Gendering the Nation: Identity Politics and the English Comic Theatre of the Long Eighteenth Century

In the context of exploring the gender-culture interface in the Britain of the past, the volume examines the role of the comic theatre in Britain during the eighteenth century in an attempt to explore nation-building. It studies the effect of the cultural phenomenon of sentimentality on the English comic stage in conceptualising gendered identities for a people who saw themselves as a polite, genteel nation. It studies some of the very popular comic plays of the eighteenth century to view the extent to which they constitute gender—masculinity and femininity—as the basis of s secure social order and a stable nation. It presents new readings of some non-canonical plays as well. The study also makes use of extra-literary discourse.