The Renaissance Midwife

The paper deals with the delineation of the subversiveness-ridden career of the midwife in history and with the specific circumstances under which this privileged hypostasis of womanhood undergoes major changes during the 17^th century. The main focus of the presentation is the female engagement with the public space during the Renaissance and the major impact of the emergent male empirical science - the scientific paradigm of New Science - upon it. The Magnetic Lady by Ben Jonson, an unduly neglected play, will provide a meaningful cultural illustration of this shift