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Ann Marshall, also known as Mrs. Ann Marshall Quin was a leading actress in the Restoration Era from around 1660-1682. She was one of the first female performers to appear on the stage in London along with well-known actresses Elizabeth Barry, Mary Betterton and Nell Gwyn. While Ann Marshall wasn’t as highly recognized as her female counterparts, she played in major roles as Zempoalla in John Dryden’s The Indian Queen and Angellica Bianca in Aphra Behn’s The Rover. There is little known of her background or personal history before her stage recognition or even the end of it. Theories about her early life have been up for debate by literary critics, yet there aren’t many concrete evidences.

One fact regarding her background is that she is the elder sister of the actress Rebecca Marshall; both sisters were employed by English dramatist and theatre manager, Thomas Killigrew of his King’s Company. The introduction of women actors playing dynamic female characters in plays was such a new concept that it was either subject to laughter or conservative criticism. This reason alone makes one wonder how Ann Marshall could have come to be the person she was. Usually, a famous actor’s background would embody how far they had come to be in their current position. For some actresses of the restoration era, their backgrounds predominately revolved around their losses rather than their social and financial standing. In David Roberts’s Restoration Plays and Players, some actresses were either illegitimate or orphaned. For example, Mary Betterton, the wife of actor Thomas Betterton, was believed to have been orphaned; this goes the same for Elizabeth Barry who was thought to be the daughter of a Royalist who lost his fortune and that she eventually ascended to fame after an affair with the Earl of Rochester.

However, according to the Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other State Personnel in London, 1660-1800, Ann and Rebecca Marshall were thought to be the daughters of a Presbyterian named Steven Marshall. If there was further doubt on its credibility, the theory can be attributed to Nell Gwyn who had a tense relationship with Rebecca. Rebecca accused Gwyn of being “My Lord Buckhurst’s Whore”—a remark addressing Gwyn being the mistress of King Charles. Gwyn quickly countered, “I was but one man’s whore, though I was brought up in a bawdy-house to fill strong waters to the guests; and you are a whore to three or four, though a Presbyter’s praying daughter” (140). However, this can be denounced since the remark could’ve only been an insult rather than the truth. Another possibility regarding the sisters’ origins can be that they were daughters of Mr. Marshall, the chaplain to Lord Gerard and his wife Elizabeth.

Ann and Rebecca Marshall were competitive in their success, often regarded as the “Marshall sisters” and the “Rival Sisters”. Rebecca is widely recognized for her role as Roxanna in the “Rival Queens” and even played, according to the New California Dryden Works, Orizia in “The Indian Queen”, the same play her sister was in. Though Rebecca’s career is written in further details in the Bibliographical Dictionary of Actors, Ann could’ve been just as successful has her younger sister. In The Words of John Dryden, it stated that when Dryden considered what actress to play Julia in the Rival Ladies, the character was obviously written with Ann in mind. Ann would be described as both talented and attractive. In fact, she was chosen solely for the fact that she was “older, more striking, beautiful, more imperious of the sisters” (321).

Ann Marshall was possibly the first actress to play Desdemona in Othello on the 8th of December 1660. In 1661, she played lead roles like Lady in Beaumont and Fletcher’s the Scornful Lady until she later specialized in tragedy. In 1664, Ann Marshall played Angellica Bianca, a famous courtesan and mistress to a deceased general. Though The Rover is a comedic play that reveals the satire of contemporary eighteenth-century issues, Angellica’s story can very well be considered a tragedy.

Before delving into how Ann Marshall could have portrayed Angellica Bianca, we must first consider some of the major themes that centered around Angellica’s story. It seems that in some restoration plays, both male and female characters are given the chance to break away from societal norms and act out on their desires. Usually, the impulse along with its many schemes to achieve that goal creates chaos that could eventually threaten the life or reputation of an individual. However, when the play ends, all the constructed problems are neatly sorted out into a tidy conclusion, either with marriage or forgiveness. The Rover, Angellica wasn’t granted a happy ending; in fact, she was absent towards the end of the play. The single reason for Angellica’s swift dismissal is that she was judged as a common whore and was not fit to beloved by anyone, even by the inconsistent Willmore. Angellica’s dismissal emphasizes that the “happy ending” treatment in restoration comedy creates a division between the virgin and the whore.

Though Aphra Behn may be considered one of London’s earliest feminist playwrights, The Rover ironically is written in a fashion that would resemble a male-directed play. In a male-directed play, there is a moral distinction between a woman of value and a prostitute, in which the woman who is open in her sexuality within a patriarchal society is neither forgiven nor permitted a satisfying ending. This is opposed to Willmore and Blunt who makes no secret of their intentions and end the play either safe of injury or married. According to the literary critic by Nancy Copeland’s ‘Once a Whore and Ever’? Whore and Virgin in The Rover and Its Antecendents, the prostitute Angellica Bianca is in a difficult position for women at her time in which “sexual change could both elevate and degrade women at the same time”. Angellica advertises herself and makes a thousand crowns by having sex with other men. But she can also advertise herself through other means; for instance, she displays grandiose pictures of herself at her house to emphasize her professional status, making no secret of who she is. In this way, she is the representation of a “female libertine”. However, her displaying the painting can be a little ironic. If Angellica exchanges her body for money (public display) and if she displays her portrait, then she is interchangeable with the art object. To the audience and to the characters on stage, she is no more than an object or “once a whore and ever” (150). In this way, the female body is fetishized.

