I. Elizabeth ve I. James Dönemi tiyatrosunda iffet ve sadakat

The Renaissance affected England between the 15th and the 17th centuries and enabled many playwrights to produce many important literary works during that period. In general, the themes of the plays can be regarded as reflections of social life in Renaissance England. Therefore, it is possible to make some inferences about the place and role of women during the Renaissance by reading and analysing the plays of the period in detail. The aim of this thesis is to detect and understand the roles and the problems of women during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. To this purpose, five important plays of three prominent playwrights of the period were chosen for this thesis: Much Ado About Nothing, Othello and Cymbeline by William Shakespeare, The Revenger's Tragedy by Thomas Middleton and The White Devil by John Webster. Various types of plays, comedy, tragedy and romance, were chosen in order to a reach a general conclusion. The Introduction provides information about the historical and social background of Renaissance England. Special attention is given to the place of women in a patriarchal society and to common notions about women's nature. In the following chapters, two important female virtues of Renaissance England, chastity and fidelity, will be analysed in detail by focusing on the women characters in each play. The plays will be analysed and interpreted from a feminist point of view. This study aims at making a contribution to the understanding of the place and problems of women in Renaissance England by analysing and interpreting how women were represented in English Renaissance drama. Keywords: Chastity, Fidelity, Cuckoldry, Misogyny, Male Domination, Renaissance England.