Performing the Arthurian legend in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England c. 1575-1610
<p>This thesis offers a critical analysis of various forms of Arthurian “play” performed across a spectrum of dramatic and quasi-dramatic entertainments between 1575 and 1610, and of the texts that record and reimagine them. By looking at the historical convergence of aesthetic forms, textual...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2022
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| _version_ | 1797109052787916800 |
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| author | Brown, F |
| author2 | Ashe, L |
| author_facet | Ashe, L Brown, F |
| author_sort | Brown, F |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>This thesis offers a critical analysis of various forms of Arthurian “play” performed across a spectrum of dramatic and quasi-dramatic entertainments between 1575 and 1610, and of the texts that record and reimagine them. By looking at the historical convergence of aesthetic forms, textual artifacts, social practices, and the human actors involved, this thesis emphasises the variety of groups and individuals engaged with the legend and the different uses to which it was put. Rather than a period characterised either by the absence or atrophy of the legend, attending to the transmission of performed Arthuriana transforms our conception of the genres, people, and institutions that we consider part of Arthurian literary history, and provides us with a fuller view of the range and valence of cultural reference in play during the period.</p>
<p>This thesis finds no single version of the Arthurian legend and no one Arthur. Rather, by scrutinizing progress entertainments, archery pageants, Inns of Court plays, tournament shows, and court masques, it reveals how performance cultures in this period shaped and were shaped by the Arthurian legend. Allegory and satire dislocate Arthurian figures from the compendious narratives of earlier centuries and reimagine them through classical mythology. The traditional associations of Arthur’s Round Table fellowship with individual aristocratic and amorous exploits are repurposed to perform corporate, civic virtue. Translation and imitation are deployed in pseudo-classical tragedy to reimagine Arthur’s fall as a cultural conquest. Tournament shows parallel the dangers and wonders of privateering with those of romance and so expand the bounds of chivalry. And Ben Jonson adapts the legend’s Elizabethan associations for a new reign. These experimental entertainments evidence an ongoing creative investment in King Arthur, and provide a new narrative about the negotiation of political and poetic authority in early modern England.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:36:40Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:955b4915-9642-4f56-891d-7c6741fef4b9 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:36:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:955b4915-9642-4f56-891d-7c6741fef4b92023-03-13T09:04:29ZPerforming the Arthurian legend in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England c. 1575-1610Thesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:955b4915-9642-4f56-891d-7c6741fef4b9Arthurian LiteratureEarly Modern DramaEnglishHyrax Deposit2022Brown, FAshe, LKewes, P<p>This thesis offers a critical analysis of various forms of Arthurian “play” performed across a spectrum of dramatic and quasi-dramatic entertainments between 1575 and 1610, and of the texts that record and reimagine them. By looking at the historical convergence of aesthetic forms, textual artifacts, social practices, and the human actors involved, this thesis emphasises the variety of groups and individuals engaged with the legend and the different uses to which it was put. Rather than a period characterised either by the absence or atrophy of the legend, attending to the transmission of performed Arthuriana transforms our conception of the genres, people, and institutions that we consider part of Arthurian literary history, and provides us with a fuller view of the range and valence of cultural reference in play during the period.</p> <p>This thesis finds no single version of the Arthurian legend and no one Arthur. Rather, by scrutinizing progress entertainments, archery pageants, Inns of Court plays, tournament shows, and court masques, it reveals how performance cultures in this period shaped and were shaped by the Arthurian legend. Allegory and satire dislocate Arthurian figures from the compendious narratives of earlier centuries and reimagine them through classical mythology. The traditional associations of Arthur’s Round Table fellowship with individual aristocratic and amorous exploits are repurposed to perform corporate, civic virtue. Translation and imitation are deployed in pseudo-classical tragedy to reimagine Arthur’s fall as a cultural conquest. Tournament shows parallel the dangers and wonders of privateering with those of romance and so expand the bounds of chivalry. And Ben Jonson adapts the legend’s Elizabethan associations for a new reign. These experimental entertainments evidence an ongoing creative investment in King Arthur, and provide a new narrative about the negotiation of political and poetic authority in early modern England.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Arthurian Literature Early Modern Drama Brown, F Performing the Arthurian legend in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England c. 1575-1610 |
| title | Performing the Arthurian legend in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England c. 1575-1610 |
| title_full | Performing the Arthurian legend in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England c. 1575-1610 |
| title_fullStr | Performing the Arthurian legend in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England c. 1575-1610 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Performing the Arthurian legend in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England c. 1575-1610 |
| title_short | Performing the Arthurian legend in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England c. 1575-1610 |
| title_sort | performing the arthurian legend in late elizabethan and early jacobean england c 1575 1610 |
| topic | Arthurian Literature Early Modern Drama |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT brownf performingthearthurianlegendinlateelizabethanandearlyjacobeanenglandc15751610 |