Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

“This Is A Theatre Of Assault”: Amiri Baraka’S Dutchman And A Civil Rights Othello, Jason Demeter

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

"An Improbable Fiction": How Fans Rewrite Shakespeare, Amelia R. Bitely

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

"'A Merry War': Shakespeare’S Revision Of Bandello”, Paul F. Weinhold

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

Sex And Sensibility: Shakespearean Actresses Rebel On The Page, Peggy Russo

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

From Legal Document To Monolog, Robert B. Pierce

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

A Document In Death And Madness: A Cultural And Interdisciplinary Study Of Nineteenth-Century Art Song Settings On The Death Of Opelia, Jennifer Leigh Tipton

Dissertations

In the nineteenth century the character of Ophelia transformed from a minor role in Hamlet into one of the great muses of the Romantic period. Ophelia’s rise to an archetype of feminine madness was not a result of Shakespeare’s pen alone, but of the accumulation of interpretations of her character from actresses, artists, critics, writers, musicians, and social attitudes toward women. This paper focuses on nineteenth-century interpretations of her death, specifically art song.

A brief survey of the nineteenth-century European cultural and social climate pertaining to Ophelia is included in the paper:

*Shakespeare in France and Germany

*Nineteenth-Century Actresses in …

Though This Be Madness, Yet There Is Method In’T: Using Graphic Shakespeare Texts To Create Meaningful Engagement In The High School Classroom, Eric Kallenborn

All Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis covers the attempt to successfully motivate and connect with high school students by giving them the option of reading a graphic form of Hamlet instead of the original text. This research was conducted to not only dispel the myth that comics and graphic novels are juvenile and adolescent but to also explain the benefits of such texts to educators and administrators.

For this research, 10^th graders were assigned Hamlet and were allowed to select the graphic text over the traditional text, allowing for student buy-in from the selection. Students also took part in a project that …

Underground Religion: Catholicism And Shakespeare, Kaitlyn Lyons

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Through The Eyes Of The Present: Screening The Male Homoerotics Of Shakespearean Drama In Anglophone Cinema, 1936-2011, Anthony Guy Patricia

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This is an analysis of representations of male homoeroticism in Anglophone Shakespeare film. Using the strategies made available by close reading, gay and lesbian studies, queer theory, and presentism, critical attention is directed to a corpus of fourteen movies, ranging from Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle's 1936 production ofA Midsummer Night's DreamPrivate Romeo, Alan Brown's 2011 homoerotic appropriation ofRomeo and Juliet. The overall purpose of the project is both to map and to interpret how Anglophone filmmakers have dealt with - or not dealt with, as the case may be - the male homoerotic elements Shakespeare wove into the textual …

"My Words Fly Up, My Thoughts Remain Below": Community And Penance In Early Modern English Drama, Benedict John Whalen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines the vexed relationship between Christian doctrine, practice, and community in English Renaissance drama due to the abandonment of the sacrament of auricular confession during the Protestant Reformation. I argue that many English Renaissance dramatists were sensitive to the vast ramifications of the Reformers' theological understanding of penance, particularly in its emphasis upon a sinner's ability to accomplish unmediated contrition, and to be psychologically and emotionally satisfied thereby. By desacramentalizing and interiorizing penitential practices, the Protestant understanding of penance fundamentally changed the ways in which communities dealt with sins. As this dissertation demonstrates, many of the plays from …

"Something Old And Dark Has Got Its Way": Shakespeare's Influence In The Gothic Literary Tradition, Natalie A. Hewitt

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines Shakespeare’s role as the most significant precursor to the Gothic author in Britain, suggesting that Shakespeare used the same literary conventions that Gothic writers embraced as they struggled to create a new subgenre of the novel. By borrowing from Shakespeare’s canon, these novelists aimed to persuade readers and critics that rather than undermining the novel’s emergent, still unassured status as an acceptable literary genre, the nontraditional aspects of their works paid homage to Shakespeare’s imaginative vision. Gothic novelists thereby legitimized their attempts at literary expression. Despite these efforts, Gothic writers did not instantly achieve the type of …

Generative Space: Embodiment And Identity At The Margins On The Early Modern Stage, Sallie Anglin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In "Generative Space: Embodiment and Identity at the Margins on the Early Modern Stage," I argue that the early modern stage provides a space in which emerging, marginal and unsanctioned identities can be shaped through the physical interactions between characters and their environments. Spaces that are marginalized on the stage, set apart from the main action of the play, or considered culturally or environmentally offensive, harbor figures that are not socially accepted or alloto exist legitimately outside of those spaces. This is in some ways liberating to the characters, but at the same time their identities are contingent upon the …

Othello's "Malignant Turk" And George Manwaring's "A True Discourse": The Cultural Politics Of A Textual Derivation, Imtiaz Habib

English Faculty Publications

A critique is presented of the play "Othello" by William Shakespeare, focusing on a reference from Othello's final speech to an incident in Aleppo, Syria that the author attributes to the manuscript essay "A True Discourse" by George Manwaring, a companion of English adventurer Sir Anthony Sherley. Early 17th century British history, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and Queen Elizabeth I are mentioned, as well as references in the works to Turks and the censorship of English literature.

