No nascimento da modernidade houve um grande crescimento produtivo, o que levou ao incremento das instituições mediadoras da vida social. Os efeitos disso na esfera do discurso e da formação do sujeito se manifestaram também no teatro, na formação dos personagens. A passagem de uma mentalidade mítica para uma racionalista marcou os sujeitos, muitas vezes, de forma trágica, dilacerados entre demandas desencontradas e discursos opostos. A subjetividade se tornou o campo desse tipo de batalha. Um exemplo privilegiado desse momento é The Spanish Tragedy, de Thomas Kyd. Tragédia inaugural do teatro elisabetano, Kyd foi o primeiro autor a concentrar a maioria de seus monólogos em um único personagem, contrastando com peças anteriores, como Gorboduc, em que os monólogos eram mais distribuídos. Isso possibilitou uma concentração de tensão e um desenvolvimento dramatúrgico que influenciou gerações, inclusive um jovem dramaturgo iniciante chamado William Shakespeare. Não é apenas uma coincidência que Kyd tenha inaugurado com sua peça um gênero, as tragédias de vingança, que criou uma longa linhagem, cujo representante mais ilustre é Hamlet. Mas esse desenvolvimento concentrado, que permitiu um crescendo ao longo da peça, se olhado de perto, apresenta uma outra dimensão. A fatura linguística dos monólogos traz materiais das mais diversas fontes. Se estão presentes recursos linguísticos da literatura clássica e da retórica da corte, também aparece uma dicção provinda da burguesia, seja das controvérsias religiosas, seja dos livros de cortesão, que discutiam o comportamento adequado em sociedade. Temos, portanto, recursos textuais provenientes dos atores sociais que tencionavam a época: aristocracia decadente e burguesia ascendente. Vistos em sequência, os monólogos apresentam uma transição das formas mais tradicionais e conservadoras de discurso para as mais modernas. Dessa forma, o desenvolvimento do personagem e a estrutura dramatúrgica construída em torno dele se tornam um espelho de sua época. A mesma tensão que vemos no grande quadro da história, se fecharmos o foco sobre o personagem e, mais ainda, sobre sua interioridade, nos monólogos, reaparece nas suas formas de discurso. Ao fazer um panorama histórico, uma descrição da evolução do personagem e um exame detalhado de momentos-chave de seus monólogos, esperamos demonstrar esses nexos. / In the birth of modernity, there was a great productive growth, which led to the increase of institutions mediating social life. The effects of this situation in the sphere of social discourse and in the formation of the subjects also manifested themselves in the theater, in the formation of the characters. The transition from a mythical mentality to a rationalist one marked the subjects, often tragically, torn between disjointed demands and opposed discourses. Subjectivity became the battlefield of this type of struggle. A prime example of this moment is The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd. Kyd was the first author to concentrate most of his monologues on a single character, contrasting with earlier plays such as Gorboduc, where the monologues were more widely distributed. This enabled a concentration of tension and a dramaturgical development that influenced generations, including a young beginner playwright named William Shakespeare. It is not only a coincidence that Kyd inaugurated, with his play, a genre, the revenge tragedy, which created a long lineage, the most illustrious representative being Hamlet. But this concentrated development, which allowed a crescendo throughout the play, if looked closely, presents another dimension. The linguistic making of the monologues brings materials from the most diverse sources. If linguistic resources of classical literature and court rhetoric are present, there is also a diction from the bourgeoisie, whether from the religious controversies or from the court books, which discussed proper behavior in society. Therefore, we have textual resources coming from the social actors who confronted each other in that era: decadent aristocracy and rising bourgeoisie. Viewed in a sequence, the monologues show a transition from the more traditional and conservative forms of discourse to the more modern ones. In this way, the development of the character and the dramatic structure built around him become a mirror of his time. The same tension that we see in the great picture of history, if we close the focus on the character, even more, on his interiority, in the monologues, reappears in his forms of discourse. Making a historical overview, a description of the development of the character and a detailed examination of moments of his monologues, we hope to demonstrate these links.

