Women, Performance, & Role Reversal

During the early 19th century women were respected only if they maintained their domesticated roles which men imposed upon them. At this point in time women were for the most part expected to remain traditional housewives who cared for the children, kept house, did not question the authority of the husband (or any man for that matter), and women were considered low-class if they procured a job to support themselves or members of their family. In the 18th century, the “proper” woman would read and write literature and poetry because those pastimes did not interfere with their fragile selves and further reestablished their nurturing role.

Given the role and expectations of women in the 19th century, it is not surprising then that women who assumed the career of an actress were proscribed by law and excommunicated by the church. The reason for this is that women were expected to maintain their innocence and virtue. When a woman thrust herself upon stage she was seen as exposing herself for an audience and therefore being an actress was considered similar to that of a prostitute; furthermore a dishonorable profession for a female but an accepted and respected occupation for a male.

However, early professional actress-readers were considered a more palatable occupation for women because they did not wear costumes which revealed alternate personas and they would sit round a table and read to the audience much like a woman would do for her children.

I am very interested in the way society has changed over the last three centuries. We have seen a shift from the expectations that women protect their frail image and innocence to contemporary expectations that women bare all on the big screen or else they will be regarded in a negative light. It seems to me that in the past women were looked down upon if they objectified their bodies but now women actresses are expected to objectify their bodies simply for the pleasure and entertainment of others.

Blog # 4 Anna Cora Mowatt and the performance of mesmerism

A mid-nineteenth century public reader, actress, playwright, and author, Anna Cora Mowatt, has been deemed the first “lady elocutionist” because she established a career as a public reader without having previously been an actress. Anna Cora Mowatt ended her public career as a public reader due to a deliberating respiratory disease. In her search for comfort and cure, Anna began a treatment regimen called “mesmerism.” Mowatt provided a detailed description of her experience with mesmerism in her autobiography. Within Anna’s description of her experience of mesmerism, she claims to have unwittingly portrayed an alternate persona which called herself “the Gypsy.” According to Taylor (2009) who authored The Lady Actress, Anna’s Gypsy character served as a way in which she could break the Victorian social constraints and strict rules that smothered women. When Anna would undergo mesmerism, she could break away from the repressive behavioral norms imposed upon upper-class American women without gaining the negative social stigma that would normally be placed upon a person who behaved they way she did. Of course, only a few of Anna’s closest friends were privileged enough to observe her private performance in which “The Gypsy” wrote poems, told fantastic stories, and who regularly engaged in debates concerning philosophy and religion, which would have been extremely unacceptable for a woman in the Victorian era.

Mesmerism in the 1900’s would be a similar phenomena to modern day hypnosis. Hypnosis has been regarded as a social phenomenon in which the participant undergoes an altered state of consciousness, similar to sleep. Hypnosis often involves an audience and performers wherein the hypnotist is seemingly endowed with the ability to alter individual levels of consciousness. The participant then performs for the audience and breaks social norms which they reportedly do not remember. When a person underwent a mesmerized state they reportedly transcended into an altered consciousness to a state of heightened spirituality. Anna performed for a small private audience of close friends similar to the more public performances of modern day hypnotism in both cases the participant breaks social norms.

Corporeal Existence: Blog Post #5

Blog # 5

In “The Actors Bodies” David Graver explains that modern theatrical portrayals of corporeal existence intersect with dance, theater, and performance art. Graver suggests that “presence” is an essential component of performance which should be acknowledged in order to fully explore the “ontological permutations of corporeal display”. Graver explains that the uninformed audience member perceives “presence” as dichotomous rather than complex and complicated. The general audience member usually views performance as involving an actor who “pretends to be a particular character while remaining his/her real self or that the actor represents a character while presenting his/her performance” and thus Graver seeks to establish a distinction between artifice and reality and presence and representation.

Graver explains that the stage displays more than the simplicity of a character, rather he contends that presence is essential to a performance, yet it is difficult to describe because it is usually identified minus credentials. When I reflexively think about the connotations of presence on stage, I can picture myself stating “she displayed exceptional stage presence” yet I honestly had no idea what I was referring to other than commenting on a thought provoking or aesthetically pleasing performance. According to Graver, appearances gain meaning through interpretation; however individual interpretation is shaped by the discursive structures available to the interpreter/audience member; meaning we are born into a world of discursive structures, belief systems, and epistemological assumptions that are engrained into our subconscious. The discursive structures then become an individual’s reality and are often digested as facts. By analyzing the worlds in which actors establish corporeal existence we are searching for the interior, exterior, and autonomous forces that drive behavior and being.

Graver identified seven ontologically distinct forms of corporeal existence which performers deliver on stage: character, performer, commentator, personage, group representative, flesh, and sensation. Personally, I found sensation to be the most interesting.

According to Graver, sensation is the most private because it happens within the performer and can be disguised or played upon by the performer. Individuals who posses the ability to experience pain, pleasure, happiness, numbness, etc. can attempt to understand what emotions and sensations the performer feels but their efforts will never truly be realized.

I also found flesh to be a very interesting aspect of corporeal existence. Although I have heard of performances in which the performers are stripped of all clothing, I never witnessed such a performance, and had I witnessed such a performance before reading Graver’s article “The Actor’s Bodies” I would have most likely seen the individual on stage as a naked person rather than an medium used to portray a performative message.

In order to understand what it means to be a body on stage it is imperative that we understand the various discursive realms that impact performance on stage as well as theatrical display, otherwise the most intricate meaning and opportunities for understanding our existence will be lost.

Castiglione and the True Renaissance Man

Castiglione believed that in order for someone to be considered an accomplished Renaissance man they must have the ability to tell an amusing story. Castiglione expressed that in order to tell an amusing story which would achieve the desired effects upon the audience, one must possess intellectual flexibility. During the Renaissance, books were not readily available as they are today, and therefore the public was dependent upon the communication skills of talented individuals to provide entertainment. Because entertainment was dependent upon superior communication skills, Castiglione felt the possession of cognitive astuteness and social competence were the requirements to be considered an accomplished Renaissance man.

Surely the ability to tell a funny story could not be the only requirement to be considered a true Renaissance man. Did Castiglione forget about all of the performers and the artists whose artifacts of the Renaissance exist and have become widely famous and are studied in colleges all over the world? So I must respectfully disagree with Castiglione because his Renaissance men are not around today to be heard and experienced by countless generations, but the artifacts of the musicians and artists have endured the restraints of time and privileged us with their true Renaissance art.

Response to Question 1 of Week 2

Anglo Saxon women played a role in the performance of cultural texts by supporting their men through theatrical performances on the sidelines of the battlefield. These women supported their men by providing feedback and encouragement in regards to their performance on the battlefield. The Anglo Saxon women served as witnesses by “reflecting and projecting mirrors which confirmed and incited the actions of men” (Dwight Conquergood). Additionally, women possessed the power to alter the course of events when the men were wavering in battle by offering dramatic theatrical performances of “rape and plunder” as a forewarning of the misery felt after losing battle (Dwight Conquergood). These horrific performances united the men and helped them to find courage within their fear of losing the women.



For the Anglo Saxon people, performance served the rhetorical function of transmitting cultural knowledge about their origins, their cultural identity, and their intransience. The men served as agents of motivation and solidarity as they told heroic tales of their quests and achievements. The males also served as vehicles of intimidation for the enemy. The women, on the other hand, assisted in maintaining cultural knowledge by providing perpetual support for the men by confirming male egos and by providing them with response and critique of their actions. The women also kept the memory of the fallen men alive by succumbing to their grief in a public manner.



The Anglo-Saxon men and women both contributed equally in regards to maintaining and sustaining cultural knowledge by affecting a sense cohesion and communitas among the people. However, women were viewed very highly by the Anglo-Saxon people because of the importance of the supportive, honest, and devoted female role. The men may not have been as successful or the people as united, if the women did not perform their important sympathetic role in the community.