A Study of Elizabethan and Jacobean Tragedy

This study combines a consideration of the general issues affecting Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedy with particular comment on plays.

T. B. Tomlinson (Author)

9780521148276, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 February 2011

302 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.7 cm, 0.39 kg

Originally published in 1964, this study combines a consideration of the general issues affecting Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedy with particular comment on plays from the period. Through the careful analysis of plays, as opposed to the illustration of abstract themes with isolated passages, a well-rounded examination of theatrical developments in the period is developed. Maintaining that the meaning of a play, and consequently its relationship with the surrounding historical context, is based on the quality of the dramatist's insight, the book avoids an excessive concentration on scholarly 'background'. This is a fascinating text that will be of value to anyone with an interest in English Renaissance drama.

Preface
Part I. Elizabethan Tragedy: 1. The Elizabethan tragic world
2. Shakespearean tragedy
3. Energy versus control: Marlowe
4. The morality of revenge: Kyd and Marlowe
Part II. Jacobean Tragedy: 5. The morality of revenge: Tourneur's critics
6. The morality of revenge: The Revenger's Tragedy
7. Websterian tragedy: The Duchess of Malfi
8. Naturalistic comedy and tragedy: A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and Women Beware Women
9. Poetic Naturalism: The Changeling
Part III. The Decadence: 10. Decadence and tragi-comedy: Marston and Webster
11. Jacobean compromise: Beaumont and Fletcher's tragi-comedy
12. Decadence: the hollowness of Chapman and Ford
Conclusion: drama and poetry
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]