UID:
almahu_9947415302002882
Format:
1 online resource (x, 356 pages) :
,
digital, PDF file(s).
ISBN:
9780511553189 (ebook)
Content:
This book relates Shakespeare's comedies to a broad European background. At the beginning and again at the end of his career, Shakespeare was attracted by a tradition of stage romances which can be traced back to Chaucer's time. But the main shaping behind his comedies came from the classical tradition. Mr Salingar therefore examines the underlying theme of 'errors' in Greek and Roman comedies and, taking three Italian comedies famous in the sixteenth century as examples, he then reveals how the Italian Renaissance revived the classical tradition, and what effect this revival had on Shakespeare the Elizabethan playwright and discusses such topics as the device of the play within a play and Shakespeare's choice of Italian short stories as plot material. This book shows how Shakespeare changed the motifs he took over from previous traditions of comedy and highlights the innovations he introduced, as an actor-dramatist writing in the first period of commercial theatre in Europe.
Note:
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
,
Part one: the unfaithful mirror -- Comedy as celebration -- Character and plot -- Part two: medieval stage romances -- Early Elizabethan romances -- Medieval stage heroines -- Egeon and Apollonius -- Survivals of medieval staging -- Part three: 'errors' and deceit in classical comedy -- The trickster in classical comedy -- The trickster, continued -- Part four: Fortune in classical comedy -- The wheel of fortune -- Fortune as trickster -- Part five: Shakespeare and Italian comedy -- Three Italian comedies -- Double plots in Shakespeare -- Part six: An Elizabethan playwright -- The player in the play -- Marriages and magistrates.
Additional Edition:
Print version: ISBN 9780521203845
Language:
English
URL:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511553189
