are apparently clear at the beginning of the play when Alice states, "Yet nothing could enforce the deed/But Moseby's love. Might I without control enjoy thee still, then Arden should not die;/But seeing I cannot, therefore let him die" (I. 273-276). And yet we find her in scene VIII uncertain of her plot, and resigned to her life with her husband, "Ay, to my former happy life again; / From title of an odious strumpet's name / To honest Arden's wife" (VIII, 71-73).Although her intentions waver, Alice is the first character met by the audience with the “motive” to kill Arden. The subsequent plots against Arden’s life and wealth are further proof of Alice’s role as a catalyst in the play; for although Alice views Moseby as a means to an end, their “love” is just as false for him. Driven by the idea of usurping Arden’s land and power, Moseby explicitly relates his motives when he reveals, "Ambition, avarice, lust/ ...drove me on to murder" (V. II.44-5).The relationship between Alice and Arden, and her consequent affair with Moseby further demonstrates the driving force provided by women in the theatre, while still maintaining these roles within the confines of the masculine ideas of women for the time period. In placing Alice in the unflattering role of murderess, we are reminded of Lady Mac Beth when, after realizing the consequences of her actions, is tormented by her guilt. It is this very lamenting over the loss of her “innocent and noble” husband that similarly leads to the exposure of her guilt, and subject to proper punishment.The genre of tragedy throughout the Renaissance is consumed by male characters driven to horrific acts and tragic ends. Yet, “behind every great man, is a woman” and as we find in The Arden of Faversham and The Spanish Tragedy, these feminine characters do much more than stand and “look pretty.” Although the female entities pr...
