Illegitimate power
Subtitle: bastards in Renaissance drama
By: Alison Findlay.
Publisher: Manchester University Press; Distributed exclusively in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Manchester; New York; New York, NY, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 282
Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Characters -- Illegitimate children; 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
Description: 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [258]-275) and index.