Elizabeth Griffith

Elizabeth Griffith ( born October 11, 1727 Glamorgan, † January 5, 1793 in Kildare ) was an Irish writer and actress. She wrote plays and novels and stepped beyond as editor on.

Life

Griffith was born in Wales and spent her childhood in Dublin, where she played in 1749 in the theater group by Thomas Sheridan. She came from an educated family home, but was not well off financially after the death of her father about 1744. From 1746 on, they maintained a long correspondence with the equally impoverished Richard Griffith ( with whom she was not related), whom she eventually married in secret; this correspondence was published in 1757 with fictionalized names as A Series of Genuine Letters in between Henry and Frances. The band was a huge success. Around this time took Griffith to London to earn her living as a writer. 1752 and 1756 their two children were born.

Griffith saw himself primarily as a playwright and wrote mainly comedies with which they gained some popularity. The first of these, The Platonic Wife ( 1765 ), was recorded dismissive of the contemporary criticism - the main character, which was designed according to the character of Frances in the Letters, was a confident, striving for recognition and respect woman who finally leaves her husband what was not well received in the London theater scene. Griffiths subsequent dramas oriented more towards traditional gender roles and portrayed more passive female characters. Great successes were The Double Mistake (1766) and The School for Rakes (1769 ). Still, they never succeeded fully in spite of their popularity to establish himself as a woman in the theater scene; yet their last piece of The Times (1779 ), a comedy about the dangers of gambling addiction, was his use of satire held that a woman is inappropriate. Although Griffith himself the requirements, have been brought by critics of her, partially bent, remained complex female characters of one of its recurring themes, which become evident in his in her three novels. All three have female protagonists who must endure much suffering, but are ultimately morally superior.

1780 came Griffiths son Richard back a rich man from India, which freed them from financial need to write. Her last years she spent again in Dublin.

Bibliography

  • Theodorick, King of Denmark (1752, Drama )
  • A Series of Genuine Letters in between Henry and Frances ( 1757 epistolary novel )
  • Amana (1764, Drama )
  • The Platonic Wife ( 1765, drama)
  • The Double Mistake ( 1766, Drama )
  • Two Novels in Letters by the Authors of Henry and Frances ( 1769 epistolary novel )
  • The School for Rakes (1769, Drama )
  • The Delicate Distress (1769, novel)
  • The History of Lady Barton (1771, novel)
  • A Wife in the Right (1772, Drama )
  • The Morals of Shakespeare Illustrated (1775, poetry)
  • The Story of Lady Juliana Harvey (1776, novel)
  • The Times (1779 )
  • Novel Lette, selected for the use of young ladies and gentlemen (1780, short stories )
Integrated Authority File
304237
de