Drama And The Succession To The Crown, 15611633 (studies In Performance And Early Modern Drama)
by Lisa Hopkins /
2011 / English / PDF
15.5 MB Download
The succession to the throne, Lisa Hopkins argues here, was a
burning topic not only in the final years of Elizabeth but well
into the 1630s, with continuing questions about how James' two
kingdoms might be ruled after his death. Because the issue, with
its attendant constitutional questions, was so politically
sensitive, Hopkins contends that drama, with its riddled
identities, oblique relationship to reality, and inherent blurring
of the extent to which the situation it dramatizes is indicative or
particular, offered a crucial forum for the discussion. Hopkins
analyzes some of the ways in which the dramatic works of the time -
by Marlowe, Shakespeare, Webster and Ford among others - reflect,
negotiate and dream the issue of the succession to the throne.
The succession to the throne, Lisa Hopkins argues here, was a
burning topic not only in the final years of Elizabeth but well
into the 1630s, with continuing questions about how James' two
kingdoms might be ruled after his death. Because the issue, with
its attendant constitutional questions, was so politically
sensitive, Hopkins contends that drama, with its riddled
identities, oblique relationship to reality, and inherent blurring
of the extent to which the situation it dramatizes is indicative or
particular, offered a crucial forum for the discussion. Hopkins
analyzes some of the ways in which the dramatic works of the time -
by Marlowe, Shakespeare, Webster and Ford among others - reflect,
negotiate and dream the issue of the succession to the throne.