The+Prompter+1735


 * //The Prompter: //1735 **

 Defined by the //Oxford English Dictionary// as “a person in a theater placed in a position next to the stage but out of sight of the audience, in order to be able to prompt the actors” (//OED// prompter n. 2a), the term “prompter” appropriately previews the aims of the semi-weekly English publication //The Prompter//. Running from November 1734 to July 1736, //The Prompter// addresses themes and events pertaining to theater culture in eigh teenth century England. The publication was printed “at the Globe in Pater-noster Row” and sold for two-pence on Tuesdays and Fridays (//The Prompter//). In a May issue from this year, the writer states, “The business of //The Prompter// is universal…to watch [an actor’s] public slips, and publicly reprove him for them, is //The Prompter’s// main duty, as well as to publicly commend him where there has been a public show of merit” (//The Prompter// 51). The publication is largely written in first person (edited by Aaron Hill and William Popple) but also includes letters to the editor, excerpts from poems, and dialogue transcripts. Each issue begins with a quoted “motto” (//The Prompter// 64), which is typically drawn from a play or poem and gives readers a clue about the content of the issue. The themes of these clues typically address gender, reason, taste, or th e propriety of how actors should conduct themselves. The following Cosmopolites entry gives a review of the major themes, events, and debates present in //The Prompter// from April to September, 1735. The review is supplemented by a discussion of //The London Stage//’s recording of the theater season during these months with a spotlight on the title //The Rival Widows// by Elizabeth Cooper. The thematic overlaps present in all of these documents from 1735 demonstrate how burgeoning Enlightenment ideologies impacted the societal expectations, literature, and political decisions of eighteenth century England.


 * Gender and Love **

 One of the most frequently addressed topics in the 1735 issues of //The Prompter// during the six month span between April and September was notions of gender roles and how they pertain to conceptions of love. These issues explore this idea in various ways, from direct writer commentary, to transcripts and excerpts from other texts. One entry from April presents readers with a comparison between Eastern and Western concepts of love with an overall emphasis on how “love is the noblest passion of the mind” (//The Prompter// 43). An issue in May provides readers with an excerpt from the epilogue of the play //Wisdom, and Love//. Throughout the dialogue between th e goddess Pallas and the god Cupid, the two debate whether to view love as a weakness or a source of strength and wisdom. During the debate, Cupid declares, “But I know woman’s weaker bosom best” ( //The Prompter // 50), demonstrating how emotional qualities are starting to become gendered during this time. The closing of the debate also displays the tension between different characteristics that are emerging as binary pairs; Cupid states, “Love softens wisdom,” and Pallas retorts, “Wisdom strengthens love” ( //The Prompter // 50).  In a more satirical entry from June, the writer describes the conversations about “the subject of love” amidst a gathering between men and women that he attended (//The Prompter// 63). After providing the transcript of the conversation, the writer comments, “Many very agreeable and entertaining notions were started on the occasion, which furnished me with fresh opportunities of reading the human heart in its infinite variety, a study more delightful to me, as it is an infallible clue, that leads me thro’ the labyrinth of human actions” (//Prompter// 63). The writer’s reliance on observation and careful attention to the events of the conversation in order to make a conclusion about “the human heart” and “human actions” reflects the scientific approaches based in observation during the Enlightenment. The crossover between scientific methods and social understandings of gender show how all-encompassing Enlightenment thought was in England.


 * Reason and Taste **

 Throughout the issues, //The Prompter// is highly concerned with t <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">he taste and reason of multiple spheres of society, including the government, the actors of the playhouses, and the general audiences the plays attract. In his 1784 essay entitled “What is Enlightenment?” Immanuel Kant writes, “Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">Sapere aude //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">! ‘Have courage to use your own reason!’—that is the motto of the enlightenment” (Kant 1). Kant’s assertion to “use your own reason” ties in well to //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">The Prompter’s //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">discussion of how actors should most logically convey emotions and use proper taste in doing so. An issue in May breaks down the three parts of successful acting—“the utterance, the deportment, and the action”—and launches into a critique of how the current actor <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">s of the stage lack sufficiency in these areas and “that the taste for good playing is lost” (//The Prompter// 56). Similarly, the motto of the next issue pulls from Hamlet’s well-known “suit the action to the word, the word to the action” speech to preface an analysis of a speech from Polonius and how to best properly act this speech to audiences. The writer of //The Prompter// demonstrates the same value for observation as a means of reason present in previous discussions of love when he states in this issue, “I shall enforce the truth of my observation” (//The// Prompter 57).


 * <span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Licensing Act of 1737 **

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Within the first issues of April, the writers refer to the early formations of the eventual Licensing Act of 1737: “It is therefore humbly conceived, it can never be intended to destroy the stage altogether, but to put it under proper regulations” (//The Prompter// 45). Since //The Prompter// largely deals with theater culture of eighteenth century England, it is no surprise than many of the issues during these months track and respond to decisions being made about the eventual passage of the Licensing Act of 1735, or The Playhouse Bill, “which restricted the number of theaters in London to two” (//The London Stage// vi). In an entry from //The Edinburgh Magazine,// one author writes, “Even i <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">n the freest democracy which perhaps ever existed, that of Athens, after having experienced the effects of unrestrained licentiousness in their theatrical performances, found it necessary to remedy the evil, and to limit the stage within the boundaries of common decency and justice” (“History” 435). <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The rationale for the bill and the sentiments of its supporters resonate almost directly with the same arguments Alexander Pope puts forth about the need to quell the rise in literature being produced in his mock epic “The Dunciad.” Both “The Dunciad” and the Licensing Act of 1737 are effects of the hyper-awareness of “taste” during the Enlightenment, as evident in David Hume’s essay, “Of the Standard of Taste.” In the essay, he defines this standard as, “a rule, by which the various sentiments of men may be reconciled; at least, a decision, afforded, confirming one sentiment, and condemning another” (Hume 323). The Licensing Act of 1737 demonstrates how concern for the arts and the need to maintain their high quality in lin <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">e with Enlightenment ideals was not limited to those in the profession <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">, but the government as well.


