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    A Study Guide for Susanna Centlivre's "A Bold Stroke for a Wife"
    A Study Guide for Susanna Centlivre's "A Bold Stroke for a Wife"
    A Study Guide for Susanna Centlivre's "A Bold Stroke for a Wife"
    Ebook37 pages27 minutes

    A Study Guide for Susanna Centlivre's "A Bold Stroke for a Wife"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Susanna Centlivre's "A Bold Stroke for a Wife", excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateMay 15, 2018
    ISBN9781410393944
    A Study Guide for Susanna Centlivre's "A Bold Stroke for a Wife"

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      A Study Guide for Susanna Centlivre's "A Bold Stroke for a Wife" - Gale

      15

      A Bold Stroke for a Wife

      Susanna Centlivre

      1718

      Introduction

      A Bold Stroke for a Wife, first performed in 1718, is a comic play about a soldier's quest to marry the woman he loves by deceiving the guardians who stand in the couple's way. It is officially a comedy of humors, and Centlivre used elements of satire in creating the guardians, making them familiar characters—distinctly humored—that her audience can understand and enjoy. By using humor, Centlivre acutely examines British society and explores the limitations placed on women by the patriarchy without overstepping her role as a woman and author.

      Author Biography

      Much of Susanne Centlivre's early life is open to debate because, as the Folger Shakespeare Library points out, She was reserved about her past, so even biographies written in her time are inconsistent. Experts, such as F. P. Lock in Susanna Centlivre, place her date of birth at about 1669. There is no official record, however, outside of her baptism in November 20, 1669, in Lincolnshire. Her father probably died in 1674. She either ran away from her stepmother or was orphaned before developing a relationship with the nephew of Sir Stephen Fox. The two were reportedly married, but there is no record of this. After his death, she married an army officer named Carrol. Again, there is no record of this marriage.

      After the death of Carrol, she moved to London in 1700, and she used the name Susanna Carrol in her early work. Familiar and Courtly Letters was published in a collection in 1700. Her first play, The Perjured Husband, was published the same year. Throughout her career, Centlivre wrote a total of fourteen comedies, two tragedies, and three farces, and of the comedies, at least four achieved and deserved great success, according to The Literary History of England. She also created poems, prose, short stories, and letters. With her plays, however, Centlivre faced prejudice

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