A birth so happy.

when denied Dorothea's love.

Christeta:

#### (III.i.192)

Tears become an additional way to perform divine purification: a "celestial balm". They also offer a source of rebirth for the virgin. She becomes a surrogate mother figure, and her tears recall the popular iconic representation of the crying Virgin Mary. Just as the hangman's tools are reframed as a scaffolding to heaven, tears as a sign of weakness are similarly inverted: the display of feminine weakness becomes a sign of spiritual—and masculine—strength.

Angelo tells Dorothea that if she remains strong in her faith she will wear sunbeams on her head as a sign of victory (II.iii.194). The sunbeams, a spiritual crown, become representational not only of divine light but also divine *heat* emanating from the virgin, characteristic of historic martyrs from the period. Dekker and Massinger can theatricalize the resurrection of Dorothea in a triumphant return to the stage at the end of the play, wearing such a radiant crown. In this epiphany, she is described in the original stage direction as appearing: "in a white robe, crownes upon her robe, a Crowne upon her head" (V.ii.218). She represents a complete embodiment of divine victory, dressed all in white, and covered with crowns literally from head to toe.

To return, briefly, to Anne Askew, likely the most famous virgin martyr from the period, the title page of John Bale's testimony of her trial, *The first examinacyon of Anne Askewe* (1546), offers a depiction of what the appearance of the virgin martyr in her literal and figurative glory might have looked like. As with Dorothea, there are sunbeams, a celestial halo, emanating from around her head and they both appear in white robe to reflect their purity (see Figure 1). Askew's divine victory is further represented by her palm branch and the proud display of the holy scriptures as her only weapon. *Religions* **2019**, *10*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 9 of 13 retains beauty during her arduous torture at the stake but paradoxically *gains* attractiveness, with Theophilus commenting that "her face has more bewitching beauty than before" (IV.ii.95).20

**Figure 1.** Image from the title page of John Bale's edition of *The first examinacyon of Anne Askewe* (1546). Female martyrs, such as Askew and Dorothea, were often associated with this type of spiritual crown. The antichrist, commonly depicted as a dragon, sits at Askew's feet. His defeat is clear by his pope's tiara and submissive stance. Photo credited: Huntington Library, San Marino, California. **Figure 1.** Image from the title page of John Bale's edition of *The first examinacyon of Anne Askewe* (1546). Female martyrs, such as Askew and Dorothea, were often associated with this type of spiritual crown. The antichrist, commonly depicted as a dragon, sits at Askew's feet. His defeat is clear by his pope's tiara and submissive stance. Photo credited: Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

The play further theatricalizes the miraculous through Dorothea's serene emotional response and even joy in the face of brutality. The emotional life of Dorothea, strengthened by her spiritual fortitude, is a clear contrast to notions of the overly emotional early modern female. Theophilus Dorothea also represents an idealized beauty and a serene response comparable to the image of Askew. The virgin martyr's beautiful appearance, despite her torment and physical assault, offers a further way to theatricalize the miraculous. Dorothea's resurrected body, as with Askew's, takes on a

work. Relating back to Askew's ballad from the introduction, similarly, the act of singing marks an act of triumph. Both martyrs, through two different mediums, the theatre and the ballad, can be remembered for rejoicing in the face of persecution. Conversely, it is the emasculated soldier, Antoninus, who displays morose and "effeminate" emotions by falling into a melancholic sickness

Dorothea also provides an example of how women can and even should oppose their "natural" temperament by assuming a traditionally masculine anger. When Theophilus's daughters attempt to convert the virgin martyr to the pagan faith, she has an outbreak of fury that runs in opposition to her own typically serene emotional response and "maidenly" behavior. She justifies women acting against their own emotional disposition in the name of religion when she chastises Calista and

20 Karen Bramford in her analysis of sexual violence in Jacobean drama uses this play as an example of the "pornographic emphasis on the body as the object of male anger and desire", see Bramford (2000, p. 46), Bramford emphasizes how the body must remain beautiful and desirable to provoke arousal (pp. 47–48). 21 Positive or calm emotional displays in the face of gruesome persecution are also cited amongst the accounts of actual female martyrs during the period, with some crediting this disposition to the Holy Spirit, whereas

others see it as possession by a "merry devil", see Gregory (2001, p. 338).

