SOURCE: "Robert Greene's Romantic Heroines: Caught Up in Knowledge and Power?" in Ball State University Forum, Vol. XIV, No. 4, Autumn, 1973, pp. 3–12.

In the following essay Dean examines Greene's portrayals of heroines in his works and responds to various criticisms tegarding their characterization.

Robert Greene (1558–1592) has been known as an adept plotter of plays, the developer of the double plot, a fast writer of prose narratives, and to some, a "Homer of women,"¹ one who created subtle, delicate moods to envelop his chaste heroines. Greene's dramatic heroines have traditionally been praised for their fresh realistic portrayal, but recently these women, often found in arbors singing exquisite lyrics to the pleasing sounds of a lute or discovered on stage in a cottage warbling a ditty while serving ale and milk, have been judged by critics to be little more than pasteboard figures. This essay seeks redress against the defamation of...