SOURCE: “‘Man-maid, begone!’: Women in Masque,” in English Literary Renaissance, Vol. 18, No. 1, Winter, 1988, pp. 96-113.

In the following essay, Gossett explores the role of women in the masque, arguing that the views of royalty had a profound influence on how women were portrayed.

The distance between an actor and the person he represents varies throughout theatrical history. At some times the relation is close: the actor is typecast or methodically lives the part. At other times the relation is remote. Brecht urged his actors not to identify with their roles; Greek actors wore masks. On the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage potentially different relations existed simultaneously. The theaters of the time employed all male casts, with boys taking the roles of women. Therefore Kemp may have been a “real” clown, or Burbage a convincing Hamlet, but the boys could only be women according to an understood convention. The audience...