"The Nutbrown Maid"

Paper Summary:

"The Nutbrown Maid", by an anonymous author, first appeared around 1503 in Richard Arnold's "Customs of London". While originally thought to have been written by a man who praises the virtues of a devoted woman, this paper explores the possibility that the poem was actually written by a woman. It argues that the poem seeks to prove that women can be constant in love, despite the existence of a host of poems portraying them as out of control of their own sexuality.

From the Paper:

"The stated purpose of the poem is not to prove that the squire is a good person, or even a fair one. Instead, its goal is to show that the Nutbrown Maid is constant in love. Now, it is generally considered true that a virtue exists in a person independently of other people. For instance, honest people are honest regardless how many others around them are dishonest, and are honest also with people they know to be dishonest themselves. If the Nutbrown Maid's virtue of constancy is conceived of in the same manner, i.e. as a character trait existing in her independently of the Squire and his own character, then her response to him is the correct one. She has pledged her love to him, and she will be faithful to that love, whether he is so or not. "For had ye, lo! An hundred mo, / Yet would I be that one / For . . . I love but you alone" (309-312)."

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