Author: Marisa R. Cull

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

Abstract: This dissertation focuses on theatrical representation of Wales and the Welsh at a particularly pressured moment in the development of the English nation. In these twenty-five years, England strengthened its armed forces to fight wars both foreign and domestic, expanded its empire and moved toward a "British" state, and continued adapting to the changes of the Reformation. This dissertation argues that the frequent and varied representation of Wales and the Welsh on the late Tudor and early Stuart stage reveals the extent to which the English understood their national history and identity in relation to their western neighbors. Although Wales has been overshadowed by Ireland and Scotland in studies of early modern English nationalism, its impact on the formation of English national identity should not be underestimated. As the descendants of the heroic ancient Britons (including King Arthur), the Welsh had an enviable narrative of military prowess that the English often co-opted for themselves; moreover, the English annexation of Wales - culminating in the 1536 Act of Union - provided a hopeful precedent for how England might incorporate its most resistant Celtic neighbor, Ireland, and later, for how England might expand into a British empire. Finally, the Welsh, who claimed connection to the earliest Christian Britons, were also commonly associated with paganism and Catholicism - making them a locus for English anxiety about the success of the Reformation. In plays such as Peele's Edward I, Shakespeare's 1 Henry IV, Henry V, and Cymbeline, and R.A.'s The Valiant Welshman, we see the Welsh as valiant soldiers, boastful gasbags, proto-Protestant heroes, and pagan prophets; we also see Wales as a flourishing British kingdom, a barren, primitive, backwoods, and an idyllic rural countryside. Such variety of representation demonstrates the way in which England appropriated and adapted Wales in order to represent and reflect upon England's struggles with war, nation formation, and religious change. This investigation not only allows for a deeper sense of how Wales and the Welsh took part in the development of English nationalism, but it also provides a richer understanding of the textual and theatrical dynamics of both canonical and non-canonical literary works.