Subsequent Marriage Research Articles

AN ANALYSIS OF THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF MALAKI V. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES ON POLYGYNY UNDER THE CODE OF MUSLIM PERSONAL LAWS OF THE PHILIPPINES

This article, using case analysis, examines the legal implications of polygyny under the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines of the case of Francis D. Malaki and Jacqueline Mae Salanatin-Malaki v. People of the Philippines, G.R. No. 221075, November 15, 2021, which not only affirmed the settled doctrine - that the non-Muslim male party to a subsisting civil marriage who converts to Islam and subsequently marries another woman in accordance with the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines commits the crime of bigamy - but also suggests a novel proposition that a Muslim husband who contracts a subsequent marriage without the consent of the wife or permission of the Shari’ah court in case of wife’s refusal to consent is also bigamous; therefore, the subsequent marriage is void from the beginning under the Family Code of the Philippines and penalised as a crime under the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines. After analysing the case, this article concludes that the subsequent marriage of a Muslim husband who has subsisting Muslim marriage should not constitute the crime of bigamy, as there is no legal framework in the Qur’an or Sunnah which requires the consent of the wife for the Muslim husband to contract a subsequent marriage. It further concludes that this novel doctrine should be treated as an obiter dictum to avoid its practical effect of criminalising what the Qur’an and Sunnah have made legal and permissible. Nonetheless, existing legal provisions against abuse of the privilege to contract subsequent marriage may be enhanced.

Contribution of Agama Arbitration Council as an Alternative Mode for Conflict Resolution Adopted By Shari’ah Courts in South Central Mindanao

Issuing the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines was a constitutional justification for the free exercise of Religion and cultural communities. This study aimed to ascertain the relationship between the contribution of the Agama Arbitration Council as an alternative mode for conflict resolution adopted by the Shari'ah Courts in South Central Mindanao. The study utilized a descriptive correlation to the 100 respondents composed of judges, clerks of courts, counselors, staff, and asatidz in the cities of Cotabato and Kidapawan, including provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, and North Cotabato. The researcher-made survey questionnaire was used and validated by experts, and its reliability was tested on alpha Cronbach. The Pearson r was used to analyze the data. The results found a high positive correlation between the Agama Arbitration Council as an Alternative Mode for Conflict Resolution adopted by the Shari'ah Courts in terms of divorce (talaq), subsequent marriage, and offense against customary law and its attainment of objectives on the proper conduct of arbitration procedure and the speedy disposition of cases. Hence, the Agama Arbitration Council served as a viable process instead of litigation in the regular courts. It is recommended to incorporate them as essential in the legal system of Muslims in the Philippines.

To the Question of the Date of Capture of Polotsk by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich

The paper offers a refutation of the annalistic dating and a new analytical dating of the time of capture of Polotsk by Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the prince of Novgorod on the Volkhov, and his subsequent marriage to Rogneda, the daughter of the Polotsk prince. Proceeding from available at our disposal reliable dates, it is necessary to think that this event took place in 975—977. This article offers a specification of the date of birth of the second son of Vladimir and Rogneda, Jaroslav – in the interval from 20 (21).02.977 to 19 (20).02.978. Based on a number of indirect data, this interval can be narrowed down to 01.01 — 19 (20).02.978. Thus, this example once again shows that the dates of the events of the 10th century used in historiography, taken from the early chronicle writing, are unreliable. Moreover, in a number of cases, including the one considered in this paper, the time interval between the events is also unreliable, which is quite natural for the historiographical narrative based on the mythopoeic tradition of the Rus’ people who were unfamiliar with writing and had no calendar.

