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"Be-Holde The First Acte Of This Tragedy" : Generic Symbiosis And Cross-Pollination In Jacobean Drama And The Early Modern Prose Novella, Karen Ann Zyck Galbraith

Dissertations (1934 -)

The role of the early modern novella in the formation of Jacobean drama has been consistently understated in literary criticism. Source study and independent criticism of Elizabethan prose fiction, the two most common areas in which these novellas are discussed, are as quick to reference these works as they are to dismiss them. Using a primarily intertextual lens, it is the purpose of this dissertation to expose the rich relationship between early modern English, Italian, and Spanish novellas and their Jacobean dramatic counterparts. Specifically, my dissertation seeks to examine the deep thematic influences of the early modern novella on Jacobean …

How Should I Act?: Shakespeare And The Theatrical Code Of Conduct, Ann E. Garner

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the intersection of English Renaissance drama and conduct literature. Current scholarship on this intersection usually interprets plays as illustrations of cultural behavioral norms who find their model and justification in courtly norms. In this dissertation, I argue that plays present behavioral norms that emerge from this nascent profession and that were thus influenced by this profession and the concerns of the people who worked in it, rather than by the court. To do so, I examine three behavioral norms that were important to courtiers, specifically Disguise, Moderation and Wit through the work of the English Renaissance theater’s …

Playing Devil's Advocate: The Attractive Shakespearean Villain, Jonathan Montgomery Green

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The characters of William Shakespeare have spawned countless words of critical interpretation inspired by the playwright's aptitude for fashioning intricate and conflicted figures. As a master character craftsman, Shakespeare is consistent in creating fascinatingly deep characters, and many of them have even gone so far as to generate entire literary archetypes. From the contemplative Prince Hamlet to the despicable yet charming John Falstaff, Shakespeare's characters remain eternal representatives of what any good character should be: interesting, provocative, and complicated.

However, among the playwright's most hypnotic figures are his villains, those characters whom audiences should by all counts detest but cannot …

The Crew / Of Common Playwrights: Collaboration And Authorial Community In The Early Modern Theater, Lacey Ann Conley

Dissertations

As a consequence of the development of playwriting into an established profession in early modern London, a central paradox emerged: in order to secure a place within this authorial community, and also a place for the profession itself, playwrights needed to work toward the often contradictory goals of self-promotion and of validation of the profession at large. I confront this paradox by examining details about the backgrounds and careers of the twenty-nine professional playwrights working in the years 1580-1625. I use this information to categorize each author's interest and investment in the development of the profession of dramatist by defining …