Carthage’s Palladium: John Marston’s Sophonisba

Abstract John Marston depicts in his play Sophonisba, or The Wonder of Women (1606) an ideal female ruler. In a very powerful image Sophonisba is compared to Carthage’s Palladium, a miraculous guardian statue. The first performance season of Sophonisba may have been the last, too, because there is no record of its revival. In spite of this it may have influenced later playwrights like Philip Massinger and John Ford. In this article I try to examine whether that is plausible. The female protagonists in Philip Massinger’s The Emperor of the East (1631) and John Ford’s The Broken Heart (1633) can be described as ideal women rulers and they have certain characteristics in common with Sophonisba. In addition, I take a look at Massinger’s The Bondman (1623) and its heroine Cleora. In the beginning of that play, she displays a similar valiant spirit to Sophonisba, although the play as a whole is very different from Sophonisba. All in all, these female characters are described as exemplary women whose virtues are beyond the reach of ordinary women. We can only wonder at the wonder of women.