Kilka uwag w sprawie roli politycznej hrabiny szweryńskiej Audacji‑Małogorzaty

Appearing in historical sources under two names, Audacja and Małgorzata, the wife of the Count of Schwerin Henryk I (died 1228) has long aroused the interest of historians. Researchers have investigated her Pomeranian origins. They have attempted to give the history of her family: husbands, sons, and several daughters. They have frequently discussed the matter of her rights to Sławno lands, which her daughter Ermengarde brought to her husband Świętopełk, Duke of Gdańsk. In the scholarly literature from the nineteenth century, there are reflections on the large role that the countess played in the history of Połabia at the end of the 1220s and the start of the 1230s, a history determined by Schwerin‑Danish relations. The very marriage of Audacja‑Małgorzata with Henryk is also a subject of interest here. Although the political circumstances of the countess’s marriage with Henryk I occasion doubts in the literature, there is no doubt her public actions were dominated by the conflict with Denmark. The Countess took an active part in this, not just as the wife of Henryk I, who was himself instrumental in shaking the position of Denmark in the area round the Baltic. Thanks to her, the peace treaties also discussed conditions for the return of territory (or payment of appropriate compensation) taken from her mother by Waldemar II. This point emerged during the discussions with the emissaries of the Empire with Count Henryk I and his allies concerning the liberation of Waldemar II and his son Waldemar III in 1223 and 1224. In the agreement between Denmark and Schwerin in 1225, the Countess, together with her husband and children, was mentioned as a party. She was also mentioned in the fief agreement concluded in 1227 between the Duke of Saxony Albrecht I and Count Henryk I.
 After 1228, Audacja‑Małgorzata played a special role on her husband’s death. Then the Countess had to conclude an agreement both with Denmark and the Duke of Brunswick, who was supporting her. Her position at that time is clearly reflected in a letter by Pope Gregory IX, calling on the Countess to free prisoners (the sons of Waldemar II and the Duke of Brunswick‑Lüneburg Otto the Child). Audacja‑Małgorzata’s guiding purpose was probably to make it possible for Gunzelin III, her still (in 1228) underage son, to take power in Schwerin. The basic aim of the conflict with Denmark was achieved, that is to remove Mikołaj, Waldemar II’s grandson, from the line of succession in Schwerin. By agreeing to end the conflict, the Schwerin side gave up the entirety of the ransom that Waldemar II was initially meant to pay and settled for half of it. The betrothal and subsequent marriage of Gunzelin III with Małgorzata of Mecklenburg can be seen as an attempt to build local alliances and as showing a willingness to live at peace with her neighbours.
 Thus, it appears that the Countess was reasonably successful in securing her son’s future and once he took power in guaranteeing him peace with all his neighbours. From that moment, the Countess gradually began to withdraw from public life and concentrated on devotional activities. This was what she was known for in the period before her death, which probably took place in 1270.

The Pedagogy of Bafflement: Bernard Bailyn's History 2910, Fall 1996

The Pedagogy of Bafflement: Bernard Bailyn's History 2910, Fall 1996

Subverting Hamlet through Re-writing: Sexual and Gender Politics of the Mother in Howard Barker’s Gertrude-The Cry

In Howard Barker’s Gertrude-The Cry (2002), all the things most popularly known about Shakespeare’s play Hamlet are subverted and transformed to a great extent. In this adaptation, the title character of the source text is changed from Hamlet to Gertrude, who is presented as a villainous woman in Hamlet with her potential involvement in her husband’s murder and subsequent marriage to Claudius. Barker alters the status of Hamlet as the tragic hero and makes his mother the new heroine of the play who does not conform to any of the norms set for her in Shakespeare’s text. Instead, Gertrude behaves as a woman extremely driven by erotic desire towards several male characters in the play. This paper analyses Barker’s rewriting as an attempt to challenge the norms of womanhood represented in conventional literary works. The transformations in Barker’s version are also related to women’s role and status in society at the time the play was written. Regarding the dominant ideas of the play such as personal will and sexual liberation in light of the relevant legislations of the New Labour as the ruling party in Britain in the early years of the twenty-first century, Barker’s play is also discussed as a politically driven adaptation.

Getting the Ghet: Analyzing the Need for State Intervention in Canadian Jewish Divorces

A commitment to religious freedom involves respecting the individual’s spiritual choices and obligations. However, to regard a religious community as an association that members join and quit at will is to miss both the value of religious association and its potential to limit, and sometimes even to oppress, its members (Moon, 2008). Through analysis of the judicial reasoning in several Canadian Supreme Court cases, I argue in this article that the courts are justified in ruling to protect vulnerable group members from oppressive or unjust religious rules, and that the state is justified in legislating such protections. In the private sphere, most religious systems impose patriarchal norms on family life (Becker, 1999). In Judaism, the Jewish Orthodox rabbinical courts have exclusive control over marriage and divorce. These courts almost always grant to men full control over divorce, which results in gender-based discrimination and violation of female human rights. Under Jewish law, Halacha, divorce is not a judicial act and may be achieved only at the husband’s will. When the man refuses to divorce, the wife has no religious recourse and is known as agunah, or "chained wife." She is unable to continue her life without a ghet, the religious annulment of the marriage, and civil divorce or subsequent marriage are not viable options according to Jewish traditions. Practices surrounding the ghet often ignore the woman’s rights, rights that should be protected by the state and upheld by its courts. In this context, the role of the state is to alleviate women’s disadvantages; as such, secular legal authorities, comprising actors in both the legislative and judicial systems, should be obligated to ensure equal and fair treatment for women, even in the sphere of religious tradition.

