Transgressive Language in Medieval English Drama
By: Lynn Forest-Hill
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 224
ISBN-13: 9781315195728
Subjects: English drama; History and criticism; English language; Discourse analysis; Literature and society; History; Language and culture; Literary Discourse analysis; Invective in literature; Théâtre anglais; Histoire et critique; Anglais (Langue); Analyse du discours; Discours littéraire; Invectives dans la littérature; Literary criticism
Description: "This title was first published in 2000: Insults, abuse, oaths, scatological and bawdy language - these form the subject of Lynn Forest-Hill's study on "bad" language in the late Middle Ages. She demonstrates how, in mediaeval mystery plays and morality plays, dramatists used outrageous language with great sophistication and subtlety to create characterizations and define characters' moral status, to reflect on social conditions, to condemn social evils, and to comment upon sensitive cultural, political and religious topics of the 16th century. The author begins by defining what constitutes sinful or transgressive language in the later mediaeval period, and establishes its moral significance. She then illustrates how the moral significance of language is used in drama to define the spiritual and social status of characters, and introduces the concept of sinful language as a sign of spiritual change. In later chapters the book explores the use of "bad" language in mystery and morality plays, focusing specifically on Skelton's "Magnyfycence", Heywood's "The Play of the Weather", and Bale's "King Johan". The study shows the extent to which the moral significance of language in drama shifted during the 16th century under pressure from cultural and political change, paving the way for less morally rigorous and more socially sensitive definitions of "bad" language."--Provided by publisher.
Table of contents: title: Chapter Introduction  -- Lynn Forest-Hill; title: chapter 1 Language law and drama  -- Lynn Forest-Hill; title: chapter 2 Transgressive language and characterization  -- Lynn Forest-Hill; title: chapter 3 Social comment, religious dissent, and audience response in the biblical plays  -- Lynn Forest-Hill; title: chapter 4 Transgressive language in fifteenth-century morality plays  -- Lynn Forest-Hill; title: chapter 5 Magnyfycence: signs of change in the sixteenth century  -- Lynn Forest-Hill; title: chapter 6 The Play of the Wether: entertainment and religious anxiety  -- Lynn Forest-Hill; title: chapter 7 King Johan: the language of virtue and reformation -- Lynn Forest-Hill.