Half and Half: The Nature of the Jacobean Pamphlet as
Examined in Hic Mulier and Haec Vir
Ellen Kokontis
How will our literature be discussed four hundred years from now? Will there still be distinctions between “high” and “low” art? Will there still even be any printed material? With the advent of the Internet, there is no way of knowing how the tables will turn. We are in an age of technological explosion, with new forms of media popping up nearly every year. In a way, then, we are living in an age much like the one in which the printing press was invented. This new form of media suddenly made the concept of the world in Jacobean England much more expansive and opened up opportunities for people who might have earlier been bound to lives of serfdom (Voss 756). Any study of the Jacobean literature of the courts cannot give a complete picture of the literary goings-on in the sixteenth century. Instead we must branch out and look at how literature that was more available to and accessible by the lay people of England functioned. Early Jacobean London teemed with pamphlets, or broadsides, that were meant to spread all kinds of information, from trials and murders to sermons and moral lessons. Two pamphlets that stand out in the discussion are Hic Mulier and Haec Vir, both published in 1620. They discuss the “Man-Woman” and the “Womanish Man” respectively. These are important documents that not only give insight into Jacobean contemporary culture, but also are an example of the non-courtly literature of the period; they are simultaneously literature and commodities to be consumed by the ever-increasingly literate public. An exploration of how the two pamphlets function in these ways will show that they transcend both categories to also work as meta-texts in an already unstable genre.
Before discussing Hic Mulier and Haec Vir in specific terms, it might be helpful to give a brief overview of what, exactly, comprises a pamphlet from the Jacobean era. The answer to this question is not as simple as a definition, however. George Orwell addresses this concern in an introduction to a collection of pamphlets. “To ask ‘What is a pamphlet?’ is rather like asking ‘What is a dog?’” (qtd. in Halasz 14). Though we can recognize a dog, it’s hard to say just what makes a particular animal particularly dog-like (14). As a physical object, a pamphlet can be described as
a short, unbound work in either prose or verse…, designed to be sold to the public at minimum cost. Pamphlets were distinguished from broadside ballads and books not by subject or medium, but by length and the way they were bound. …pamphlets usually ran anywhere from eight to one hundred quarto or octavo pages. (Marshburn13)
Though we can now visualize a pamphlet, we still don’t have a sense of how they functioned, exactly, or why they were so popular. Alexandra Halasz claims early on in her book on the commodification of pamphlets that
The categorization of pamphlets by their commodity status, rather than by their authors, titles, or discursive kind draws attention to them as only pamphlets and thus distinguishes them from other discourses produced in small formats and sold in the marketplace. (3)
As a commodity, pamphlets were something to be consumed. They were often referred to as “baggage books” because of their portability (1). Their small size also meant they didn’t require much initial capital, so they became veritable “cash crops” for the presses about London (15). More importantly, however, their length meant that they required less involvement from readers, who were likely not entirely literate (16). So pamphlets were cheap, and they appealed to almost every reader. Pamphlets available in the marketplace benefited almost everyone in the cycle of consumption. Not only did printers gain economically, but readers could gain valuable insight into current events, culture and society. Most importantly for the reader, though, is that pamphlets broadened the spectrum of possibility. By learning valuable literacy skills, a person of the lower class or the slowly emerging middle class could easily advance himself into one of the broadening new career paths available to people of the Early Modern Period. It is probably safe to assume that pamphlets had a widespread distribution around London and were well known by people of all classes. Halasz is quick to point out that even Spenser, a writer for the courts, was aware of the flood of Catholic-themed pamphlets around the city and referenced them metaphorically as books and paper issue from Error’s mouth in The Faerie Queene (6).
The advent of the printing press naturally facilitated the boom in pamphlet production. Halasz notes, however, that the medium of distributing the printed texts was essential:
Print permanently altered the discursive field not by bringing books to the marketplace (medieval scriptoria did that) buy by enabling the marketplace to develop as a means of producing, disseminating, and mediating discourse independent of the sites and practices associated with and sanctioned by university, Crown, and Church. (4)
Essentially, people now had a way of making ideas physical, giving them houses and means of transportation to other individuals. Multiple opinions on the same subject were suddenly easily accessible, constantly giving the public new perspective. Therefore the explosion of printed pamphlets means there was an explosion of ideas and discourses to fill them.
One of the topics of frequent discussion in these pamphlets was that of gender—what constituted femininity, what masculinity, and what it meant to step outside these boundaries. A series of pamphlets appeared in 1620 that addressed the growing fear that people were leaving their “natural” states of gender for the opposite sex, which, it was concluded, could only lead to evil. King James I & VI even spoke out against this trend as it appeared in women: “ordering his clergy ‘to inveigh vehemently in their sermons against the insolence of our women and their wearing of broad-brimmed hats, pointed doublets, their hair cut short or shorn, and some of them stilettos or poniards, and such other trinkets of the moment” (Henderson 17). The reasoning for this proclamation is not distinctly spelled out for us. However, it is not too much of an assumption to guess that James, following a female ruler, would want to reaffirm the gender hierarchies that existed before Elizabeth I to prevent anyone from questioning his the validity of his rule. Just following this announcement, Hic Mulier, or, the Man-Woman; Haec Vir, or, the Womanish Man; and Mulled Sack, or, The Apology of Hic Mulier to the late Declamation against her were issued as pamphlets to the public at large (17). Sandra Clark, in her study on Elizabethan Pamphleteers, states that “The main theme of many pamphlets on women was twofold: woman as related to man, and woman in society” (182). These pamphlets are characteristic of this trend, though the focus is on a gender-confused woman in relation to the general public as well as an effete, feminine male. Hic Mulier and Haec Vir are especially useful to discuss, because they not only diametrically oppose one another, but they refer to one another as well. Between the two works we see a dialogue take place, which is an illustration of the thought process and range of opinions in Jacobean England in 1620.
