. offers insights on gender roles of the Elizabethan era.

One of the most crucial scenes for an understanding of the complexities of George Gascoigne's Adventures of Master F. J. (1573) has been virtually ignored by scholars. This scene occurs fairly early in the narrative, shortly after the hero, the courtier-poet F. J., has successfully bedded his mistress, the Lady Elinor. “Content to accept boards [the floor] for a bed of down,” the two “beguile the night,” as another figure, Elinor's kinswoman, Frances, lurks in the shadows: “not much perceived, yet the Lady Frances being no less desirous...