Romantic Theatricality

Pascoe adduces the theatrical posturing of the Della Cruscan poets, the staginess of the Marie Antoinette depicted in women's poetry, and the histrionic maneuverings of participants in the 1794 treason trials. Such public events as the trials also linked the newly powerful role of female theatrical spectator to that of political spectator. New forms of self-representation and dramatization arose as a result of that synthesis.