 * <span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Play Season **

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The preface notes of the third part, first volume of //The London Stage// cite three noteworthy developments in English theater during the years between 1729 and 1747. The first is the initial “expansion of the number of theaters and acting troupes created by the establishment of a third theater,” which prompted a significant rise in the genre and amount of plays being put on (//The London Stage// v). Response to this rise in the genre and amount of plays circulating theaters is evident in //The Prompter//, as it often offers critiques of the distinction between tragedy and comedy: “In a word, that it was [the poet’s] duty to make tragedy a school of wisdom, and c <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">omedy a school of reproof” ( //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">The Prompter //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;"> 79). The second development cited is the previously discussed Licensing Act of 1737. Finally, a resurgence of many Shakespearean titles to the prominent theatres of England was particularly evident in the listings for the year of 1735 ( //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">The London Stage //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;"> vii), as well as the frequent use of quotes by Shakespeare for //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">The Prompter’s //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">“mottos.” <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Similar to //The Prompter//, the theater season for 1735 was interested in staging and exploring ideas of gender and marriage. Titles such as //The Fond Husband//, //The Distress’d Mother//, //The Provok’d Husband//, and //The Amorous Widow// all demonstrate how playwrights of the time were interested in analyzing and presenting the different characteristics associated with each gender in terms of marital affairs. The amount of Shakespearean titles offered during this year supported the preface notes pointing to the revival of Shakespeare in English theaters. At least once or twice a week, audiences could expect titles such as Othello, Henry IV Part I, The Merry Wives of Windsor, or Hamlet. //The Prompter// also demonstrated an interest in revisiting Shakespearean titles, as many of its commentary on the craft of acting draws from the well-known player scenes in Hamlet to analyze how actors should conduct themselves (//The Prompter// 45, 53).


 * <span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Spotlight: //The Rival Widows, or Fair Libertine// **

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Elizabeth Cooper was born circa 1698 into a family known for its women’s often unfortunate choice of husbands (Noble). She eventually married John Cooper, “a successful auctioneer in Convent Garden of major art and book collections” (Noble). //The Rival Widows// was first staged at the Convent Garden on February 22, 1735 (//The London Stage// 463) and ran for six nights. Cooper’s play reflects the trend of exploring how to navigate the sphere of marriage in a culture increasingly aware of gendered expectations. Additionally, the preface of Cooper’s play underscores her awareness of the highly critical receptive climate of print consumers in terms of comedies when she opens, “There have been so many unsuccessful attempts made in com <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">edy, that young authors are sure to be heard with prejudice, and must undergo the weight of other people’s faults, as well as their <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">own” (Cooper v). <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The characters of the play include: Sir William Freelove, Mr. Hippisley, Mr. Bridgwater, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Chapman, Lady Bellair, Lady Lurcher, Mrs. Horton, Mrs. Hallam, and Mrs. Stephens. The main female character, Lady Bellair, is recently widowed and helps guide readers through the play’s attention to the presentation of emotion and commentary on how gender and expectations of institutional marriage inform each character’s decision throughout the play. An instance of this presentation of emotion and gender roles is highly evident in one of the debates between Lady Bellair and Sir Freelove. Lady Bellair expresses, “Pshaw! I hate raptures! You see I don’t blush to my own sentiments; and, if I have the softness of my own sex, I have at the same time the courage of yours” (Cooper VI, 108). From this quote, readers are again reminded of the binary method of assigning qualities to gender during this time. Additionally, Lady Bellair also draws on Enlightenment methods of observation as truth when she points out, “You see I don’t blush.” Cooper’s //The Rival Widows//, then, draws on multiple facets of Enlight <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">enment ideals, especially in the context of the surrounding literature of 1735.

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Works Cited

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Cooper, Mrs. (Elizabeth). //The rival widows: or, fair libertine. A comedy. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal, in Covent Garden. By Mrs. Cooper//. London, 1735. //Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale//. University of Maryland College Park. 30 Mar. 2016.

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Noble, Yvonne. “Cooper, Elizabeth (//b.// in or before 1698, //d.// 1761?).” Yvonne Noble. //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Jan. 2008. 30 Mar. 2016

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">“History of the Playhouse Bill.” //The Edinburgh magazine, or Literary miscellany, 1785-1803// (1798): 435–441. Print.

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hume, David. “Of the Standard of Taste.” //The Portable Enlightenment Reader//. Ed. Isaac Kramnick. New York: Penguin Group, 1995. 322-329. Print.

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kant, Immanual. “What is Enlightenment?” //The Portable Enlightenment Reader//. Ed. Isaac Kramnick. New York: Penguin Group, 1995. 1-7. Print.

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">"prompter, n." //OED Online//. Oxford University Press, March 2016. Web. 7 April 2016.

//<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The London Stage, 1660-1800: a Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces, Together With Casts, Box-receipts And Contemporary Comment. //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> [1st ed.] Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1960196811965.

//<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Prompter, 1734-1736 //<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Ed. Aaron Hill and William Popple. (1735): no. 4 <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">1-93. Print.

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Images <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">//Aaron Hill// courtesy of Getty Images <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">//The Rival Widows// courtesy of images-amazon.com