Epistolary Compassion in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia

Abstract:This article takes Sir Philip Sidney's 'The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia' (1593) as a touchstone of the English tradition, arguing that early modern English romance authors redirect the Ovidian epistolary form to articulate a sympathy that ultimately facilitates satisfaction rather than loss. Ovid's 'Heroides' conceives of compassion as hinging on loss and separation. Whereas Ovid's heroines write to complain to the lovers who have abandoned or betrayed them, early modern prose romance adapts the epistolary discourse of complaint to support romantic union. Sidney's central female figures appeal to compassion that authorizes their writing, but in romance the female writer's story does not end in suffering. Romance is hopeful: it rewards compassion and demonstrates its practical, positive ends.