Bathsheba in Early Modern English Literature: Consent, Complicity, and Culpability

This dissertation examines references to Bathsheba, the biblical figure from 2 Samuel with whom King David commits adultery, in early modern English literature. I argue that Bathsheba’s experiences as a woman are obscured in the biblical narrative of adultery but that there is a robust discourse about her in literature of the period which poets and playwrights contribute to and utilize. I acknowledge King David’s popularity as a model for kingship, poetry, and penitence, but I seek to recover Bathsheba and place her at the center of this study. Thus, I identify various re-tellings of and allusions to the narrative of David and Bathsheba in canonical and non-canonical texts of the English Renaissance and explore these texts’ negotiations with gender and power relations. My dissertation answers questions about how the narrative of Bathsheba’s experience was received and understood as well as how it was rewritten and deployed. This study also addresses secondary concerns about consent and complicity, which intersect with issues of secrecy and privacy and speak to greater concerns about female agency and bodily autonomy.

I begin by examining 16^th and 17^th century English Bibles. I contend that translators of early modern English Bibles were hesitant to comment on Bathsheba’s experiences, including her consent, complicity, or culpability, because of the ways in which their commentary might implicate her and/or David in sins that the biblical narrative does not explicitly assign to them. Then, I turn to early modern English discourse about Bathsheba to show that references to her are pervasive and she is a multifaceted and controversial character. Within this discourse, she becomes a site upon which controversial ideas about gender and power are contested and projected. In a chapter on George Peele’s David and Bathsheba, I argue that Peele’s play presents Bathsheba as a redemptive figure characterized by her faith and political prowess. In a chapter on Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women, I argue that Middleton presents Bianca as a transgressive version of Bathsheba. I argue that each plays provides a unique critique of tyranny. In a brief coda, I explore new avenues for future research.