Hic Mulier was the first pamphlet to be published, and it touches on the subject of the woman who dresses and acts as though she were a man. As stated above, however, it exists on two levels—it is not just a discursive work on gender, but it exists as a commodity as well. Therefore let us examine it in both lights.
The pamphlet as a literary work can wait for a moment—before it is consumed as a piece of text by the reader, it is consumed as an object by the buyer. It has a lot of tricks in its pages to ensure its sale. Paul J. Voss, in his article on the rise of advertising in the book industry in during the Renaissance, notes the tactics authors and publishers used to reel in customers, a few of which are visible in this very pamphlet. The title itself, a play on conjugation in Latin, shows that the author is learned enough to use the Classical languages and sends an immediate message to the reader that he or she should respect his writing. The narrator later on in the argument refers to himself as “an excellent Poet” (274). By this time, the reader will have undoubtedly bought the pamphlet, since it is so far along in the argument. But the romanticizing of the poet to “Poet” gives the actual author more power; he is thus romanticizing himself as one who is wise, because he knows how to put a pen to paper (and then take that paper to a printing press). The reader has a harder time resisting the argument if the author constructs himself as omniscient. Once the reader delves into the text, he or she finds that the opening paragraph is especially sensationalist, claiming the Man-Woman to be “most monstrous” (Hic Mulier 265). The mention of the supernatural is sure to captivate Jacobean readers, and having it so early in the text is almost a guaranteed sale. The reader will want to find out how else the Man-Woman defies the laws of nature. Yet the reader’s gender isn’t fixed—the author directs his argument toward women at one point (272) and men another (275). In this way, the pamphlet can appeal to a wider demographic (thus leading to greater sales and greater profits). Finally, the work ends with a catchy rhyming poem (276) that leaves the author’s argument with the reader even after they may put the book away. All these strategies combine to make the pamphlet endure as long as possible—both as a potential sale and as an idea passed from author to reader/consumer.
As a literary work, Hic Mulier takes on a “railing” style of argument (Henderson 33), condemning every aspect of the masculine woman. In this way of looking at the text, we see the Man-Woman constructed in terms of society. The argument surrounds the idea that any person, object or creature that is half one entity and half another is completely unnatural and should be shunned. A woman who dresses as a man, therefore, is as equally revolting as a mermaid (265) or other half-man half-creature. Furthermore, the Man-Woman is not only a monster, but a blight upon the Jacobean ordered world. “It is an infection that emulates the plague and throws itself amongst women of all degrees, all deserts, and all ages; from the Capitol to the Cottage are some spots or swellings of this disease” (269). This hyperbole is meant as a scare tactic. The Jacobeans would have been familiar with the intense fear and panic associated with the plague, so anything that functions in the same way as the disease—spreading, infecting and destroying—would be tremendously horrifying. What is more is that the Man-Woman consumes herself to death, by constantly striving to buy one more piece of clothing in which to attire herself in a new “unnatural” fashion (269). An essential element to this pamphlet is that the Man-Woman is not biologically changing her gender—she is only dressing herself in a man’s clothing. Yet to the author of this pamphlet and to those toward whom it was directed, the way a person appears is who they truly are. Therefore even though a woman still retains her biologically female form, the act of dressing like a male leads to speaking out like one, being loud and bawdy like one, and essentially becoming male in outward appearance. This subversion of the natural world is the most disgusting aspect of the Man-Woman to the author of this pamphlet, because it denies God’s authority and shows her presumption that she is better than Him (266).
In spite of the outward focus of the narrator towards the Man-Woman, it is noteworthy that the beginning of the pamphlet is self-referential. For the first paragraph, the narrator speaks in first-person, acknowledging the act of writing. For the good, virtuous, feminine females, he declares that he will “write with a golden pen on leaves of golden paper” (266), but for the Man-Women, he will “write with a rough quill and black Ink on iron sheets the iron deeds of an iron generation” (266). This tone, of course, refers back to the “railing” style of argument. Yet his threat of writing with terrible instruments implies that the narrator thinks he has the ability to punish his subject; he feels that his pen is a weapon with which he can wound. And he very well may be right. There is almost no way of knowing the number of people who consumed this pamphlet, but the author’s opinion written on the page in this self-referential way implies that this object of a sheaf of folded paper is not just that, but a being with a voice that can thoroughly argue an opinion. Even if the Jacobean reader didn’t agree with the pamphlet’s point of view, they certainly could not deny its source was human.
Haec Vir was published within the same year as Hic Mulier, so it likely came as an almost immediate response to the first essay. In terms of the book as a commodity, many of the same advertising strategies that we saw in Hic Mulier go on in this pamphlet as well. The opening form is the same, as is the humorously confused Latin title. These both function in the same way—the opening summarizing the pamphlet, and the Latin advertising the author’s knowledge. The form also ties it to the first pamphlet. In this way, readers of Hic Mulier will see this as a kind of sequel and know that they belong together. If the consumer of the first work agreed with the subject matter, they will likely buy this second work to see more of what they like. If the consumer of the first work did not agree with the subject matter, they will likely buy this second work to see if it will rebut the first version. This author even refers to the literal publication of Hic Mulier in this work as well. “I can but refer you to your Godchild that carries your own name—I mean the Book of Hic Mulier” (“Haec Vir” 280). Even though the author disagrees with that work, he still refers his reader in that direction. It will not only make the reader of this pamphlet more informed and therefore be able to further enjoy it, but it will help support the blossoming print industry as well.