FEMALE AGENCY AND CRITICISM OF MARITAL PRACTICES IN LADY MARY WROTH’S THE COUNTESS OF MONTGOMERY’S URANIA

Lady Mary Wroth is an innovative and unconventional figure both in terms of her personal background and herliterary production within the sixteenth century social and political context. She is the author of the first sonnetsequence written by a woman, the producer of the first prose romance by a female pen, and one of the first femaleplaywrights. Regarding her literary output, Wroth stands out as an author who prioritises the topics in relation towomen. Her sonnet sequence serves as an instrument for expressing female voice; her romance includes myriad offemale characters who question and rebel against the maxim of chaste-silent-obedient; her only play deals withrelationships among several couples emphasising female achievement. Wroth’s determination to focus on women’sproblems underscores the dissidence a woman could achieve under an apparently irresistible social and politicalformation. In The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania, she concentrates on the experiences of women who resistoppressive marital practices. In this sense, this paper aims to examine the social context as to the institution ofmarriage, the criticism Wroth poses against it, and female assertiveness in the case of unwanted matrimonies.