Prostitutes or Ladies?

To what extent did ideas about female sexuality

impact on actresses between 1660 and 1815?
In the period that saw women finally being allowed to act on the stage, women, as was
commonplace, were now subject to new kinds of criticism and praise as they took to careers
as actresses and celebrities. According to Elizabeth Howe 1, female sexuality played a huge
role in the life of the actress and the way in which she was perceived by the masses. Prior to
the latter half of the 17th century, women were barred from the stage mainly due to the
vigorous scrutiny of female characters and representation of women in theatre and if,
according to Howe, women played these characters, their own personal reputation and
sexuality would come under attack as well. Even women who acted in court masques, which
were hardly serious plays and were only accessible to the elite few, were subject to attacks on
their character, such as when the Puritan, William Prynne, aimed a diatribe at the women of
the court of Charles I, particularly Queen Henrietta Maria, calling them notorious whores
simply for participating in a court masque 2. The reason that women were finally allowed to
act on the stage, in Howes opinion, is because attitudes to female sexuality changed and in
the latter part of the 17th century, ideas about feminine sexuality and the infinite variety of
theatre and the infinite variety of the seductress were now more about celebration than they
were about condemnation3. This shift in attitudes of course effected the way in which the
actress was perceived by the public and although there was certainly a more positive outlook
regarding the women who chose to have a career on the stage, the fact was that there still
1 Howe, Elizabeth, 1992, The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 16601700, Cambridge University Press, pp. 21
2 Wilson, John Harold, 1958, All the Kings Ladies: Actresses of the Restoration,
University of Chicago Press, pp. 18
3 Howe, Elizabeth, 1992, The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 16601700, Cambridge University Press, pp. 21

seemed to be a pervasive belief that the average actress was akin to a prostitute (something
that Faramerz Dabhoiwala dubbed sexual celebrity 4) and in the world of early modern
England, this of course managed to ruffle many feathers and impact the life and career of the
actress in both positive and negative ways. In this essay, I will be attempting to discuss the
way in which ideas about the sexuality of the actress and to some extent, the nature of their
private life, impacted their career, public perception and their life in general. Moreover, I will
ultimately be trying to decide whether the concept of the prostitute/courtesan and the concept
of the actress were used interchangeably correctly and why they came to be synonyms.

Beginning with the first influx of women who were allowed to act on the British stage, its
clear that many of the women who chose to follow the newly emerging career of acting were,
for the most part, not what the contemporary masses would deem a respectable women. In
the mind of the late 17th century, a woman who chose to display herself on the public stage
and expose herself to the possibility of playing sexually promiscuous women who wore their
sexuality on their sleeve could never be from a respectable background 5. Even contemporary
writers welcoming the first women to take the stage could not help but question why a
respectable woman would so brazenly flaunt herself in front of crowds; Thomas Jordan, in
his work A Royal Arbor of Loyal Posie, commented on gentlemens wonder at what to
make of the new women of the stage, stating Tis possible a virtuous women may/Abhor all
sorts of looseness and yet play;/Play on the stage where all eyes are upon her 6; he clearly
4 Dabhoiwala, Faramerz, 2012, The Origins of Sex: The History of the First
Sexual Revolution, Penguin Books, pp. 296
5 Howe, Elizabeth, 1992, The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 16601700, Cambridge University Press, pp. 32
6 Jordan, Thomas, 1664, To introduce the First Woman that Came to Act on the
Stage in A Royal Arbor of Loyal Posie: Consisting of Poems and Songs, Digested
into Triumph, Elegy, Satyr, Love & Droll, pp. 21-22

