{"title":"Deception and Displacement in Charlotte von Stein's Die zwey Emilien (1803)","authors":"R. Steele","doi":"10.1353/fgs.2022.0013","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article reads a protofeminist critique of the nineteenth-century gender binary in Charlotte von Stein's lesser-known play, Die zwey Emilien (1803). This dramatic, inventive adaptation of Sophia Lee's melodramatic English novel, The Two Emilys (1795), features two seemingly opposite women, who simultaneously are virtually the same, to demonstrate the lack of space for the woman as individual in Stein's contemporary society. These women are coded as opposites with sometimes humorous, satirical, and outrageous language: one Emilie is the \"innocent angel\" committing \"innocent deceit,\" the other a \"wicked creature\" and \"cunning snake\" practicing \"nefarious deceit.\" Ultimately, I argue that Stein calls into question the deceptive social construct of woman that forever attempts to keep her in her place. This play contributes to the ongoing conversation among female authors who resisted the oppressive demands of feminine virtues.","PeriodicalId":53717,"journal":{"name":"Feminist German Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Feminist German Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/fgs.2022.0013","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:This article reads a protofeminist critique of the nineteenth-century gender binary in Charlotte von Stein's lesser-known play, Die zwey Emilien (1803). This dramatic, inventive adaptation of Sophia Lee's melodramatic English novel, The Two Emilys (1795), features two seemingly opposite women, who simultaneously are virtually the same, to demonstrate the lack of space for the woman as individual in Stein's contemporary society. These women are coded as opposites with sometimes humorous, satirical, and outrageous language: one Emilie is the "innocent angel" committing "innocent deceit," the other a "wicked creature" and "cunning snake" practicing "nefarious deceit." Ultimately, I argue that Stein calls into question the deceptive social construct of woman that forever attempts to keep her in her place. This play contributes to the ongoing conversation among female authors who resisted the oppressive demands of feminine virtues.
摘要:本文解读了夏洛蒂·冯·施泰因(Charlotte von Stein)不太知名的戏剧《爱的一天》(Die zwey Emilien, 1803)中对19世纪二元性别的原始女性主义批判。这部戏剧性的、创造性的改编自索菲娅·李(Sophia Lee)的情节剧英国小说《两个艾米丽》(The Two Emilys, 1795),以两个看似对立的女性为主角,同时又几乎相同,以表明在斯坦的当代社会中,女性作为个体缺乏空间。这些女人有时用幽默、讽刺和令人发指的语言被编码为对立面:一个是“无辜的天使”,犯下了“无辜的欺骗”,另一个是“邪恶的生物”和“狡猾的蛇”,实施了“邪恶的欺骗”。最后,我认为斯坦因对女性的欺骗性社会结构提出了质疑,这种社会结构永远试图让女性保持自己的地位。这部剧促成了女性作家之间正在进行的对话,她们抵制女性美德的压迫性要求。