Reputation: A Destructive Force, Srisha Kotlo '14

2012 Fall Semester

In Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, a soldier “[seeks] the bubble reputation even in the cannon’s mouth” (“Shakespeare”). Shakespeare portrays reputation as a bubble because just as bubbles are fragile and can pop at any moment, a man’s reputation is delicate and can be lost in an instant. Reputation and prestige are highly valued by characters in many stories and plays. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Cassio and Othello strive to preserve notable reputations while Iago intends to use reputation as a tool for manipulation, and as the play unfolds they get exceedingly desperate to defend their reputations. This …

The Stage Is The Court And All The Players Merely Copies: Shakespeare's Antony And Cleopatra As Propaganda, Ginnye Cubel

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

In 1603 the world as England knew it changed. After forty-five years Elizabeth I, Queen of England, and last surviving Tudor was dead and James VI of Scotland was ascending the throne. Despite several differences between the new king and the old queen, there were similarities in their patronage of the arts. Enthralled by theatrical performances, one of James' first acts as king was to offer royal patronage to William Shakespeare's theatre company and give them the title, The King's Men. But it is likely that James' love of the theatre wasn't his only reason for patronizing Shakespeare's theatre troupe. …

With This Ring, I Surrender: Politics, Religion, And Marriage In Shakespeare And Tudor England, Mara R. Berkoff

Honors College Theses

The ideas I wish to explore are the overarching themes of politics, religion, and marriage in the Turor period under the rule of King Henry VIII from 1509 to 1547. The popular opinion of the period on Henry VIII's behavior can be seen in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, and Henry VIII.

Bound To Revenge: Multiple Revenge Tragedies In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Deirdra M. Shupe

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper will examine the notion of revenge, beginning with a history of the revenge tragedy genre (including its roots in the works of Seneca) as well as how the term was used to depict retribution during the Renaissance. A brief explanation of the differences between the different versions of Hamlet and why they are relevant to revenge accompanies the historical background. Using Shakespeare s Hamlet as one of the most famous examples of the genre, this thesis also explains multiple revenge tragedies occurring in the play and the common threads that unify them into a single piece of drama …

The Field In Review: Textual Studies, Performance Criticism, And Digital Humanities, Niamh J. O'Leary

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The King's Speech: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Shakespeare's Henry Iv, Part I, Chance Sweat

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Recent scholarship has explored the “Machiavellian” actions of Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part 1 ; yet the classical rhetorical pedagogy of Renaissance Britain suggests that the speeches in the play lead to a transformation in Hal that is antithetical to the emergent understanding of Hal as a great manipulator. Falstaff uses the ruse of rhetoric instructor in order to construct a classical rhetorical argument for his own ends, and Henry IV gives a passionate yet formally adept (and classically rhetorical) plea to his son in order to incite change. An analysis of Falstaff and Henry’s arguments as well as …

Oral Narrative And Disembodied Language In Othello And Hamlet, Michael Ferut

Gateway Prize for Excellent Writing

No abstract provided.

"Sit Back Down Where You Belong, In The Corner Of My Bar With Your High Heels On": The Use Of Cross-Dressing In Order To Achieve Female Agency In Shakespeare's Transvestite Comedies, Heather Lynn Wright

MA in English Theses

In taking on their male disguises, Viola (Twelfth Night ), Rosalind (As You Like It ), and Portia (The Merchant of Venice ) are able to transcend the confines of their social roles and achieve agency and voice as both females and males. With their male disguises, they gain power and agency as lower-class males and as aristocratic females. This power correlates to the fact that they are not fully male. Their female attributes, ideas, and nature (the essence of their femininity) still come through. They are limited and marginalized as women not because of their intelligence …

Monstrous!: Actors, Audiences, Inmates, And The Politics Of Reading Shakespeare, Matt Kozusko

English and Creative Writing Faculty Publications

This essay considers the use of Shakespeare as marker of authenticity and as a therapeutic space for performers and audiences across a number of genres, from professional actors in training literature to prison inmates in radio and film documentaries. It argues that in the wake of recent academic trends—the critique of "Shakespeare" as an author figure; the privileging of the text as a source of multiple, potentially conflicting readings—Shakespeare's function as cultural capital has shifted sites, from "Shakespeare" to the playtexts themselves.