suggests that a mans first instinct, upon seeing an actress, was to wonder about her sexual
morality. It was blatant sexual hypocrisy as men had never been subjected to such scrutiny
simply for acting on the stage. The Restoration actresss availability to men and her overt
sexuality was one of her main points of fascination and this presumably stemmed from the
underlying belief that actresses were not respectable ladies. The impact this had on their
career was a rather significant one. On the one hand, the fascination the late 17 th century
public had with the life and concept of the fallen woman added to her celebrity and popularity
as an actress. Actresses like Nell Gwynn, whose life seemed to follow a rags-to-riches
fairytale, going from low-born prostitute to adored comedic actress and finally, to one of the
favourite mistresses of Charles II, found that her perceived sexual availability only served to
increase her popularity and fame. She certainly saw herself as a whore and played on the
idea to appeal to the doting masses and moreover, her status as an actress meant she was
available to become a kept women to various gentlemen and aristocrats, who in turn, made
her financially comfortable7. According to Howe, of the eighty or so Restoration-era actresses
(between 1660 and 1689) who we know the names of, only one-quarter were married: the rest
were kept women8. Arguably, this sexual availability increased their celebrity, particularly
their idolisation by the public. Anyone could buy a cheap print of their favourite actress,
something that they could display proudly in their house or their work space, and usually, she
was portrayed in a provocative state9. On the other hand, however, there was certainly a
negative impact to the way in which an actress was perceived by the public, especially the
way in which she was perceived by men. The theatre exposed women to new kinds of sexual
7 Beauclerk, Charles, 2006, Nell Gwynn: A Biography, Pan, pp. 98-99
8 Howe, Elizabeth, 1992, The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 16601700, Cambridge University Press, pp. 33
9 Dabhoiwala, Faramerz, 2012, The Origins of Sex: The History of the First
Sexual Revolution, Penguin Books, pp. 304-305

predatory. Men were quick to assume that because a lot of these women had beginnings in
prostitution, they were fair-game to their harassment. The actress, Rebecca Beck Marshall,
appealed to King Charles II several times after she was persistently harassed and in some
cases, attacked, by men during performances and in her every-day life10. In general, many
actresses faced some form of sexual harassment from men who visited them backstage. The
King outlined various rules of behaviour for men to follow when backstage at the theatre,
with a view to make sure actresses were treated with the proper decorum. Very few men
followed these rules, however, and this was testament to the fact they had very little respect
for the women they purported to adore. Near the end of the 17 th century, actress Anne
Bracegirdle constantly had her artistic talent undermined because of her perceived loose
morals. It showed a complete lack of respect for Bracegirdle and her career on the part of the
men scrutinising her and many men who attacked her in their writing had previously been
turned down by her, which suggests a sense of entitlement to the women on the stage 11, a
sense of entitlement that was wounded when rejected. Howe argues that the obsessive
emphasis on an actresss sexuality diffused the threat of a women having a platform to
speak and create characters: she could not be a threat to the patriarchal society when her
sexuality was constantly used to undermine her, but rather, she was its toy12. Ultimately,
though, one could argue that whilst many actresses in the late 17 th century and early 18th
century faced various strains on their career and personal life, fuelled by the belief that they
were little more than a mans playthings, their overt sexuality also played into their celebrity
image and served to their advantage.
10 Howe, Elizabeth, 1992, The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 16601700, Cambridge University Press, pp. 33-34
11 Howe, Elizabeth, 1992, The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 16601700, Cambridge University Press, pp. 35-36
12 Howe, Elizabeth, 1992, The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 16601700, Cambridge University Press, pp. 36

As the 18th century wore on, the role of the actress in society and the idea of celebrity began
to
Continuously evolve. There was still, according to Dabhoiwala, an obsession with the idea of
the fallen woman and the life and times of a harlot 13. Many of the actresses appearing on
the
English stage were kept women of some of Englands most powerful men and richest
aristocrats. Similar to their Restoration predecessors, many of these women had started their
lives as prostitutes or courtesans and many continued to reap the rewards of the sexual perks
a career as an actress offered. Lavinia Fenton, whose career spanned a small portion of the
1720s, had started her life as a child prostitute14 and after several years on the stage, she
eloped with and married one of her many male admirers, the Duke of Bolton 15. Of course, the
impact that combining both an acting skill and a laid-back sexuality had on Lavinias life was
a positive one as it brought her fame and ultimately, fortune and title but arguably it only
fuelled the idea that the job of a prostitute and the job of an actress were synonymous. A
scene in Fanny Burneys Evelina, published in 1778, perfectly and concisely illustrates the
link drawn between female sexuality and women on the stage. In Letter 46, Evelina describes
how she was accosted in the dark paths of Vauxhall Gardens by several young men who
assume she is looking for a sexual encounter and one of them refers to her as an actress 16. It
13 Dabhoiwala, Faramerz, 2012, The Origins of Sex: The History of the First
Sexual Revolution, Penguin Books, pp. 303
14 Hilton, Lisa, 2006, Mistress Peachums Pleasure: The Life of Lavinia, Duchess
of Bolton, Phoenix, pp. 23
15 Hilton, Lisa, 2006, Mistress Peachums Pleasure: The Life of Lavinia, Duchess
of Bolton, Phoenix, pp. 9-10
16 Burney, Fanny, 1778, Evelina, or the History of a Young Ladys First Entrance
into the World, pp. 198

