A 'Boston marriage' was, historically, the cohabitation of two wealthy women, independent of financial support from a man. The term is said to have been in use in New England in the late 19th/early 20th century. Some of these relationships were romantic in nature and might now be considered a lesbian relationship; others were not.
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Etymology[edit]
The fact of relatively formalized romantic friendships or life partnerships between women predates the term Boston marriage and there is a long record of it in England and other European countries.[1] The term Boston marriage became associated with Henry James's The Bostonians (1886), a novel involving a long-term co-habiting relationship between two unmarried women, 'new women', although James himself never used the term. James' sister Alice lived in such a relationship with Katherine Loring and was among his sources for the novel.[2]
There are many examples of women in 'Boston marriage' relationships. In the late 1700s, for example, Anglo-Irish upper-class women Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby were identified as a couple and nicknamed the Ladies of Llangollen. Elizabeth Mavor suggests that the institution of romantic friendships between women reached a zenith in eighteenth-century England.[1] In the U.S., a prominent example is that of novelist Sarah Orne Jewett and her companion Annie Adams Fields, widow of the editor of The Atlantic Monthly, during the late 1800s.[3]
Lillian Faderman provided one of the most comprehensive studies of Boston marriages in Surpassing the Love of Men (1981).[4] Twentieth-century film reviewers used the term to describe the Jewett-Fields relationship depicted in the 1998 documentary film Out of the Past.[5]David Mamet's play Boston Marriage premiered in 2000 and helped popularize the term.
Sociology[edit]
Some women in Boston marriages did so because they felt they had a better connection to women than to men.[4][6][7] Some of these women lived together out of necessity; such women were generally financially independent due to family inheritance or career earnings. Women who chose to have a career (doctor, scientist, professor) created a new group of women, known as new women,[8] who were not financially dependent upon men. Educated women with careers who wanted to live with other women were allowed a measure of social acceptance and freedom to arrange their own lives.[6] They were usually feminists with shared values, involved in social and cultural causes. Such women were generally self-sufficient in their own lives, but gravitated to each other for support in an often disapproving, sexist, and sometimes hostile society.[6]
Until the 1920s, these arrangements were widely regarded as natural and respectable.[9][7] After the 1920s, women in such relationships were increasingly suspected of being in lesbian sexual relationships, so fewer single women chose to live together.[9]
Wellesley marriage[edit]
Boston marriages were so common at Wellesley College in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the term Wellesley marriage became a popular description.[6]:185 Typically, the relationship involved two academic women. This was common from about 1870 until 1920. Until the later part of the 20th century, women were expected to resign from their academic posts upon marriage, so any woman who wanted to keep her academic career had to make housing arrangements other than a home with a husband and children, such as sharing a home with another like-minded single female professor.[9] Additionally, as Lillian Faderman points out, college educated women commonly found more independence, support, and like-mindedness by partnering with other women.[4] Further, these alternative relationships freed women from the burdens of child-rearing, tending to husbands, and other domestic duties, thus allowing professional women like college faculty to focus on their research.[6]
There are many examples of Wellesley marriages in the historical record. Faderman documented that in the late 19th century, of the 53 women faculty at Wellesley, only one woman was conventionally married to a man; most of the others lived with a female companion.[6]:192 One of the most famous pairs were Katharine Lee Bates and Katharine Ellis Coman. Bates was a professor of poetry and the author of the words to 'America the Beautiful', while Coman was an economic historian who is credited with writing the first industrial history of the US.[6][8][7][10][11]
See also[edit]
- Romantic friendship – a close, non-sexual friendship
References[edit]
- ^ abElizabeth Mavor, The Ladies of Llangollen (London: Penguin, 1971)
- ^Margaret Cruikshank, 'James, Alice' in George Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmerman, eds., Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures (Taylor & Francis, 1999), 411, available online, accessed February 12, 2015
- ^Rita K. Gollin, Annie Adams Fields (Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 2011)
- ^ abcFaderman, Lillian. (1981.) Surpassing the Love of Men. New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN0688003966.
- ^Holden, Stephen (July 31, 1998). 'Finding Courage and Anguish Along the Road to Gay Pride'. New York Times. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
- ^ abcdefgFaderman, Lillian To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done For America - A History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999)
- ^ abcD'Emilio, John, and Estelle Freedman. (2012). Intimate matters: A history of sexuality in America (third edition). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. ISBN9780226923802.
- ^ abPonder, Melinda M. (2017). Katharine Lee Bates: From Sea to Shining Sea. Chicago, IL: Windy City Publishers. ISBN9781941478479
- ^ abcGibson, Michelle (2012-12-06). Lesbian Academic Couples. Routledge. pp. 3–5. ISBN9781135834593.
- ^Schwarz, Judith (Spring 1979). ''Yellow Clover': Katharine Lee Bates and Katharine Coman'. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. University of Nebraska Press. 4(1): 59–67. doi:10.2307/3346671. JSTOR3346671.
- ^Vaughn, Gerald F. (2004). 'Katharine Coman: America's first woman institutional economist and a champion of education for citizenship'. Journal of Economic Issues 38(4): 989–1002. ISSN0021-3624.
Bibliography[edit]
- Katherine B. Davis, Factors in the sex life of twenty-two hundred women (NY: Harper Brothers, 1929)
- Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America (Columbia University Press, 1991)
- Lillian Faderman, Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present (NY: Morrow, 1981)
- Carol Brooks Gardner, 'Boston marriages', in Jodi O'Brien, ed., Encyclopedia of Gender and Society, vol. 1 (SAGE Publications, 2009), pp. 87–88, available online (mistakenly says Henry James used the term)
- Rita K. Gollin, Annie Adams Fields: Woman of Letters (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2011)
- Elizabeth Mavor, The Ladies of Llangollen: A Study of Romantic Friendship (London: Penguin, 1971)
- Esther D. Rothblum and Kathleen A. Brehony, eds., Boston Marriages: Romantic but Asexual Relationships Among Contemporary Lesbians (University of Massachusetts Press, 1993)
- Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America (Oxford University Press, 1986)
External links[edit]
| Look up boston marriage in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- 'So, Are You Two Together?'—Ms. magazine, essay by Pagan Kennedy.
- 'Boston Marriage'—list of relevant articles on About.com
| Boston Marriage | |
|---|---|
| Written by | David Mamet |
| Date premiered | June 16, 1999 |
| Place premiered | American Repertory Theater |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy |
Boston Marriage is a 1999 play by American playwrightDavid Mamet. The play concerns two women at the turn of the 20th century who are in a Boston marriage, a relationship between two women that may involve both physical and emotional intimacy. After widespread belief that Mamet could only write for men,[citation needed] the playwright released this play, which centers exclusively on women.
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Synopsis[edit]
Anna and Claire argue over Claire's new found 'Love' while Anna's Scottish maid, Catherine, is brought to tears by her employer's harsh verbal rebukes. Things get tense as Anna, a mistress to a wealthy gentleman, tries to talk Claire out of her profession of love for another: a young woman. Claire, on the other hand, has already made plans with her young love to meet at Anna's house in the hopes that she will be able to persuade her new love to engage in a 'vile assignation.' Things go awry, however, when the girl arrives and recognizes that an emerald necklace that Anna is wearing belongs to her mother.
The plot line focuses on whether Anna and Claire will be able to find a way to hold on to both the girl and her wealthy but unfaithful father. The play is delivered through quick, witty Victorian-era dialogue, mixed with double entendres and vernacular expressions, to explore the relationship between the two women and their maid. Through humor and nuance, the play explores the negotiation, conflict, compromise and reconciliation that arise in their relationship.
