Love, sonnets and songs. Mary Wroth's prose novel, The Countess of Mountgomeries Urania, is comparable to her uncle, Sir Philip Sidney's, 1593 edition The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. Wroth was no doubt following his uncle's example by trying to emulate Astrophil and Stella. Astrophil and Stella and Pamphilia to Amphilantus are both about love and both have more than one hundred sonnets and songs. After rereading both pieces, I was struck not by their similarities but by their differences. For example, Stella is assertive and Pamphilia is passive. Stella is truly tied to her love for Astrophil while Pamphilia cannot free herself from the love she feels for Amphilantus. Sidney creates a feminine beauty who maintains her voice and speaks, while Wroth allows his woman to remain inactive and vulnerable. However, Wroth no longer allows the female to be the object. It gives voice to the female and now she is the speaking subject. Pamphilia remains inactive and dissatisfied but very patient. A good question for the reader to ask is: Why wouldn't Wroth establish a strong female speaking subject like the one he was trying to imitate? Wroth was the first writer in England to publish a romance and sonnet sequence. She wasn't at all conservative or cared about what people thought of her, which was proven by the antics in her personal life. So why not establish the same character/speaking voice as the woman in her prose? I would now like to examine the similarities and differences between Stella and Pamphilia. First, Philip Sidney and his female character Stella. Stella has a voice and speaks, however she speaks in the songs and not in the sonnets themselves. We see in the first two lines of each stanza of the Eleventh Canto, Stella speaking and Astrophile responding to her. Who is it that speaks this dark night under my window? He is one who from their sight Being (ah) exiled, disdains all other vulgar light. Since she is not allowed a sonnet, the view that women are not allowed a voice has some truth. Another point of view is the way women are viewed. Women are seen by their physical aspects. For example, in sonnet 7, the speaker states: When Nature does her chief work, Star's eyes Black in color because wrapped she radiates so bright?