Old, Bold and Won’t Be Told

Revealing Shakespeare’s old ladies – a scholarly yet lively exploration of the presentation of ageing women on the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage.

A lively exploration of ageing women in Shakespeare’s day – onstage and off.

Old women in Early Modern plays are stereotypically presented as ugly, randy, mouthy, mad.  So Shakespeare is rare among dramatists of the day for his lively and empowering depictions of ageing ladies. This well-researched, accessible book looks at the way his old women subvert the stereotypes. There is particular focus on Paulina in The Winter’s Tale as a uniquely powerful old woman.