Production history[edit]
Boston Marriage was originally produced by the American Repertory Theater (Robert Brustein, Artistic Director; Robert J. Orchard, Managing Director) at the Hasty Pudding Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts on June 4, 1999. It was directed by David Mamet; the set design was by Sharon Kaitz and J. Michael Griggs; the lighting design was by John Ambrosone; and the costume design was by Harriet Voyt. The cast included Rebecca Pidgeon (Claire), Felicity Huffman (Anna), and Mary McCann (Catherine).[1]
It was performed in London at the Donmar Warehouse from March 2001 until April 2001. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, it featured Zoë Wanamaker (Anna), Anna Chancellor (Claire), and Lyndsey Marshal. It moved to the West End at the New Ambassadors Theatre, where it ran from November 28, 2001 until February 16, 2002.[2]
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Boston Marriage was first performed in Melbourne, Australia, in 2007 produced by independent theatre company Hoy Polloy. It was directed by Hoy Polloy Artistic Director Wayne Pearn and featured Helen Hopkins, Corinne Davies and Eleanor Wilson.[citation needed]
Boston Marriage ran Off-Broadway at The Public Theater from November 5, 2002 through December 22, 2002. It was directed by Karen Kohlhaas and starred Kate Burton as Anna, Martha Plimpton as Claire, and Arden Myrin.[3]
The play was performed in Lima, Peru in early 2007 under the direction of theatre director and actor Alberto Isola.[4]
The play was again performed in Melbourne by the Melbourne Theatre Company through June 2010. Pamela Rabe, Margaret Mills and Sara Gleeson starred, directed by Aidan Fennessy. It returned to the Boston area in September 2010, as presented at the New Repertory Theater. As part of the Dublin Theatre Festival 2010, the Gate Theatre, Dublin, Ireland staged Boston Marriage as part of its 'BMP' programme; celebrating the links between Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Mamet. The play ran on 29 September and 2 October, 2010.[5]
Lesbian themes[edit]
Boston Marriage is one of the few plays written by a male playwright that exclusively includes lesbian characters. The play takes on an anti-patriarchal stance. Anna does not show any genuine interest in the man she is involved with. In the end of the play, Anna’s male love interest leaves her for his wife and wants her to return the emerald jewel that he gave her. This gives Claire fiscal power over Anna which contrasts the Victorian tradition of men owning their wives’ money.
The plot of Boston Marriage does not include the common stereotypes of women being married to a man, financially dependent on their husbands, and spend most of their time taking care of their children.[6]
Lesbian themes in theatre is a direct response to America’s anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-theatrical attitudes in its history. “Lesbian” was not a word used in Western society until the nineteenth century. The roles of lesbian and gay characters in theatre were considered to be two separate themes until the latter half of the twentieth century. There is not as much public interest in plays written exclusively about lesbian characters than there are about plays with exclusively gay characters. Similarly to early plays that included gay characters, plays including lesbians traditionally ended in violence and death. Plays with exclusively lesbian characters that were written by lesbian playwrights targeted all-female audiences.[7]
More lesbian plays were written in the 1960s and 1970s largely due to the feminist movement. Lack of public interest lead to a decrease in the number of lesbian plays written and performed until the late 1990s when Boston Marriage was written and early twenty-first century.[8]
LGBTQ+ theatre is dominated by white gay men. David Mamet is one of the few heterosexual male playwrights to write about a play with exclusively lesbian characters.[9]
Boston Marriage is the only play David Mamet wrote that only includes lesbian characters.[10]
References[edit]
- ^Dramatists.com, Boston Marriage script, Dramatists Play Service Inc.
- ^'History of productions of Boston Marriage in London'. Archived from the original on February 18, 2008.
- ^'Review'Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback MachineCurtain Up
- ^'PUCP | Centro Cultural'. Archived from the original on May 19, 2007.
- ^Boston Marriage[permanent dead link] dublintheatrefestival.com (archive), accessed October 24, 2015
- ^Zimmerman, Bonnie (2013-08-21). Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures. ISBN9781136787508.
- ^Wang, Wencong (2014). 'Lesbianism and Lesbian Theatre'. Comparative Literature: East & West. 21: 113–123. doi:10.1080/25723618.2014.12015466.
- ^Bendix, Trish. 'Are Lesbians The Black Sheep Of Broadway?'. LOGO News.
- ^Goldberg, Wendy C. (June 25, 2017). 'Why We Need to Address the Lack of Lesbian Stories on Stage'. Playbill.
- ^'The seven rages of David Mamet: genius or symbol of toxic masculinity?'. the Guardian. November 29, 2017.