domestic tragedies

Domestic tragedies deal with a factual and realistic setting. The public is generally familiar with the characters or the situations they are in. They deal with happenings inside the home, things people have and will always encounter in private life. "The Bloudy Mother" and "The Arden of Faversham" both covered huge issues of the time. The struggles for power between the husband and wife reach all middle class audiences. Themes like abuse, family murder, and other private matters were all addressed. I researched a little more about the actual crime that "Arden of Faversham" was based on and found a print detailing an account of the murder. The murder of Thomas Arden hit headlines around February 15, 1551. His wife Alice found affection in the arms of another [Thomas Mosby] when Arden proved to be a poor husband, too business-minded. Arden was killed in his home while playing a game of backgammon with Mosby. These stories usually including a moral or a lesson, [usually directed toward the woman] Mosby was hanged in London, while Alice was burned at the stake in Canterbury.

While we discussed these stories, the old articles of the 1950s women's magazines popped into my head. They always had the best advice for how to be the best and most "effecient" wife. I was especially reminded of this as we covered the domestic conduct books of the time. Not much really changed between the centuries, after all--people outside the relationship are still poking in telling people what the proper way to operate in their own homes. This can also be said about the issue on spanking one's children as discipline. Why does everyone think they know what is best for everyone else? Maybe we think we are stepping in at the right times when sometimes it is just too much.

Today, many women pride themselves on being independent and strong, not needing a man to care for them. However, despite all the great strides we have made in gaining that independence, women are still feared and contained under a glass ceiling, the greatest example that comes to mind being the pay difference between men and women and some, like in the Renaissance, still feel the need to get married not for love, but for financial security. I think this is one of the main reasons why "Arden of Faversham" was so interesting. I loved seeing how the wife transformed back and forth from a doting and loving wife to one who could no longer bear the sight of her husband, always running to her lover, and then to one who didn't seem to be able to stand either one of them. The dynamic of her personality embodies the ideas of women of the time.