The Changeling by Middleton and Rowley

[melly811]

If you're a fan of Shakespeare, try widening your view a bit more to the authors and playwrights who wrote for the private houses in addition to the public houses. The censors of the time allowed the writers for private (upper class) houses more freedom than those who wrote for the public houses. Middleton and Rowleys The Changeling is a great example of this creative freedom. We have a female main character who doesn't fall under the typical virgin or whore classification system of the time. She is complicated and real. Her struggles to have an identity and make her own choices in life, and the subsequent descent are a perfect foil to the female character in the subplot, who follows the conventions of the time and ultimately has a much easier time. But by making the main character so realistic and her wants so universal, instead of a simple moral play showing the dangers of going against the norm, we end up rooting for her to succeed where we know it's impossible.