Hannah Cowley and Elizabeth Inchbald

Abstract

Two women dramatists of the late eighteenth century deserve special attention: Hannah Cowley and Elizabeth Inchbald. They were different in temperament, background and style, but they were both highly professional and very successful. Both were mainly writers of comedy and, in many ways, exemplified the tastes and fashions of their period. But they were more adroit than their rivals in shaping effective plots, and they were also shrewder in their dealings with the male theatrical establishment.