Charismatic authority in early modern English tragedy
By: Raphael Falco.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 243
Subjects: English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600 -- History and criticism.; English drama (Tragedy) -- History and criticism.; English drama -- 17th century -- History and criticism.; Charisma (Personality trait) in literature.; Leadership in literature.; Authority in literature.
Description: "Charismatic groups form around a leader who displays extraordinary abilities in times of social distress and who is often thought to have supernatural or magical powers. Raphael Falco demonstrates that English tragedies are full of such figures. Most charisma is at first revolutionary, challenging traditional or bureaucratic forms of authority. But sooner or later groups that depend on the pure or personal charisma of a central figure begin to change, even to break down.

Tragedies often focus on this difficult process of charismatic transformation - a process, Falco argues, that is best understood not in terms of a single tragic figure but as a group experience."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-233) and index.