Deception and Displacement in Charlotte von Stein's Die zwey Emilien (1803)

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.