Findings

This project reinforces the ideas the ideas shown in Susan Amussen's book, An Order Society: Gender and Class in Early Modern England. She shows that the family and governmental structure mirror the Kingdom of Heaven. The father's rule was absolute. This notion was widely accepted by men and women. Merry Wiesner-Hanks', Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, explains that the lived reality of gender roles was often much different from the prescribed idea. Broadside authors helped to police gender roles by showing how what could happen to those who follow the prescribed gender roles. Broadside authors show that although this ideal was one that people of this age tried to enforce, the lived was different. In the faithless women section, broadside authors made examples of women who did not obey their husbands and fulfill their wifely duties. The women who do not obey their husbands are a threat to the natural order of society, therefore, needs policing. The ballads in this section also helped to show men what would happen if their own wife cuckolded them. The ballad authors often played on the people's fears of public humiliation.

In the section, on representation of women who are proud and vain we see that this is also a threat to society. Broadside authors presented women who tried to grab power for themselves as unnatural. Ballad authors also showed the cautionary tales of those who delighted in their sins, like Jane Shore, so others did not follow in her path. Broadside authors also played on the religious nature of people at this time. As broadsides showed that you need to stay away from sin in order to go to Heaven. Ballad authors also reinforced that all people will die one day and that your positon in society cannot change this.

The most important role of an early modern women's life was being a wife. Broadside authors show this by using wife the most when referring to women. This also reflects the ballad authors concerns with women's behavior and their interest in attempting to police their actions. The women who act out by showing interest in something other than their husbands and families are a threat to the larger patriarchal society. The ballad authors' attempts to police gender roles by using scare tactics show how fragile the societal structure was during the seventeenth century.