Research Catalog
Illegitimate power : bastards in Renaissance drama
- Title
- Illegitimate power : bastards in Renaissance drama / Alison Findlay.
- Author
- Findlay, Alison, 1963-
- Publication
- Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York, NY, USA : Distributed exclusively in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press, ©1994.
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book/Text | Use in library | PR658.I43 F56 1994 | Off-site |
Details
- Description
- 282 pages; 23 cm
- Summary
- In Renaissance drama, the bastard is an extraordinarily powerful and disruptive figure. We have only to think of Caliban or of Edmund to realise the challenge presented by the illegitimate child. Drawing on a wide range of play texts, Alison Findlay shows how illegitimacy encoded and threatened to deconstruct some of the basic tenets of patriarchal rule. She considers bastards as indicators and instigators of crisis in early modern England, reading them in relation to witchcraft, spiritual insecurities and social unrest in family and State.
- The characters discussed range from demi-devils, unnatural villains and clowns to outstandingly heroic or virtuous types who challenge officially sanctioned ideas of illegitimacy. The final chapter of the book considers bastards in performance; their relationship with theatre spaces and audiences. Illegitimate voices, Findlay argues, can bring about the death of the author/father and open the text as a piece of theatre, challenging accepted notions of authority.
- Subject
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 > Knowledge and learning
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
- 1500-1699
- English drama > Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600 > History and criticism
- Illegitimacy in literature
- Politics and literature > Great Britain > History > 16th century
- Politics and literature > Great Britain > History > 17th century
- English drama > 17th century > History and criticism
- Political plays, English > History and criticism
- Domestic drama, English > History and criticism
- Inheritance and succession in literature
- Power (Social sciences) in literature
- Fathers and sons in literature
- Kings and rulers in literature
- Patriarchy in literature
- Monarchy in literature
- Renaissance > England
- Learning and scholarship
- Domestic drama, English
- English drama
- English drama > Early modern and Elizabethan
- Fathers and sons in literature
- Illegitimacy in literature
- Inheritance and succession in literature
- Kings and rulers in literature
- Monarchy in literature
- Patriarchy in literature
- Political plays, English
- Politics and literature
- Power (Social sciences) in literature
- Renaissance
- Engels
- Toneelstukken
- Buitenechtelijke kinderen
- England
- Great Britain
- Genre/Form
- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
- History
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Contents
- 1. 'A great kindred in the kingdome': Illegitimacy in Renaissance England -- 2. Bastardy and evil -- 3. Unnatural children -- 4. Natural children -- 5. Heroic bastards -- 6. Bastards and theatre -- Appendix: Plays with bastard characters, 1588-1652.
- ISBN
- 0719039916
- 9780719039911
- LCCN
- 93050608
- OCLC
- ocm29667879
- 29667879
- SCSB-14170230
- Owning Institutions
- Princeton University Library