Sarah Siddons: "Tragedy Personified"

Actress Sarah Siddons—playing opposite her brother John Philip Kemble at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane—was 18th-century London’s best-known tragedienne. She was most famous for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth, imbuing the character with a strong maternal sense and a delicate femininity that made the role completely her own. Siddons became an early star of modern celebrity culture, with her image appearing everywhere, from popular magazines to ornate objects, many of which can now be found in the Folger collection.

Despite an unimpressive debut at the renowned Drury Lane Theatre in 1775 as Portia in The Merchant of Venice, British actress Sarah Siddons’s tenacity brought her back to the Drury Lane stage in 1782. This time, she performed the titular role in Thomas Southerne’s Isabella, or The Fatal Marriage. The emotional intensity of Siddons in this tragic role left some members of the audience in hysterics and, allegedly, the entire theater in tears. Her life—and the English stage—would never be the same.

“Tragedy Personified”

Contemporary theatre critic William Hazlitt crowned Siddons “tragedy personified.” In 1784 Sir Joshua Reynolds exhibited his dramatic portrait of Siddons titled “Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse.” Hazlitt’s lavish praise and the popularity of this painting helped to further cement Siddons’s reputation as the leading interpreter of female tragic roles. Siddons became the first true celebrity actress in England, eventually earning more for her performances than 18th-century superstar and influential interpreter of Shakespeare David Garrick.

Siddons’s reputation for tragedy led her to embrace many of Shakespeare’s tragic roles, including both Ophelia and Hamlet. Although Measure for Measure itself is a comedy, Siddons frequently performed the role of Isabella, the young postulant placed in a tragic situation by the cruel Angelo. She was perhaps most famous for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth which would also be the last Shakespearean role she performed before formally retiring from the stage in 1812.

Writing alongside contemporary comedic actress Dorothy Jordan, Siddons helped to develop a new type of theatrical criticism that placed acting at the center of the intellectual response to Shakespeare’s plays. She argued that acting itself was a form of theatrical criticism due to the actor’s sustained intellectual engagement with the performance text. One such example of her work is “Remarks on the Character of Lady Macbeth” (1834), a role that Siddons spent decades performing.

Sarah Siddons in the Folger collection

The Lady’s Magazine & Images of Celebrity

One year after her meteoric rise to fame in 1782, Siddons played another Isabella in Measure for Measure at the Drury Lane Theatre.

This copperplate engraving of Siddons in Isabella’s nunnery costume is from the supplement to volume 17 (year 1786) of The Lady’s Magazine. Founded in 1770, the magazine was one of the longest-running periodicals of the 18th-century and one of the most successful magazines written for—and often by—women. An engraving of famous actors and actresses or portraits of royalty were placed opposite each issue’s table of contents.

The engravings of celebrities and other non-textual material like the fashion plates, embroidery patterns, and song sheets common to the magazine were often cut out by readers. They would then save these images in personal scrapbooks or commonplace books. This likely happened with the print of Siddons.

Objects of Celebrity

This enamel patch box from around 1800 also shows Siddon’s popularity as Isabella and her enduring stardom. Patch boxes stored artificial beauty marks often made from black silk in shapes like circles or stars and were used to hide blemishes like smallpox scars. Popular with both women and men, 18th-century patches could be considered precursors to today’s zit-stickers! Patches might also be worn for purely aesthetic reasons. Some wearers used patches to accentuate a facial feature or to send a private message about one’s character. For instance, a patch worn near the corner of one’s eye symbolizes passion.

While patches were inexpensive items, the boxes used to store them were often elaborate and costly objects. They were shaped from copper and decorated with hand-painted enamel. Often, a mirror would be set inside the lid for use in the application of the patches. Friends and lovers gave patch boxes with custom designs and personally selected messages, demonstrating the giver’s friendship and devotion to the recipient. They also could be chosen by the user and reflected their personal taste and, as in the case of a box like the one shown here, personal fandom.