All the World's A Stage: The Earl of Essex and Performative Masculinity

This thesis follows Robert Devereux, the second Devereux Earl of Essex, throughout his career in the public view of late Elizabethan England. It argues that Essex presents a key opportunity to understand gender and performativity in the period through the eyes of a contemporary figure in the system. It does so by analyzing Essex's life across three periods, where he exemplifies various changing displays of aristocratic masculinity. By following these different types of manhood and observing the ways in which Essex adjusted his gender performance to meet the challenges he faced in various moments, the thesis asserts that his understanding and conceptualization of Elizabethan masculinity provide modern observers with an honest, lived experience of various masculinities that offer advantages over other, more prescriptive sources of the period. Ultimately, the thesis concludes that despite the treatment Essex has been given by historical narratives, he presents a key window into many facets of Elizabethan society that are often difficult to approach from a modern understanding.Bachelor of Art