Illegitimacy and its Effects on Marriage Prospects in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Rural England

All births, marriages and deaths that occurred in two rural parishes in south-west England in the period 1754–1914 were examined, using a wide array of source material. Records of individuals were linked together into large multi-generational family groups. There were 4,940 births, of which 319 were illegitimate. For the illegitimate cases, the rates of subsequent marriage of mothers and fathers were determined and compared with those for other people in the same parishes. Being the father of an illegitimate child did not impact the chances of subsequent marriage. Being the mother of an illegitimate child decreased the chances of subsequent marriage but only if the mother was co-resident with her children. Where the mother did not live with the illegitimate child(ren), her chances of marriage were similar to that of other women. Mothers of illegitimate children were more likely to marry their cousins and were less geographically mobile than other mothers.

Famine-related mortality in early life and accelerated life histories in nineteenth-century Belgium.

Density-dependent and extrinsic mortality are predicted to accelerate reproductive maturation. The first 5 years of life is a proposed sensitive period for life-history regulation. This study examines the ways in which local mortality during this sensitive period was related to subsequent marriage timing in nineteenth-century Belgium (n women = 11 892; n men = 14 140). Local mortality during the sensitive period was inversely associated with age at first marriage for men and women controlling for literacy, occupational status, population growth and migration. Cox regression indicated decreased time to marriage for women (HR = 1.661, 95% CI: 1.542-1.789) and men (HR = 1.327, 95% CI: 1.238-1.422) from high mortality municipalities. Rising population growth rates were associated with earlier marriage for men and women. Migration in general was associated with later marriage for men and women. Consistent with life-history predictions, harsh ecological conditions during early life such as famine coincided with earlier marriage.

1963 Difficult text/hard saying

In this article Gordon Dunstan (1917–2004) examines the ‘difficult text’ 1 Corinthians 6.16 in the light of Christian marriage – arguing that sexual intercourse with a sex worker, while wrong, does not constitute a man and woman becoming ‘one flesh’ and therefore debar that person from a subsequent marriage. Dunstan succeeded Alec Vidler as editor of Theology two years after writing this short article. At the time he was working at Church House, Westminster, as the influential (especially on divorce reform) secretary of the Church of England Council for Social Work. Two years later he was appointed as the first holder of the F. D. Maurice Chair of Moral and Social Theology at King’s College London, finally retiring to Exeter in 1982. Editor.

The Sea as Metaphor in Alec Derwent Hope’s “Man Friday” and Christopher Brennan’s “Each Day I See the Long Ships Coming into Port”

In both Alec Derwent Hope's and Christopher Brennan's poems, the sea is fraught with multiple meanings. Both poets play with the ideas of journey by sea, exile, isolation and home in vastly different ways. A. D. Hope infuses it with the resonances of exile, barriers, division, and finally, home. The poem begins from where Daniel Defoe leaves off his tale, taking up the story of Man Friday after he is brought by Robinson Crusoe to live in ‘England’s Desert Island’. The completely alien culture that Friday now encounters requires a massive readjustment of his mental and spiritual compass and the sea runs like an undercurrent through the entire poem even when it is not mentioned in so many words. The gradual acceptance of the way of life that is thrust upon him, his transformation (and quiet resignation) into an upper class servant and subsequent marriage and children take him farther and farther away from his memories and encase him within an artificial persona — until the day he accompanies his master to a sea port and hears the ocean’s beckoning roar after many years. The song of the ocean, the rush of memory and Friday’s response to the call of the sea crystallize in the ending of the poem. The poem not only raises issues of choice, ‘savagery’ versus ‘civilization’ and the arrogation of power over lives, it also envisions the sea as both a dividing barrier leading to exile and a welcoming bosom into the embrace of which to return is to go ‘home’. Brennan’s poem can be interpreted as addressing the very core of the Australian experience — the waves of migration from the farthest points of the earth which have shaped the culture and ethos of this continent in myriad ways. It is the sea that has conveyed the hopeful migrants hence and is invoked in terms of a cleansing — something that has ‘charmed away the old rancours’ and allowed them to see the new land with a ‘freshen’d gaze’. The poet wishes to set sail too, not to see many lands and peoples but to find a place of rest perhaps, such as what the people arriving in the long ships aspire to and will find in this new country. For them, in stark contrast to Friday’s voyage to England, the voyage does not signify exile but a coming home, a land full of promise with the potential for great happiness and peace.

My History: A Memoir of Growing Up

My History: A Memoir of Growing Up

The Act of Betrothal According to Liturgical Collection No. 66, Kept in the Scientific Archive of BAS

Liturgical corpus No. 66 is stored in the Scientific Archives - BAS (collection X) and it is from the XVI - XVII centuries. This the last stage of development of the engagement of the bridegroom, which is found in separate manuscripts, distinguished as a liturgy rank. The Serbian redaction presents a relatively late revision of sequence the engagement. Relations between the participants in the subsequent marriage are resolved (controlled) through this action performed within the boundaries of families. Keywords: Betrothal, Manuscript, Ritual, Prayer, Marriage

Of Curses and Beards: Reclaiming Herstories

Of Curses and Beards: Reclaiming Herstories Ana Roncero-Bellido Gaspar de Alba, Alicia. The Curse of the Gypsy: Ten stories and a Novella. Arte Público P, 2018. 224 pp. ISBN: 978-1558858626. The Curse of the Gypsy: Ten Stories and a Novella, by Alicia Gaspar de Alba, offers readers two fascinating and complex literary projects: first, a collection of ten interconnected stories that shape what Alicia Gaspar de Alba describes as a deconstructed novel with the title “The Curse of the Gypsy.” Following this is the historical-mythical novella recovering “The True and Tragic Story of Liberata Wilgefortis, Who, Having Consecrated her Virginity to the Goddess Diana to Avoid Marriage, Grew a Beard and Was Crucified.” With these two texts, Gaspar de Alba’s (historical) fiction engages in a critique of patriarchal, heteronormative, and white supremacist ideologies across both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border and the Atlantic, as the stories take readers to early 20th century Spain, Mexico and the U.S., and to the Hispania Lusitania of the 2nd century A.D. The stories in “The Curse of the Gyspy” weave different narrative voices that reveal the complexity of the characters Gaspar de Alba re/creates. “The Curse of the Gyspy” begins with the story of Margarita Vargas, a gypsy from Granada (Spain) who is victim of a lifelong curse her mother puts on her when she finds out Margarita is pregnant with the Grenadian poet Federico García Lorca’s child. This curse has taken the shape of a petrified fetus Margarita carries for eighty years, even after Lorca’s execution at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. As Margarita confesses her captivating romance with Lorca and their tragic fate, readers learn that her mother’s curse was dictated by the King of the Gypsies, Chorrojumo, who foresaw the disgrace of the Vargas family’s honor. This shame comes from Margarita’s double treason to her family and the gypsy community, for not only has she corrupted herself with a payo—a non-Gypsy—but she has also betrayed her husband’s heart well before he dies at war. The novel progresses with Margarita’s departure from Granada and subsequent marriage to a famous Mexican bullfighter, Benito Rivera, whom she follows to Mexico, as will the curse. Rivera’s family rejects his marriage to a gypsy, which they consider a step backwards towards Jose Vasconcelos’ cosmic race (39); and her husband, unable to accept Margarita’s presumed infertility, abandons her for years until they move to the border city [End Page 168] of Juárez. The family’s destiny thus lies in the hands of Margarita’s great-granddaughter, who is to take Margarita’s ashes back to Granada to break the curse. As the deconstructed novel progresses through the ten interconnected stories, readers get to meet two generations of complex characters who are descendants of Margarita, known as Maggie across the U.S.-Mexico border, and who all get reunited for her funeral. The stories of Margarita’s descendants tell the reality of many lives across the border: the rivalry between sisters that prompts a trip to Oaxaca; the story of Little Jay, a queer teenager who struggles with her sexual identity and deported parents; or the hopeless prayer of a woman whose sisters have locked in a convent when she confesses her father’s sexual abuses, among others. With these stories, Gaspar de Alba breaks the boundaries between history, myth, and fiction as she recreates the historical figure of Garcia Lorca and even his poetry; the popular actress Margarita Xirgú; the mythical character of Mariano Fernández Santiago, commonly known as Chorrojumo, patriarch of the Gypsies, whose statue still guards the entry to Granada’s gypsy neighborhood of Sacromonte (Cárdenas); and the Aztec warrior goddess Coyolxauhqui. Importantly, Margarita’s curse is actually inspired by true events. However, it is only at the end of the book that readers realize of the true nature of the supposedly fictional story, which is a verbatim translation of the news published in El Diario de Juarez in 1984 (23). Next, in a historical-mythical novella, Gaspar de Alba recovers the story of one of the...

Navigating Pluralities Reluctantly: The Marriage Contract in Dutch Galle

This article examines diverse practices in the establishment of marriage partnerships in eighteenth-century Sri Lanka,1parts of which were controlled by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Family law was an area in which the attempt to transform local practices was conspicuously present, but not fully achieved. Lawful marriage was linked to conversion to Dutch Protestantism and to inheritance of property. In the authoritative space of the provincial board that heard the matrimonial disputes examined in this article, the Company did not proactively attempt to reform family life, an area where it could not easily dictate terms. It made a significant dent as the requirement for marriage registration was recognised by natives. But the limited reach of the introduced law is evident in the Company’s reluctant recognition that its two-step process of reading the banns and subsequent marriage ceremony created confusion and that locals still followed customary practices for forging unions. The VOC faced a normative order in the villages that was characterised by ritual underpinnings. Such local features went unrecognised in official law rules, but their perseverance is testimony to the pluralities in practice in an early colonial encounter in the Indian Ocean world.

John Steinbeck: A Literary Life

John Steinbeck: A Literary Life

Ascertainment Of Customary Law: Case Note on MM v MN

Froneman J states in MM v MN: ‘The process of determining the content of a particular customary norm can present some challenges.’ This case gives rise to a number of issues which have been discussed in some part elsewhere, however this note considers the Constitutional Court’s approach in MM v MN in ascertaining customary law and the difficulties the Court experienced. The issue in MM v MN was whether a polygamous customary marriage was validly concluded in Tsonga customary law and in particular, whether the first wife’s consent was required for the subsequent customary marriage. This note scrutinises how the Constitutional Court ascertained the Tsonga customary law on the issue. Tentative conclusions include that innovation and respect for customary law may not be enough for the judgment to stand as good precedent.

The three silences of Sir Thomas More

The paper discusses three instances of silence in the life and writings of Sir Thomas More in terms of conversational and thematic silence. The first is the silence of the London citizenry in More’sHistory of Richard the Third(1513). The second is the House of Commons’ response of silence, in 1523, to Cardinal Wolsey’s request to provide him, the Chancellor, with a substantial grant for state affairs; at that time, More was Speaker of the House. The third is More’s fatal silence when he was required to take an oath supporting Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn, and his refusal to discuss Henry’s break from the Pope and the Roman Church.

Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily FolgerStephen H.Grant. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.

Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger Stephen H. Grant. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.In 1882, at picnic of Irving Literary Circle of Brooklyn, Emily Jordan and Henry Folger, Jr., met for first time. Their subsequent marriage was based, in large part, on their passionate interest in William Shakespeare. Fifty years later at dedication of Folger Shakespeare Library, speaker accurately described their book collecting as the dream of their lives and to it they gave all they were, and much of what they (178). In his book, Grant stylishly explores adventure of their magnificent obsession.Buying rare books requires big money, but in his senior year at Amherst College, Henry Folger had nothing. To pay his tuition bill, Henry had to borrow from family of his classmate and friend Charles Pratt. Happily association between families led to making of Henry's fortune. Upon graduation, Henry entered Pratt business, world's largest kerosene refinery, and, in two years, paid off loan and earned degree. His reputation as brilliant statistician, meticulous record-keeper, and profitenhancing user of innovative technology caught eye of John D. Rockefeller. Folger became member of his inner circle at Standard Oil. When trust-bus ting forced oil monopoly to break up, Rockefeller appointed Folger head of Standard Oil of New York (Socony).Grant deals candidly with Henry Folger's corporate skullduggery. He became a key and willing player in high-stakes business on margins of law (60). In days before an income tax, he earned equivalent of over one million dollars annually. He shrewdly plowed much of that into buying stock in Standard Oil and in Magnolia Petroleum Company. To put it simply, Folger surreptitiously manipulated market and then invested with an insider's knowledge by letting supposedly independent Magnolia Petroleum Company act as front for Standard Oil. When he sold Magnolia Petroleum to Socony, his own company, he earned close to $400 million in today's dollars.Astonishingly, affluence never distracted him from plan to which he and his wife had dedicated themselves. It all went to fund their expensive habit: Henry and Emily spent most of their waking hours trying to find and buy every important book by, about, or related to William Shakespeare. The world of highrolling socialites held no attraction for them. …

