The Honest Whore Part 1 and 2 set their action in Milan, despite the fact that Thomas Dekker is a representative writer of London who was born, grew up, and made a living by writing about London his whole life. It is more striking that Dekker set his comedies in Milan because it was against the trend of contemporary city comedies, which foregrounded London as the plays’ setting and examined its topographical meaning by closely knitting its space with their themes. However, reading into the plays reveals that Milan is a thinly veiled representation of London. Dekker may have needed a device to protect him from censorship as his plays blame the courts and civic institutions for their inefficiency in regulating sexual transgressions of the urban space. As Howard suggests, prostitution not only references the actual social problem of early modern London but also signifies other troubling aspects of it, such as the growth of the suburbs into the uncontrollable space, the expansion of the market economy, and the threat of women’s sexuality directed at households and their patriarchs. The Honest Whore Part 2 examines such problems through various analogies of prostitution. More specifically, it dramatizes the tension over the regulation of sexual transgressions in the urban space. First of all, it demonstrates how arbitrary and ineffectual the response of the court is through the embodiment of the Duke of Milan who makes his decision about the state through his personal interest. Civic institutions, represented as Bridewell, a notorious house of correction in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, are also incompetent in tackling sexual iniquity, which is presented colorfully in the prostitutes’ derisive parade at Bridewell. Dekker places the integrity of the converted whore and the theatrical power of his father over public authorities. Orlando becomes the author of the action with the help of disguise, trickery, and counterfeiting. He demonstrates the potential of the theatre itself by exploiting the contradictions and collisions of authority. Bellafront is sieged not only by Hippolyto’s sexual address and Matteo’s atrocious abuse but also the persistent prejudice against her past; she withstands financial seduction and moral corrosion through the integrity of an inner purity. Her chastity becomes a synecdoche for the virtue the city has to adopt to regulate its space. Instead of fading from view without voicing themselves as many prostitutes in contemporary plays do, Bellafront is the central character as well as the hero of the play.

Key words

토마스 데커, 『정숙한 창녀 1부』, 『정숙한 창녀 2부』, 런던, 브라이드웰, 매춘, 여성의 진실성, 극장의 힘
Thomas Dekker, The Honest Whore Part 1, The Honest Whore Part 2, London, Bridewell, Prostitution, Integrity of Women, Theatrical Power