Shakespeare's Richard Ii And Henry V And Political Rebellions In The Reign Of Queen Elizabeth I, Sarah J. Scannell

Honors Scholar Theses

The purpose of this thesis will be to examine how two acts of rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I influenced Shakespeare's writing of Richard II and Henry V, as well as the performance and publication of these plays. The treasonous plots and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots in the 1580s, as well as the failed Essex Rebellion of 1601, resulted in a sensitivity towards any writings that seemed to support a coup d'état. Shakespeare, being a well-informed and fairly well-connected playwright, wrote passages in the afore mentioned plays that clearly reflect the political turmoil of the times. Thus, his plays …

Uncommon Sense In Renaissance English Literature, Eric Byville

Dissertations

My project explores the distinctive union of Senecan tragedy and Elizabethan satire in Renaissance English drama, particularly the works of John Marston and William Shakespeare. Unlike Ben Jonson, who incorporated both Senecan tragedy and Elizabethan satire in his drama but did so in different plays (Catiline, Every Man Out), Marston and Shakespeare combined the two traditions in one and the same play, such as the former's Antonio's Revenge (1600) and The Malcontent (c. 1603) and the latter's Troilus and Cressida (1601) and Timon of Athens (c. 1606). They recognized and exploited a deep compatibility between the two traditions, a compatibility …

Review Of A Brave Vessel: The True Tale Of The Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown And Inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest, Michael F. Russo

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Rules Of Misrule, Meghan Forgione

Honors Scholar Theses

The project seeks to offer an alternative interpretation of sport culture in Renaissance England with respect to theater and football. I seek to show how sport culture, although seemingly threatening to the state, actually reinforces the monarchy due to its ability to provide the people with a controlled social release. The prose explores the function of carnival in sport culture and the way in which the two are manifested in football and theater in the Renaissance.

Racial Impersonation On The Elizabethan Stage: The Case Of Shakespeare Playing Aaron, Imtiaz Habib

English Faculty Publications

The article focuses on the implications of playwright William Shakespeare performing racial roles himself, such as Aaron in "Titus Andronicus." Several plays are discussed, including "Titus Andronicus," "The Merchant of Venice," and "Othello." The SHAXICON database, which compiles the text of Shakespeare's plays, is the primary source of evidence to suggest Shakespeare acted in his plays. Information about race relations in Great Britain's society during Shakespeare's time is also given.

Shakespeare Under Arrest: The Construction And Idea Of The Constable In Loves Labour's Lost, Much Ado About Nothing And Measure For Measure, Robert T. Mcgovern

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

"Shakespeare Under Arrest: The Construction and Idea of the Constable in Love Labour's Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, and Measure for Measure"' examines the comedic constables, Dull, Dogberry and Elbow respectively. The constables are constructed from the historical frame work that formed and informed their office. In order to properly construct the comedic constables that appear in these comedies. William Shakespeare had to have a historical frame in order to place them in the proper historical framework before his Elizabethan audiences. This work uses such sources as T.A. Critchley's, A History of Police in England and Wales and Joan R. …

Public Justice And Private Mercy In Measure For Measure, Stacy Magedanz

Library Faculty Publications & Presentations

As the only one of Shakespeare’s plays to carry a biblical title, Measure for Measure draws on an explicitly Christian body of thought about law, mercy, justice, and the right exercise of authority. The pervasive influence of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7) over Measure for Measure’s action has led many critics to interpret the play as a straightforward Christian allegory where Mercy pleads before God in a grand Last Judgment.1 Another group, perhaps in reaction, has found in the play a subversion of the expected outcomes of justice, or even a radical subversion of all authority.2 During the …

To Be Or Not To Be: A Portrayal Of William Shakespeare In Children's Literature, Kathy S. Grout

Graduate Research Papers

This study analyzed how accurately authors of historical fiction portray William Shakespeare, the man and events of his life. An attempt was made to locate 25 books that contained Shakespeare as a character or dealt with events from his life. Twenty-two books were chosen that were written for children, young adults and adults with recommendations for young adults. Each book was read, summarized, reread and examined by completing a content analysis checklist designed to evaluate the portrayal of William Shakespeare and events of his life. Four hypotheses relating to known facts about Shakespeare's life, the fictionalization of his character, the …