Shakespeare's Medieval Craft , livre ebook

277

pages

English

Ebooks

2014

Écrit par
A. Schreyer Kurt

Publié par
Cornell University Press

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277

pages

English

Ebook

2014

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Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

01 août 2014

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780801455100

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

In Shakespeare's Medieval Craft, Kurt A. Schreyer explores the relationship between Shakespeare's plays and a tradition of late medieval English biblical drama known as mystery plays. Scholars of English theater have long debated Shakespeare's connection to the mystery play tradition, but Schreyer provides new perspective on the subject by focusing on the Chester Banns, a sixteenth-century proclamation announcing the annual performance of that city's cycle of mystery plays. Through close study of the Banns, Schreyer demonstrates the central importance of medieval stage objects-as vital and direct agents and not merely as precursors-to the Shakespearean stage.As Schreyer shows, the Chester Banns serve as a paradigm for how Shakespeare's theater might have reflected on and incorporated the mystery play tradition, yet distinguished itself from it. For instance, he demonstrates that certain material features of Shakespeare's stage-including the ass's head of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the theatrical space of Purgatory in Hamlet, and the knocking at the gate in the Porter scene of Macbeth-were in fact remnants of the earlier mysteries transformed to meet the exigencies of the commercial London playhouses. Schreyer argues that the ongoing agency of supposedly superseded theatrical objects and practices reveal how the mystery plays shaped dramatic production long after their demise. At the same time, these medieval traditions help to reposition Shakespeare as more than a writer of plays; he was a play-wright, a dramatic artisan who forged new theatrical works by fitting poetry to the material remnants of an older dramatic tradition.

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Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

01 août 2014

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780801455100

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

 SHAKESPEARE’S MEDIEVAL CRAFT

’SRESPSAEAHEK MEDIEVAL CRAFT n Remnant s of t he Mys t er i eso n t he Lo ndo n Sta ge

Ku r t A . S c h r e y e r

CORNELLUNIVERSITYPRESSIthacaandLondon

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in anyformwithoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.Forinformation,addressCornellUniversityPress, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2014 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication DataSchreyer, Kurt A., author. Shakespeare’s medieval craft : remnants of the mysteries on the London stage / Kurt A. Schreyer. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780801452901 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Mysteries and miracleplays, English—History and criticism. 2. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Sources. 3. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. PR2953.M54S37 2014 822'.0516—dc23 2014004188 CornellUniversityPressstrivestouseenvironmentallyresponsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possibleinthepublishingofitsbooks.Suchmaterialsinclude vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papersthatarerecycled,totallychlorinefree,orpartlycomposed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Jacket illustration: Sandro Botticelli,Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Medallion, c. 1485. Private collection. Reproduced with permission.

and for KimFor my parents,

 Co nt e nt s

ListofIllustrationsix Acknowledgmentsxi NoteontheTextxiii Abbreviationsxv

Introduction1 1. Toward a Renaissance Culture ofMedievalArtifacts12 2. The Chester Banns: A SixteenthCentury Perspective on the Mysteries43 3. Balaam to Bottom: A SixteenthCentury Translation73 4. “Then Is Doomsday Near”:Hamlet,theLast Judgment,and thePlace of Purgatory104 5. “Here’s a Knocking Indeed!”MacbethandtheHarrowing of Hell135 BannsEpilogue: Riding the beyondShakespeare162

Notes179 Bibliography235 Index251

 I l lu s t r at i o n s

1. Hans Holbein the Younger,Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve ( The Ambassadors),1533.2. Sandro Botticelli,Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Medallion,c. 1485.3. Randle Holme’s marginalia in the Chester “Early” Banns, detail.4. Randle Holme’s marginalia in the Chester “Early” Banns, detail.5. Lucas Cranach the Elder, the “Popish Asse,” from Melanchthon and Luther,Of two vvoonderful popish monsters(London, 1579).6. Gilbert Hole, title page engraving,Workes of Benjamin Jonson(London, 1616).7. Gilbert Hole,plaustrumdetail, title page engraving, Workes of Benjamin Jonson(London, 1616).8.Doomsday,from Thomas Fisher,A Series of Ancient Allegorical, Historical, and Legendary Paintings . . . on the Walls of the Chapel of Trinity, at Stratford upon Avon(1807).9. Stage trapdoor, detail from the title page of Nathanael Richards,The tragedy of Messallina the Roman emperesse . . .(London, 1640).

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