The dynamics of role-playing in Jacobean tragedy
By: JoanLord Hall.
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1991
Place of publication: Basingstoke
Language: eng
Number of pages: 241
Subjects: English drama (Tragedy) -- History and criticism.; English drama -- 17th century -- History and criticism.; English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600 -- History and criticism.
Description: 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.
Notes: Includes index.