Doppelgänger dilemmas : Anglo-Dutch relations in early modern English literature and culture

351 Pages·2014·20.21 MB·English

by  Rubright, Marjorie

Doppelga¨nger Dilemmas
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DOPPELGÄNGER
DILEMMAS
Anglo-Dutch Relations
in Early Modern English
Literature and Culture
MARJORIE RUBRIGHT
university of pennsylvania press
philadelphia
Copyright(cid:2)2014UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsusedfor
purposesofrevieworscholarlycitation,noneofthisbook
maybereproducedinanyformbyanymeanswithout
writtenpermissionfromthepublisher.
Publishedby
UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania19104-4112
www.upenn.edu/pennpress
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaper
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Rubright,Marjorie.
Doppelga¨ngerdilemmas:Anglo-Dutchrelationsinearly
modernEnglishliteratureandculture/Marjorie
Rubright.—1sted.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-8122-4623-0(hardcover:alk.paper)
1.Englishliterature—Earlymodern,1500–1700—History
andcriticism. 2.GreatBritain—Relations—Netherlands.
3.Netherlands—Relations—GreatBritain. 4.Cultural
relationsinliterature. 5.Ethnicityinliterature.
6.Nationalcharacteristics,English,inliterature. I.Title.
pr408.i59R83 2014
820.9(cid:2)358492—dc23
2014011453
ToValeriewithgratitude,foralwaysinspiring
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contents
Introduction:DoubleDutch 1
Chapter1.GoingDutchinLondonCityComedy 38
Chapter2.‘‘ByCommonLanguageResembled’’:Anglo-Dutch
KinshipintheLanguageDebates 56
Chapter3.DoubleDutchTongues:LanguageLessonsoftheStage 89
Chapter4.DutchImpressions:TheNarcissismofMinor
DifferenceinPrint 110
Chapter5.LondonasPalimpsest:TheAnglo-DutchRoyalExchange 162
Chapter6.Doppelga¨ngerDilemmas:TheCrisis
ofAnglo-DutchInterchangeabilityintheEastIndies
andtheImperfectRedressofPerformance 189
Coda:AViewfromAntwerp 235
Notes 241
Bibliography 301
Index 327
Acknowledgments 339
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Introduction
Double Dutch
AntipholusofSyracuse:AndwherestoodBelgia,theNetherlands?
DromioofSyracuse:Oh,sir,Ididnotlooksolow.
—WilliamShakespeare,TheComedyofErrors,4.1.136–37
In early modern England, the category ‘‘Dutch’’ worked like a pun on the
English imagination. Nowhere is this more vividly displayed than when the
realandimaginedculturalproximitiesbetweenEnglandandtheLowCoun-
tries emerge in the form of a double entendre. In Thomas Dekker and
ThomasMiddleton’stheatricalcomedyTheRoaringGirl (1611),forinstance,
theextramaritalpromiscuityoftheplay’scitizensempsterisfiguredthrough
a series of double entendres that render the Low Countries and London’s
suburbsasoverlappingsitesofillicitsexualcommerce:
MistressOpenwork:HaveIfoundoutoneofyourhaunts?Isendyou
forhollands,andyou’rei’thelowcountrieswithamischief....
MasterOpenwork:Sherailsuponmeforforeignwenching,thatI,
beingafreeman,mustneedskeepawhorei’th’suburbs,andseek
toimpoverishtheliberties.1
Beyond the legal jurisdiction of the city’s mayor but buttressing its borders,
the liberties of London were notorious spaces for all kinds of illicit activity,
particularly the running of houses of prostitution. Master Openwork
bemoans being driven beyond the liberties, just outside the city walls, and
into the suburbs for his extramarital delights. Earlier in the play, Mistress
Openwork similarly puns on a nearby province of the Low Countries when
she castigates her husband for his whoring: ‘‘keep you your yard to measure