From England's Bridewell to America's Brides: Imprisoned Women, Shakespeare's Measure for Measure , and Empire (original) (raw)

I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Julia Schleck, for her many helpful comments, as well as her advice and encouragement throughout my time at the University of Nebraska. I am also deeply thankful to Carole Levin for her mentorship and kindness over the years, and her support of this project. I am also grateful to Stephen Buhler for his years of tutelage as well as Kelly Stage for supporting and reading this thesis. I must also acknowledge my unending thanks for the Department of English and the Department of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Nebraska, and their continued support of my scholarship. I also thank my family for their continued support throughout my life and in the development of this project, especially my mother and father. I must also express all my gratitude to my husband and best friend, Bryson, for his unyielding reassurance. Also, thank you to all my dear friends who helped me get through these two years of graduate school, especially Catherine Medici-Thiemann and Alyson Alvarez for keeping me grounded, caffeinated, and motivated to do my best work. Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1 "Let her have needful but not lavish means": Bridewell's History………………………………………………………...….7 Chapter 2 "The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail Against Her": Elite Women's Detention and Reform………………………………………16 Chapter 3 "I do repent me as it is an evil, And take the shame with joy": Shakespeare's Other Juliet ……………………………………………….….