Sacred costume: Circulation and representation of Catholic vestments in early modern England
Abstract
This study examines the visual rhetoric delivered through Catholic clergy on the English stage from the early Reformation through Shakespeare. The changing meaning, status, and usage of Catholic vestments, which crossed the boundary from sacred religious property to secular theatrical costume, enabled the diverse theatrical manipulation of the garments to build and relieve contemporary social anxiety about Catholicism. In order to explain Protestant political pressure to relocate Catholic vestments in secular theaters, this study looks at several related factors: the Protestant ideological schism on their use in reformed churches; their high economic value in second-hand clothing market; their repeated use in theaters for disguised priest characters; and lastly, their evolving symbolism structured through and towards anti-theatricalism and anti-femininity. The history of Catholic vestments and the accompanied contemporary discourses on its symbolic meaning changes coincide with the Protestant dilemma about theatricality, sexuality, and, more fundamentally, their metaphysical understanding about what is real and what seems to be real. The Protestant attempt to redefine what the vestments represent ultimately made contemporaries question the validity of any fixed symbolism. Interpreting the Catholic clergy on stage as a cultural icon, and analyzing what this “sacred costume” represented on post-Reformation stages, provides a perspective to view what contemporaries perceived as evil, hypocritical, theatrical and feminine, and, most of all, how those negative values were intertwined.^
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Paul W. White, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Religion, History of|Literature, English|Theater History
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.