Seizures of the Will in Early Modern English Drama

An analysis of Renaissance plays in the context of social rank, gender, kinship, and service relationships.

Frank Whigham (Author)

9780521564496, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 January 1996

316 pages
22.7 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.453 kg

"Theoretical grounding, interest in material life, entertaining allusions--these qualities coupled with Whigham's generous yet incisive method make Seizures a dive that brings up some true treasures." Ann C. Christensen, Jrnl Of English & Germanic Philology

In Seizures of the Will in Early Modern English Drama Frank Whigham combines an analysis of English Renaissance plays with an enriched sense of their social surroundings. He traces the violent gestures of social self-construction that animate many such plays, and the ways in which drama interacts with the conflict-ridden discourses of social, rank, gender, kinship, and service relationships. In Whigham's view, The Spanish Tragedy initiates the 'matter of court,' a complex and marauding discourse of gender warfare and master-servant manipulations; Arden of Faversham explores linked redefinitions of land, service, and marriage in county culture; The Miseries of Enforced Marriage and A Yorkshire Tragedy present a powerful critique of the traditional imperialism of kinship in northern England; and The Duchess of Malfi explores metaphors of erotic transgression.

Introduction
1. Forcing divorce in The Spanish Tragedy
2. Hunger and pain in Arden of Faversham
3. The ideology of prodigality in The Miseries of an Enforced Marriage, and A Yorkshire Tragedy
4. Sexual and social mobility in The Duchess of Malfi
Afterword.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG]