Common use of Thesis Overview Clause in Contracts

Thesis Overview. The four chapters of this thesis analyse how social constructions of status, alongside those of gender, race, and sexuality, form an elite female servant’s identity. It is not my intention to construct a monolithic figure, but rather to draw attention to the nuances and paradoxes which shape elite female servants across early modern drama. In this thesis, I situate elite female 110 For example, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ in The Merchant of Venice (1596-8) is presented across editions as ‘waiting woman’ (Arden 3), ‘lady-in-waiting’ (Cambridge), ‘waiting-maid’ (Penguin Classics), and ‘Portia’s gentlewoman’ (Oxford Shakespeare). The 1637 third quarto was the first text to assign ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ the title of ‘waiting gentlewoman’. The status of her mistress and her own actions as she participates in ▇▇▇▇▇▇’s affairs make it clear that ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ is a waiting gentlewoman. Although the Oxford ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ is correct in defining her as ‘Portia’s gentlewoman’, the range of