Meaning in Comedy: Studies in Elizabethan Romantic ComedyThe festive Elizabethan comedies constitute a unique and dazzling drama, yet they have seldom been studied as a genre, and, except for Shakespeare's plays, they are seldom interpreted. Although successive audiences have found these works delightful, critics at times regard them as rather trivial. Professor Weld's book, which is based upon a challenging new view of sixteenth-century dramaturgy, results in a new understanding of the plays, and reveals in them a surprising profundity. These interludes and moralities are seen, not as crude transitional dramas of simplistic didacticism and confused technique, but as theatrically vital plays which are both technically sophisticated and semantically complex. The author defines the dramatic meaning he seeks as the Renaissance audience's understanding of the play, and offers an operational definition of that audience in terms of its knowledge and training. He explores the late medieval use of dramatic metaphor as a device for conveying meaning and shows how during the sixteenth century this device gave rise to a complex linguistic tradition, one from which the late Elizabethan and Jacobean genres developed. Not the least of these genres is "romantic comedy," a concept that Professor Weld expands considerably. Using common ideas of the time as conceptual tools for interpretation, he demonstrates a generic grouping which includes plays as superficially diverse as Lyly's Mother Bombie, Greene's Friar Bacon, and The Taming of the Shrew. They are linked by certain dramatic metaphors, by philosophical assumptions, and by their common concern to find a modus vivendi with the "absurd flesh." Our understanding of these romantic comedies has been blurred by the accumulated scholarly traditions and changing acting styles of the last 350 years. In order to discover a clear view of this dramatic form as it was understood by the Elizabethan audience, Professor Weld (who himself has had acting and directing experience) takes factors into account such as the playwrights' actual directions for performance (when such can be found), in order to study the communication of meaning from the Elizabethan playwright to his contemporary and varied audience. While to us, for instance, Hamlet might exemplify the Oedipus Complex and The Comedy of Errors a search for identity and the failure of communication, such "meanings" are by no means those assumed by the intelligent and educated Elizabethan playgoer. In Part I Professor Weld examines the dramatic traditions with which the audiences of Lyly, Greene, and Shakespeare had been familiar, while in Part II he interprets the comedies themselves. Since all of the dramatic kinds used much the same techniques and were concerned with many of the same themes, the book is also an introduction to the understanding of tragedy, history, and—especially—dramatic satire. |
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... actor , director , critic , and best of companions . My greatest debt is to Bernard Huppé . My approach to late medieval and early Elizabethan drama was largely inspired by his lectures on Chaucer and Old English and by the approach to ...
... actor , director , critic , and best of companions . My greatest debt is to Bernard Huppé . My approach to late medieval and early Elizabethan drama was largely inspired by his lectures on Chaucer and Old English and by the approach to ...
Page 11
... actors whose appearance , costumes , and familiarity to the spectators may be quite different from production to pro- duction . We speak of the director's or the actors ' " interpreta- tion " of a play , or of the text as a musical ...
... actors whose appearance , costumes , and familiarity to the spectators may be quite different from production to pro- duction . We speak of the director's or the actors ' " interpreta- tion " of a play , or of the text as a musical ...
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... actors were manipulated by the story , the costumes they wore , the properties they held , all communicated the au- thor's message in visual terms . It will be argued later that the failure to " see " the moralities largely accounts ...
... actors were manipulated by the story , the costumes they wore , the properties they held , all communicated the au- thor's message in visual terms . It will be argued later that the failure to " see " the moralities largely accounts ...
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... actor a whip . V. The organization of the book requires a word of explanation . Part I , the first three chapters , is concerned with the dramatic tradi- tion in which the audiences of Lyly , Greene , and of Shake- speare's early plays ...
... actor a whip . V. The organization of the book requires a word of explanation . Part I , the first three chapters , is concerned with the dramatic tradi- tion in which the audiences of Lyly , Greene , and of Shake- speare's early plays ...
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Contents
21 | |
Dramatic Metaphor in Moralities and Other Entertainment | 56 |
Macrocosm and Microcosm | 76 |
John Lyly | 101 |
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay | 136 |
The Taming of the Shrew | 169 |
A Midsummer Nights Dream | 191 |
The Merchant of Venice | 207 |
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action actor Aegeon Alexander allegory Antipholus Antonio appearance audience avarice Bassanio bliss Castle of Perseverance characters Christian clever Comedy of Errors comic contrast corruption course court Cynthia's Revels deceived defined Devil Diogenes dramatic metaphor dream earthly Edward Elizabethan emphasizes Endymion father folly fool foolish Fortune Friar Bacon funny furthermore Gallathea harmony hath Hermia Hymenaei implies instance interpretation John Lyly Jonson justice kind Lacy Ladies of London Lord lovers Lucentio Ludus Coventriae lust Lyly Lyly's man's Mankind masque meaning mercy metaphor Midsummer Night's Dream morality plays Moros obviously passion personifications Petruchio playwright pleasure plot Portia present Pride Prince public theater reason Respublica ridiculous rogues romantic comedy Saccio satire scene seems sense servant Shakespeare Shylock significance social sort spectators stage suggest symbol tenor theater theatrical theme things thou Three Ladies Tide Tarrieth tion tragedy true vehicle vices virtue Wit and Science young