was clearly an idea that was deeply ingrained in society. This belief didnt necessarily always
have a negative impact on the life and career of an actress in the 18 th century and early 19th
century, just as it hadnt always had a negative impact on their 17 th century predecessors. The
unequalled beauty of Eliza Farren made her every mans dream woman, and in the end, her
sexuality and sexual freedom earned her the biggest prize of all: a marriage to the Earl of
Derby17. However, many actresses who ended up marrying the men who had kept them were
then denied returning to the stage. The pervasive belief that a woman who displayed herself
on the stage to the masses couldnt possibly be a woman of virtue meant that many married
women were barred from the stage by their husbands (although, the very few women who did
appear on the English stage who were married, such as Sarah Siddons, were granted with far
more respect than their single counterparts), and this seemed to extend to actresses like
Farren, whose fame had brought them to the attention of wealthy potential suitors and ended
up marrying them. Whilst this wasnt necessarily a major blow to their celebrity status, it was
a blow to their acting career and very much underlines the fact that people assumed most
actresses were only looking for sexual pleasure and to satisfy their loose morals rather than
any serious lasting legacy or career. Moreover, just like their 17 th century predecessors, men
still very much had a sense of entitlement to actresses and to use them in the same way they
would use a prostitute. Two royal mistresses, Mary Robinson and Dorothy Jordan, who began
as popular actresses knew this fact all too well as both were ultimately discarded by their
royal lovers and died in relative obscurity and destitution18. Both women were talented
actresses but because they were seen to be little more than sexual playthings, respect for

17 Engel, Laura, 2011, Fashioning Celebrity: 18 th century British Actresses and

Strategies for Image-Making, Ohio State University Press, pp. 155
18 Engel, Laura, 2011, Fashioning Celebrity: 18 th century British Actresses and
Strategies for Image-Making, Ohio State University Press, pp. 159-161

them, both as women and as actresses, was invariably lacking and the misogynistic ideas
about their sexuality ultimately led to their downfall.

In conclusion, its clear that ideas about female sexuality and the constant questioning of
whether actresses were, by nature and by background, prostitutes, had both negative and
positive impacts on the personal lives and careers of women on the stage between 1660 and
1815. There were, of course, several perks to being a sexually available woman on the stage,
as it brought rich and generous admirers and quite a fair amount of fame and notoriety. But it
also offered women a problematic realisation: men would always feel entitled to them,
regardless of how talented they were or aimed to be. Whilst aspects of the life of the average
actress may have been sexually liberating in a society that was still trying to understand and
accept female sexuality, she was still denied the respect offered so freely to her male
colleagues. Of course, in many cases, the actresses appearing on the stage were ex-prostitutes
but one cannot suggest that they were somehow deserving of the treatment they received
because of this. Ultimately, it was a patriarchal society that was dictating and controlling
womens lives on the stage and womens lives as celebrities, which brought both its pros and
its cons.

Bibliography
Howe, Elizabeth, 1992, The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 1660-1700,
Cambridge University Press

Wilson, John Harold, 1958, All the Kings Ladies: Actresses of the Restoration, University
of Chicago Press

Dabhoiwala, Faramerz, 2012, The Origins of Sex: The History of the First Sexual
Revolution, Penguin Books

Jordan, Thomas, 1664, To introduce the First Woman that Came to Act on the Stage in A
Royal Arbor of Loyal Posie: Consisting of Poems and Songs, Digested into Triumph, Elegy,
Satyr, Love & Droll

Beauclerk, Charles, 2006, Nell Gwynn: A Biography, Pan

Hilton, Lisa, 2006, Mistress Peachums Pleasure: The Life of Lavinia, Duchess of Bolton
Phoenix

Burney, Fanny, 1778, Evelina, or the History of a Young Ladys First Entrance into the
World

Engel, Laura, 2011, Fashioning Celebrity: 18 th century British Actresses and Strategies for
Image-Making, Ohio State University Press