Behn may have contributed to the exploitation of the fetish status of female performers, however, their bodies were partially obscured as to not take away the audience pleasure and still prove a point. If Ann Marshall were acting Angellica Bianca, one would expect her to either be undressed or dressed in loose gowns. This way, she would be a fetish object and allow the male viewers the pleasure of being seduced without encroaching close them to discomfort. It can be assumed that Marshall would portray Angellica as a woman who is comfortable and even proud of the life she had for herself. She holds herself as one who gained financial independence through her earnings, just as any man would do with their own profession. In addition, Marshall would also portray Angellica as unapologetic.

For example, in her essay, Copeland compared Angellica’s character in Killigrew’s Thomaso with Aphra Behn’s The Rover. In Thomaso, Angellica the whore understands that her entire identity is centered around the fact that she is an “immoral outcast” due to her open sexuality. She confesses her feelings to Thomaso and apologizes for the life she had been living, stating, “if thou be’st kind, forget and forgive my faults that are past, which are crimes of the Nation, not mine” (154). She continues by listing the many faults in her life in which the people she knew have failed her. She finishes her confession stating if he “could make me as pure a Virgin as I am now a perfect Lover; then I would beg to by thy wife” (154). Angellica in Killigrew’s interpretation apologies for losing her virginity. However, Behn’s Angellica shows “no sign of regret or repentance” (154). Her only fault was that she was too greedy, an issue that she made clear was separate from her sexuality.

Towards the end of the play, when it’s clear that Willmore chooses Hellena, Angelica turns from an idealized libertine into a woman of fury. When Angellica performs the action of putting Willmore at gunpoint or even remarking in rage and resentment, she appears to the average viewer as someone who can’t be taken seriously. Angellica asks, almost astonished, “Does not thy guilty blood run shivering though thy veins?” to which Willmore responds dryly, “Faith, no, child. My blood keeps its old ebbs and flows still” (156). The passage indicates that Willmore is unconcerned with Angellica and demeans her of the person she built for herself. To her, she is proud of being financially independent and sexual—a luxury for most women—however, Willmore’s statement is almost like a slap of reality. To Willmore and to the audience, Angellica is no more than a common whore and thus, society has little interest in seeing a “proper” ending for her. When Angellica comes to this realization, Ann Marshall might portray her as shocked or lost for words at least for a few seconds. But the realization can also open a door for self-reflection.

Finally, on the topic of Angellica, the hardest thing that Ann Marshall had to act was Aphra Behn. In the literary critic Gestus and Signature in Aphra Behn’s The Rover, the play offered Behn the opportunity to address the problems she was facing as a playwright. It could be that Angellica is the fictional version of Aphra Behn. Never mind that they share the same initials but the main things that tie the two together is that they sell themselves to the market; Aphra Behn to her career as a playwright and Angellica as a famous courtesan. They take on male behaviors and become successful in their profession, however they are easy subjects to “accusations and immodesty” (176). Behn was accused that her play The Rover plagiarized Thomas Killigrew’s Thomaso. However, Behn only conceded that the only topic appropriated was the character Angellica and nothing more. She complained that she was accused solely because she was a successful writer and a woman. Aphra Behn exposed herself through writing, publicly displaying material that was often interpreted as indecent for a woman. This is similar to Angellica hanging her paintings and exposing herself in that manner. The maturity it takes to portray such a complex character, that it not only reflects the struggle of an independent woman but the author itself, requires full experience. I believe that acting Angellica may have been easier for Marshall since Marshall was herself a woman who financially supported herself through her own means, in a career path that wasn’t conventional for a woman. Acting provided women with the unique opportunity that allowed them to receive comparable or bigger wages than their male counterparts. Due to Marshall’s previous professional experience and personal experience, she may have been the perfect choice for the role of Angellica Bianca. Work Cited a) Brooks, Helen. Actresses, Gender, and the Eighteenth-century Stage: Playing Women. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Print.  b) Canfield, J. Douglas. Tricksters & Estates: On the Ideology of Restoration Comedy. Lexington, KY: U of Kentucky, 1997. Print. c) Dryden, John, and John Harrington Smith. The Works of John Dryden. Vol. VIII. Berkeley: U of California, 1967. Print.  d) Howe, Elizabeth. The First English Actresses: Women and Drama, 1660-1700. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">e) Highfill, Philip H., Kalman A. Burnim, and Edward A. Langhans. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800. Carbondale: Southern Illinois U, 1973. Print.  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">f) Mehrotra, Chandra, Lisa S. Wagner, and Stephen Fried. Aging and Diversity: An Active Learning Experience. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">g) Pacheco, Anita. Early Women Writers: 1600-1720. London: Longman, 1998. Print.  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">h) Richards, Sandra. The Rise of the English Actress. New York: St. Martin's, 1993. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">i) Roberts, David. Restoration Plays and Players: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2014. Pr int.