“I Knew Not How to Call Her Now”: The Bigamist’s Second Wife in The Witch Of Edmonton and All’s Lost By Lust

“I Knew Not How to Call Her Now”:The Bigamist’s Second Wife in The Witch Of Edmonton and All’s Lost By Lust David Nicol (bio) In The Witch of Edmonton, a 1621 domestic tragedy by Thomas Dekker, John Ford, and William Rowley, Susan Carter discovers to her surprise that she is a whore. This news is a shock for the virtuous yeoman’s daughter, who has only just married Frank Thorney, the outwardly pleasant son of a poor gentleman from her village. Shortly after their wedding night, Frank has informed Susan that he must leave her for a time (2.2.144–48), and the puzzled young wife has followed him across the fields, whereupon he has drawn a knife to kill her.1 It is when Susan asks why that she receives the devastating answer, “Because you are a whore”; Frank explains, “[You are] no wife of mine. The word admits no second. / I was before wedded to another, have her still” (3.3.26, 31–32). In this cataclysmic moment, Susan learns that her husband is a bigamist and that she is now in the position of being unmarried and yet not a virgin. She is a paradox; even though she refers to “the stain / Of my unwitting sin” (50–51; emphasis mine), and even though Frank takes full responsibility for it (“I do not lay the sin unto your charge, / ’Tis all mine own” [33–34]), both behave as though Susan has technically committed what she calls the “sin of my most hatred…Adultery” (43). No polite word exists for her state, a problem already introduced in the previous scene, in which Frank, confessing to his original wife, Winifred, that he is a bigamist, accidentally refers to Susan as his wife too, before hastily correcting himself to say “the woman; I knew / Not how to call her now” (3.2.34–35). Behind Frank’s loss for words lurks the proverbial phrase “neither maid, wife nor widow,” which lists the three acceptable social roles for women and implies that anyone who doesn’t fit them is a whore.2 Susan is thus relieved when Frank murders her, for, as [End Page 317] she says, her death prevents her from living as an adulteress any longer (3.3.41–43); believing that heaven will accept her “soul’s purity,” she dies welcoming death and forgiving Frank (57–64). The playwrights evoke great sympathy for Susan and the cruel social logic that produces her “stain,” but by presenting death as her only solution, they dodge difficult questions about how such a woman should have been treated by society had she remained alive.3 Susan’s crisis of status is the reverse of what happens to Frank’s first wife. Before the events of the play begin, Winifred is an unmarried, pregnant serving-woman who has slept with both her fellow servant Frank and with their master, Sir Arthur Clarington, and could thus have been tarred with the same label as Susan.4 But Winifred’s subsequent marriage to Frank gives both herself and her baby a legitimate identity: as Frank bluntly puts it, “thy childe shall know / Who to call Dad now” (1.1.4–5), and, as Winifred tells Sir Arthur, “I will change my life, / From a loose whore, to a repentant wife” (191–92). When Frank commits bigamy soon afterward (marrying the rich Susan only to secure his inheritance), Winifred’s status is unaffected; she is able to identify herself as “his first onely wife, his lawful wife” (4.2.175). And at the end of the play, the focus is on the renewal of Frank and Winifred’s marriage in the wake of Frank’s crimes: repentant upon the gallows, Frank accepts that he must die for his sins, and when his penitence moves Susan’s family sufficiently for them to forgive him, Winifred too accepts his remorse and wishes they could ascend to heaven together. Since they cannot, she promises to “be the monument / Of [his] lov’d memory” and “preserve it / With a Religious care” (5.3.100–102). Susan is mentioned only fleetingly in this final scene, so that even...