The Making of the Images of Englishmen in Caroline Drama 1625-1642

Abstract

This paper gives an account of the images of Englishmen and European foreigners in the English setting of Caroline drama, and provides cases in which Caroline dramatists present with the self-criticism new approaches to the depiction of Englishmen in relation to European foreigners. Exemplary cases are an English aristocrat in Spanish disguise in Richard Brome’s The Northern Lass (1629), a French dancing instructor in James Shirley’s The Ball (1632), and an English-born son of a Dutch immigrant in Henry Glapthorne’s The Hollander (1635). These three plays are suggestive of social and political issues that reflect on the alliance between England and its traditional enemies such as Spain, France and Netherlands. The national traits of characters are determined by international affairs swinging between the breakdown of the alliance and its restoration. These three plays are no longer rooted in the Elizabethan xenophobic and patriotic sentiment, and foreign characters are more fully accepted into Caroline social life. The satire previously aimed at European foreigners is now turned against the folly of English characters. It works as the device that reassesses the Englishman’s self-image and his notion of the European other, and that has the effect of challenging the conventional concept of stock national traits. Both English and European characters are portrayed satirically. The new type of satirical drama serves to redefine the self-deceptive nature of English national identity, and to present European foreigners in a less prejudiced comparison with Englishmen.