This thesis presents a study of playhouse spaces and the theatre industry in early modern England, and how they developed from 1560-1670. The period considered spans the English civil wars and Commonwealth to complicate the notion of a cessation of theatrical activity in 1642, and argues against the division of theatre history into distinct Renaissance and Restoration periods. The study builds on recent scholarly trends which have productively read early modern playing companies as consistent cultural entities with individual identities, by extending and applying this methodology to playhouse spaces. As such, this thesis proposes that all early modern playhouses had unique identities, and suggests that the frequent division into amphitheatre and indoor playhouses can produce an oversimplified binary with homogenising consequences. Moreover, it argues that a problematic, undertheorized hierarchy of playhouses exists; a key factor being the strength of the playhouse's connection to Shakespeare, which has led to the prioritisation of the Globe in particular. This thesis problematises the metrics which have been used to assess the importance of playhouses; it offers alternative factors but also suggests it is more important to ascertain unique aspects of playhouse identities than to create a hierarchy between them. Case studies of the Curtain (c.1577-c.1625), Salisbury Court (1629-1666) and Gibbons' Tennis Court (1653-c.1669) demonstrate how distinct aspects of playhouses' identities can be established by proposing dimensions of their unique reputations based on their known repertories. Collectively, these studies also demonstrate how playhouse space developed over time. This study concludes that each of these playhouses have been undervalued in scholarly narratives. By producing substantial accounts of these neglected spaces this thesis contributes towards a rebalancing of emphasis in early modern scholarship, and it also demonstrates that a wider reappraisal of early modern playhouse space is necessary in the future.

Master of Arts (Research) / An account of the critical reception of Ford's plays in the Romantic Period, in which the influence of Longinus's notions of the sublime is emphasized.

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Master of Arts (Research) / An account of the critical reception of Ford's plays in the Romantic Period, in which the influence of Longinus's notions of the sublime is emphasized.

No description available.

This research was conducted to see why some scholars have decided that Elizabethan prose fiction is no longer of value to a modern audience; this essay will apply narratological analyses and theory to examine Elizabethan prose fiction, noting where and how these works build their stories to involve their readers: differently than we would nowadays. The main subjects within narratology used for the analyses are the narrator, the narratee, focalisation, point of view and perspective. The main result found is that the overt intradiegetic narrator and narratee are the leading players when it comes to involving the reader in Elizabethan prose fiction.

This thesis argues that the scope of Richard Hooker’s critique in his Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie extends beyond its ostensive target of Elizabethan presbyterianism to what he saw as a more general dissolution of a framework of human self-understanding rooted in Christian metaphysics and sacramental polity. The foundation of Hooker’s revision of the conformist case, I argue, is not a critique of presbyterianism or Calvinism themselves but of their 14th-century nominalist roots. Whereas recent scholarship has focused on the extent of Hooker’s consistency with the magisterial reformers, I aim to situate Hooker within the broader intellectual developments, beyond merely doctrinal-confessional concerns, that would come to characterize modern thought. Such a broadened approach offers valuable insight into the competing tensions in the intellectual climate of nascent modernity and, more importantly, situates Hooker within the context of the epoch-level stakes that, as I argue, he himself envisioned for his project. I develop this line of interpretation with two case studies—the first on Hooker’s critique of newly developing reforms in logic, the second on his sacramentology. In both cases, Hooker adopts a position whose metaphysical-theological foundations are an explicit departure from the Calvinist-derived consensus framework of the Admonition Controversy. / Graduate

The thesis Love as Will to Dialogue in William Shakespeare's Tragedies deals with the analysis of selected characters' dialogues found in six William Shakespeare's tragedies. The aim of the thesis is to prove the given assumption of tragic ending caused by emotionally related characters and their mutual lack of communication in each play. The thesis is formally divided into theory and practical analysis. The theory is focused on definition of two major terms dialogue and love, from the view of linguistics, psychology, psychology of communication and philosophy. Following practical analysis offers detailed study of selected dialogues. The last part of the thesis summarizes the main implications found in analysis and proposes possible benefits of the work.