“Before Your Honour?”: Divine Morality and Women Reclaiming Power in Ben Jonson’s Volpone and William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure

Author

• Delilah G. Fleming, CUNY Hunter CollegeFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Cristina Alfar

Second Advisor

Lynne Greenberg

Academic Program Adviser

Mark Miller

Abstract

This thesis explores how the female protagonists in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure and Jonson’s Volpone navigate and combat corrupting patriarchal forces through moral religious speech. In both plays, the male characters have allowed false gods and hypocrisy to dictate and justify their corrupt behavior. By engaging with the historical significance of early modern female rhetoric this thesis examines Jonson’s Celia and Shakespeare’s Isabella, and how they operate in the interest of godly virtue rather than blind obedience to patriarchal figure heads.  Volpone’s Celia is a character largely neglected in the canon, and whose speech emphasizes the relationship between female agency and virtue and how they can function to protect married women under couverture. Celia’s virtue ultimately allows for her lawful release from her tyrannical marriage, one of the few legal escapes for abused women of the period. The unwed and convent seeking Isabella fears the isolation and domination that married women, like Celia, are subject to. The imminent threats of moral and spiritual corruption that interactions with men present reinforces her desire to adhere to a sequestered religious path, rather than comply with patriarchal wills. Because of her position as an unmarried woman and her proximity to religious authority, Isabella functions as both a social and political subject, openly critical of power wielded with pernicious and merciless intent. These women speak to the larger societal implications of female centered morality and the fundamental role that women play in cultural maintenance and the perpetuation of social order. Ultimately, Celia and Isabella engage with the doctrines of Christian patriarchy in order to uphold inherently patriarchal systems against the exploitations of immoral men.

Recommended Citation

Fleming, Delilah G., "“Before Your Honour?”: Divine Morality and Women Reclaiming Power in Ben Jonson’s Volpone and William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure" (2026). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/1462