Alice Arden as Monstrous in "Arden of Faversham"

“This certain good I lost for changing bad,

And wrapped my credit in thy company.

I was bewitched− that is no theme of thine!−

And thou unhallowed hast enchanted me" (91-94).

The above quote is taken from The Tragedy of Master Arden of Faversham and is spoken by Mosby. The quote exemplifies the ways in which language in the play constructs Alice as a negative character; the above quote creates a tie between Alice and witchcraft, another prominent female-gendered crime of the time period. In creating this tie, Alice is given allowed agency in her relationship with Mosby, but in a way that negates her femininity. Mosby is seemingly sponged of his involvement thus far in Arden's murder because Alice is illustrated as a bloodthirsty witch of a woman; although she is given power by Mosby's relenting of his own, this agency is negated by the fact that her power was used for evil.

A common theme of many pamphlets, ballads, and dramas during the Renaissance focused on murderous women. One famous play- based on a true story- was The Tragedy of Master Arden of Faversham, in which Alice Arden conspires to murder her husband, Thomas Arden, in order to live happily with her lover, Mosby.

(http://www.faversham.org/history/people/Thomas_Arden.aspx).

Although there's no doubt the crime was
a terrible one, Early Modern press
dramatized Alice's evil nature and downplayed Arden's foul treatment of his wife prior to being murdered. To the right is the title page of the play; it sets up the story and the characters, making Alice a "disloyal and wanton
wyfe".

Although Arden seems to fail as a man through his abuse of Alice, the relationship between Arden and Franklin seems to play a fair hand in Alice’s representation as a monstrous woman.  Staub writes in her article, “Murderous Women in Early Modern England,” that “In theory if not in reality, male authority was perceived as being under siege” and that the “portrayal of female criminals…betrays anxiety about female power and sexuality” (112).  With this being said, Franklin can be read as the symbol of all things male− dominance, power, control, and masculinity− thus personifying the patriarchy.  Arden’s masculinity is in his close bond with Franklin; the power of male homosociality is represented in Arden and Franklin’s relationship, which seems to replace Arden’s love for Alice.   Furthermore, Franklin continuously instigates Arden and Alice, passive-aggressively influencing the negative way that Arden treats Alice throughout the play and encouraging the bitterness Alice feels toward her husband.  Alice’s treason, then, is constructed as more monstrous and more evil because it is directed at Arden, who has been closely intertwined with the patriarchy through his with Franklin.  Constructing the murder as Alice’s revenge on her masculine husband then supports the use of monstrous women as propaganda because it demonstrates the fearful possibilities of a woman rebelling against the patriarchy.  

Mosby states:

“Yet Mistress Arden lives; but she’s myself,

And holy church rites makes us two but one.

But what for that I may not trust you, Alice?

You have supplanted Arden for my sake

And will extirpen me to plant another.

‘Tis fearful sleeping in a serpent’s bed,

And I will cleanly rid my hands of her” (37-43).

Much like the quote located at the top of this page, the language used here is manipulative in order to construct a horrific image of Alice as a woman.  Mosby equates Alice to a serpent, likewise comparing her to Satan because of the serpent shape he took in the Garden of Eden. It is important to note this because everyone in the Renaissance would have known what the serpent symbolized; therefore, the imagery successfully works to demonize Alice beyond her actual crime.

Sources for this page can be found here.