The Unhappy Favourite; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682) de John Banks (c. 1650?-1706) : vers le ׅ« héros stupide » ?
In John Banks’s The Unhappy Favourite ; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682), a « she-tragedy », the representation of the earl of Essex bears the hallmark of late XVIIth-century English drama. This character, surrounded by the three dominant female figures of Queen Elizabeth, the countess of Notti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institut du Monde Anglophone
2009-10-01
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| Series: | Etudes Epistémè |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/685 |
| _version_ | 1818930757440110592 |
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| author | Gilles Bertheau |
| author_facet | Gilles Bertheau |
| author_sort | Gilles Bertheau |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In John Banks’s The Unhappy Favourite ; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682), a « she-tragedy », the representation of the earl of Essex bears the hallmark of late XVIIth-century English drama. This character, surrounded by the three dominant female figures of Queen Elizabeth, the countess of Nottingham and the countess of Rutland, has to keep in the background. Rather than presenting Essex as an idealized chivalric hero, Banks chooses to analyze the tensions experienced by the three women who, like the Fates, determine the destiny of a man who is linked to them by the same feeling of love (impossible, unrequited or requited). He thus accentuates what La Calprenède had already emphasized in his 1639 play as well as the other French playwrights (Thomas Corneille and Claude Boyer) : the expression of sentiments, even of pathos, in other words the tyranny of passions. It is therefore only natural that it is the character of the queen who feels this conflict between duty and love most violently. She is confronted with the choice of reason of State and has to display a perfect self-control to keep her authority. Essex cannot help but go through events that he cannot control ; his heroism is that of a victim. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T04:05:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4c20def455e64b29ba67aec3402d3da6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1634-0450 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T04:05:46Z |
| publishDate | 2009-10-01 |
| publisher | Institut du Monde Anglophone |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Etudes Epistémè |
| spelling | doaj.art-4c20def455e64b29ba67aec3402d3da62022-12-21T19:54:03ZengInstitut du Monde AnglophoneEtudes Epistémè1634-04502009-10-011610.4000/episteme.685The Unhappy Favourite; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682) de John Banks (c. 1650?-1706) : vers le ׅ« héros stupide » ?Gilles BertheauIn John Banks’s The Unhappy Favourite ; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682), a « she-tragedy », the representation of the earl of Essex bears the hallmark of late XVIIth-century English drama. This character, surrounded by the three dominant female figures of Queen Elizabeth, the countess of Nottingham and the countess of Rutland, has to keep in the background. Rather than presenting Essex as an idealized chivalric hero, Banks chooses to analyze the tensions experienced by the three women who, like the Fates, determine the destiny of a man who is linked to them by the same feeling of love (impossible, unrequited or requited). He thus accentuates what La Calprenède had already emphasized in his 1639 play as well as the other French playwrights (Thomas Corneille and Claude Boyer) : the expression of sentiments, even of pathos, in other words the tyranny of passions. It is therefore only natural that it is the character of the queen who feels this conflict between duty and love most violently. She is confronted with the choice of reason of State and has to display a perfect self-control to keep her authority. Essex cannot help but go through events that he cannot control ; his heroism is that of a victim.http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/685 |
| spellingShingle | Gilles Bertheau The Unhappy Favourite; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682) de John Banks (c. 1650?-1706) : vers le ׅ« héros stupide » ? Etudes Epistémè |
| title | The Unhappy Favourite; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682) de John Banks (c. 1650?-1706) : vers le ׅ« héros stupide » ? |
| title_full | The Unhappy Favourite; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682) de John Banks (c. 1650?-1706) : vers le ׅ« héros stupide » ? |
| title_fullStr | The Unhappy Favourite; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682) de John Banks (c. 1650?-1706) : vers le ׅ« héros stupide » ? |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Unhappy Favourite; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682) de John Banks (c. 1650?-1706) : vers le ׅ« héros stupide » ? |
| title_short | The Unhappy Favourite; Or the Earl of Essex a Tragedy (1682) de John Banks (c. 1650?-1706) : vers le ׅ« héros stupide » ? |
| title_sort | unhappy favourite or the earl of essex a tragedy 1682 de john banks c 1650 1706 vers le ׅ heros stupide |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/685 |
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