Shakespeare's Margaret

The centuries-long transformation of Margaret of Anjou, the oft-forgotten, powerful female character who speaks—by far—the most lines of any woman in Shakespeare.

 

She is the only Shakespearean character, male or female, whose entire life—from youth to old age—appears on stage. She offered a rare opportunity to the very first female players, as boys in wigs first made way for celebrity actresses. She has allowed the likes of Peggy Ashcroft, Helen Mirren, and Sophie Okonedo full range for their stunning talents.
 

Yet who was Margaret of Anjou, and why is she so often cut from the very plays she dominates? In the fifteenth century, she was a 14-year-old French princess married to an English king, soon thrust into command amid a bloody civil war. A hundred and fifty years later, a group of brilliant young playwrights—led by William Shakespeare and including Christopher Marlowe—resurrected her on the Elizabethan stage. In the centuries since, she has been continually reinvented, minimized or highlighted as feminist icon, in sync with changing societal views of women. Hers is a story of theatrical history in microcosm, demonstrating how Shakespeare's plays are not the words of a solitary genius on the page, but spectacular collaborations among actors, directors, writers, critics and the times in which they live.