Abstract

The title character of John Ford's masterpiece "Perkin Warbeck" suffers from an overwhelming concern with proving the rightfulness of his claim upon the British throne. What this social climbing, self-made salesman needs, therefore, is a good woman; "good" not in the sense of obedient, but economically and politically viable, powerfully connected to a social status to which Perkin has no other legitimate access. The answer to Perkin's needs is Katherine Gordon, a princess and royal relative of James IV of Scotland. Employing Gayle Rubin's anthropological trafficking theories, this article interrogates a new approach to the traffic in women that will reveal, with specific reference to "Perkin Warbeck", the center of power Katherine creates in her successful empowerment of the domestic sphere, and one to which she allows Perkin access. It is a delicious irony, therefore, that this discussion of necessary subsumption pertains to a man, engrossed with the idea of kingship, and not to the indispensable woman upon whom he so heavily relies.