The Dynamics of Role-playing in Jacobean TragedyMacmillan, 1991 - 241 pages Jacobean actors fascinated audiences with their convincingly mimetic performances; often they appeared to assume the identities of the fictional characters they impersonated. A similar dynamic emerges in several tragedies of the period, where dramatic characters are frequently changed--for better or worse--by the roles they adopt within the play illusion. This study discusses how certain plays of Jonson and Middleton reveal the destructive consequences of assuming new personae; how three of Shakespeare's tragedies explore the ambivalent results of characters' experimentation with roles; and how Webster and Ford treat role-playing (including ceremonial behavior) creatively, as a vehicle for expressing and consolidating the dramatic self. |
Contents
Revenge Tragedy | 23 |
Tragicomedy and Tragedy | 49 |
Middletons | 72 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
action actor Altofront Antony and Cleopatra Antony's argues audience Bassanes Beatrice Beatrice's become behaviour Ben Jonson Bianca Bosola Bracciano Broken Heart Calantha Celia Changeling character comedy comic creative critics death decorum disguise Drama dramatist Duchess of Malfi duke Edgar Elizabethan emotional Essays Ferdinand final Flamineo Flores Ford's genuine Hamlet Hippolito histrionic human identity individual Isabella Ithocles Jacobean tragedy John Webster Jonson King Lear Leantio Livia London lover Lussurioso M. C. Bradbrook madness Malcontent Malevole Marston mask masque metadramatic Middleton mimetic Montaigne Montaigne's moral Mosca murder nature Orgilus passion Penthea performance persona Piato play play-acting play's present protagonist protean providence shaper reminds Renaissance Revels revenger Revenger's Tragedy role role-playing Roman scene sense sequence sexual Shakespeare shape social speech stage stoic stoicism stresses suggests theatre theatrical Thomas Middleton thou tragic transformation Vindice Vindice's Vittoria Volpone Volpone's White Devil woman Women Beware Women
References to this book
Shakespeare’s Imagined Persons: The Psychology of Role-Playing and Acting P. Murray No preview available - 1996 |