English Renaissance Drama (blackwell Guides To Literature)

English Renaissance Drama Peter Womack English Renaissance Drama BLACKWELL GUIDES TO LITERATURE Series editor: Jonathan Wordsworth This new series offers the student thorough and lively introductions to literary periods, movements, and, in some instances, authors (Shakespeare) and genres (the novel), from Anglo-Saxon to the Postmodern. Each volume is written by a leading specialist to be invitingly accessible and informative. Chapters are devoted to the coverage of cultural context, the provision of brief but detailed biographical essays on the authors concerned, critical coverage of key works, and surveys of themes and topics, together with bibliographies of selected further reading. Students new to a period of study (for example, the English Renaissance, or the Romantic period) or to a period genre (the nineteenth-century novel, Victorian poetry) will discover all they need to know to orientate and ground themselves in their studies, in volumes that are as stimulating to read as they are convenient to use. Published The English Renaissance English Renaissance Drama The Victorian Novel Twentieth-Century American Poetry Children’s Literature Gothic Andrew Hadfield Peter Womack Louis James Christopher MacGowan Peter Hunt David Punter and Glennis Byron Forthcoming Literary Theory Anglo-Saxon Literature Gregory Castle Mark C. R. Amodio English Renaissance Drama Peter Womack © 2006 by Peter Womack BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Peter Womack to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1 2006 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Womack, Peter, 1952– English Renaissance drama / Peter Womack. p. cm.—(Blackwell guides to literature) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-631-22629-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-631-22629-X (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-631-22630-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-631-22630-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. English drama—Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500–1600—History and criticism—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. English drama—17th century—History and criticism—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Renaissance—England—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title. II. Series. PR651.W66 2006 822′.309—dc22 2005030633 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Set in 11/13.5 pt Dante by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd, Hong Kong Printed and bound in Singapore by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a sustainable forestry policy, and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and elementary chlorine-free practices. Furthermore, the publisher ensures that the text paper and cover board used have met acceptable environmental accreditation standards. For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website: www.blackwellpublishing.com Contents Introduction Timeline The Set-Up The Moment Irreligious Drama Courtiers and Capitalists Actors and Writers The Stage Background Voices 1 7 15 17 21 24 34 39 47 Allegory Ceremony Drama Festivity History Love Medicine Rhetoric Romance Satire 49 54 58 63 67 71 75 79 83 88 The Writers 93 Francis Beaumont Richar