Adoptive Names in Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women

Abstract

Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women suggests, for a time, the possibility that familial lineage can be changed at will, and that names and relations are not fixed determinants of identity but instead mere verbal conventions that can be dispensed with to suit a character's ambitions. The play offers a surprising view of lineage in flux, as Livia's calculating use of verbal markers of familial relation appears to demonstrate the fragility of the family structure itself. Yet the conclusion of Women Beware Women provides a more conservative account, and, as order is restored, the play suggests that the conventions of lineage are necessary to avoid social calamity. In this way, Middleton is critical of both patriarchal order and its potential destruction.