beautiful and unscathed form, rather than a martyred, seemingly grotesque body. Beauty becomes a prerequisite for the virgin martyr; in the opening of the play, Theophilus's daughters are described as "faire ones, exceeding faire ones" (I.i.165) as well as "beauteous virgins" (I.i.195). The two daughters, it is discovered, previously underwent severe physical punishment in a successful attempt to convert them to Paganism. Realistically, these daughters would have been scarred and battered, with their bodies dismembered, yet they remain whole and seemingly unscathed despite the severe abuses they endured on the rack.<sup>19</sup> The daughters's perfected appearances sets them up as exemplary figures for their conversion to Christianity and subsequent martyrdom. Similarly, Dorothea not only retains beauty during her arduous torture at the stake but paradoxically *gains* attractiveness, with Theophilus commenting that "her face has more bewitching beauty than before" (IV.ii.95).<sup>20</sup>

The play further theatricalizes the miraculous through Dorothea's serene emotional response and even joy in the face of brutality. The emotional life of Dorothea, strengthened by her spiritual fortitude, is a clear contrast to notions of the overly emotional early modern female. Theophilus comments that not only does her face have more "bewitching power", "it smiles". (IV.ii.96). Later, when she is facing the scaffold, Antoninus remarks again that, "she smiles, unmov'd" (IV.iii.66).<sup>21</sup> Her surprising affective response becomes a further reflection of the supernatural or miraculous at work. Relating back to Askew's ballad from the introduction, similarly, the act of singing marks an act of triumph. Both martyrs, through two different mediums, the theatre and the ballad, can be remembered for rejoicing in the face of persecution. Conversely, it is the emasculated soldier, Antoninus, who displays morose and "effeminate" emotions by falling into a melancholic sickness when denied Dorothea's love.

Dorothea also provides an example of how women can and even should oppose their "natural" temperament by assuming a traditionally masculine anger. When Theophilus's daughters attempt to convert the virgin martyr to the pagan faith, she has an outbreak of fury that runs in opposition to her own typically serene emotional response and "maidenly" behavior. She justifies women acting against their own emotional disposition in the name of religion when she chastises Calista and Christeta:

DOR. Have you not cloven feete; are you not divels? Dare any say so much, or dare I heare it, Without a vertuous and religious anger? Now to put on a Virgin modesty, Or maiden silence, when his power is question'd That is omnipotent, were a greater crime, Then in a bad cause to be impudent.

(III.i.101)

Dorothea forges a space by which anger in the name of the Christian faith is more than acceptable: it is a *necessary* response. A "vertuous and religious anger" are accessible to women as an extension of divine power and moral goodness. Dorothea's speech suggests a brazen passion as she reprimands the women for their "maiden silence", which would likely be embodied as well in performance. The other martyr women learn from Dorothea's lesson, demonstrating an outbreak of their own virtuous anger in the following scene. When they are called to kneel and make vows to Jupiter, the stage direction reads, "they both spit at the Image, throw it downe, and spurne it" (III.ii.53). Consequently, they too

<sup>19</sup> This correlates with Katji Altpeter-Jones's findings that "didactically oriented texts that attempt to teach appropriate gender role behavior focus more consistently—and for obvious reasons—on gestures of female submission and a portrayal of immutable, closed bodies", see Altpeter-Jones (2008, p. 44).

<sup>20</sup> Karen Bramford in her analysis of sexual violence in Jacobean drama uses this play as an example of the "pornographic emphasis on the body as the object of male anger and desire", see Bramford (2000, p. 46), Bramford emphasizes how the body must remain beautiful and desirable to provoke arousal (pp. 47–48).

<sup>21</sup> Positive or calm emotional displays in the face of gruesome persecution are also cited amongst the accounts of actual female martyrs during the period, with some crediting this disposition to the Holy Spirit, whereas others see it as possession by a "merry devil", see Gregory (2001, p. 338).

theatricalize a transgressive emotional response, a performance of gender virtuosity, that runs contrary to the modest virgin prototype.
