Date of Award

Spring 5-15-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA English

Department

English

Advisor

Donovan Sherman, PhD

Advisor

Angela Weisl, PhD

Keywords

Shakespeare, Greene, Jacobean, Jews, Domus Conversorum, othering

Abstract

This paper attempts to address a perceived blind spot in criticism of early modern literature, namely, the lack of critical race readings centering the othering of Jews in early modern drama. Shakespeare’s Pericles is used as an example of characters being othered, or Judaized, as they pass through city to city. Historical data, such as the history of the Domus Conversorum in England where converted Jews were kept, is used to bolster this argument, with Thaisa being read as othered in a Judaized way by being kept in a religious institution and never truly accepted by the people of Ephesus. This reading sheds light both on the play, and also on Elizabethan culture, by showing the othering which occurs when the social outsider is relegated to a religious life, separate from the rest of society while also within. The works of Orlando Patterson and Geraldine Heng inform this element of the reading. Drawing on the work of David Nirenberg, Marina is read as Judaized as a prostitute, one of those who occupied a space in society where the dominant and minority communities can both meet. In this way, the prostitute symbolized difference by guarding against the internal outsider. This paper also traces the roots of Judaic othering to the Wakefield Mystery Cycle, and the roots of Pericles’ Jewish othering to Greene and Lodge’s A Looking Glasse for London and England.

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