No nascimento da modernidade houve um grande crescimento produtivo, o que levou ao incremento das instituições mediadoras da vida social. Os efeitos disso na esfera do discurso e da formação do sujeito se manifestaram também no teatro, na formação dos personagens. A passagem de uma mentalidade mítica para uma racionalista marcou os sujeitos, muitas vezes, de forma trágica, dilacerados entre demandas desencontradas e discursos opostos. A subjetividade se tornou o campo desse tipo de batalha. Um exemplo privilegiado desse momento é The Spanish Tragedy, de Thomas Kyd. Tragédia inaugural do teatro elisabetano, Kyd foi o primeiro autor a concentrar a maioria de seus monólogos em um único personagem, contrastando com peças anteriores, como Gorboduc, em que os monólogos eram mais distribuídos. Isso possibilitou uma concentração de tensão e um desenvolvimento dramatúrgico que influenciou gerações, inclusive um jovem dramaturgo iniciante chamado William Shakespeare. Não é apenas uma coincidência que Kyd tenha inaugurado com sua peça um gênero, as tragédias de vingança, que criou uma longa linhagem, cujo representante mais ilustre é Hamlet. Mas esse desenvolvimento concentrado, que permitiu um crescendo ao longo da peça, se olhado de perto, apresenta uma outra dimensão. A fatura linguística dos monólogos traz materiais das mais diversas fontes. Se estão presentes recursos linguísticos da literatura clássica e da retórica da corte, também aparece uma dicção provinda da burguesia, seja das controvérsias religiosas, seja dos livros de cortesão, que discutiam o comportamento adequado em sociedade. Temos, portanto, recursos textuais provenientes dos atores sociais que tencionavam a época: aristocracia decadente e burguesia ascendente. Vistos em sequência, os monólogos apresentam uma transição das formas mais tradicionais e conservadoras de discurso para as mais modernas. Dessa forma, o desenvolvimento do personagem e a estrutura dramatúrgica construída em torno dele se tornam um espelho de sua época. A mesma tensão que vemos no grande quadro da história, se fecharmos o foco sobre o personagem e, mais ainda, sobre sua interioridade, nos monólogos, reaparece nas suas formas de discurso. Ao fazer um panorama histórico, uma descrição da evolução do personagem e um exame detalhado de momentos-chave de seus monólogos, esperamos demonstrar esses nexos. / In the birth of modernity, there was a great productive growth, which led to the increase of institutions mediating social life. The effects of this situation in the sphere of social discourse and in the formation of the subjects also manifested themselves in the theater, in the formation of the characters. The transition from a mythical mentality to a rationalist one marked the subjects, often tragically, torn between disjointed demands and opposed discourses. Subjectivity became the battlefield of this type of struggle. A prime example of this moment is The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd. Kyd was the first author to concentrate most of his monologues on a single character, contrasting with earlier plays such as Gorboduc, where the monologues were more widely distributed. This enabled a concentration of tension and a dramaturgical development that influenced generations, including a young beginner playwright named William Shakespeare. It is not only a coincidence that Kyd inaugurated, with his play, a genre, the revenge tragedy, which created a long lineage, the most illustrious representative being Hamlet. But this concentrated development, which allowed a crescendo throughout the play, if looked closely, presents another dimension. The linguistic making of the monologues brings materials from the most diverse sources. If linguistic resources of classical literature and court rhetoric are present, there is also a diction from the bourgeoisie, whether from the religious controversies or from the court books, which discussed proper behavior in society. Therefore, we have textual resources coming from the social actors who confronted each other in that era: decadent aristocracy and rising bourgeoisie. Viewed in a sequence, the monologues show a transition from the more traditional and conservative forms of discourse to the more modern ones. In this way, the development of the character and the dramatic structure built around him become a mirror of his time. The same tension that we see in the great picture of history, if we close the focus on the character, even more, on his interiority, in the monologues, reappears in his forms of discourse. Making a historical overview, a description of the development of the character and a detailed examination of moments of his monologues, we hope to demonstrate these links.

abstract: This dissertation considers why several characters on the Early Modern Stage choose to remain silent when speech seems warranted. By examining the circumstances and effects of self-silencing on both the character and his/her community, I argue that silencing is an exercise of power that simultaneously subjectifies the silent one and compels the community (textual or theatrical) to ethical self-examination. This argument engages primarily with social philosophers Pierre Bourdieu, Alain Badiou, and Emmanual Levinas, considering their sometimes contradictory ideas about the ontology and representation of the subject and the construction of community. Set alongside the Early Modern plays of William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and Thomas Kyd, these theories reveal a rich functionality of self-silencing in the contexts of gender relations, aberrant sociality, and ethical crisis. This multi-faceted functionality creates a singular subject, establishes a space for the simultaneous existence of the subject and his/her community, offers an opportunity for empathetic mirroring and/or insight, and thereby leads to social unification. Silence is, in its effects, creative: it engenders empathy and ethical self- and social-reflection. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2011

Torture and the Drama of Emergency: Kyd, Marlowe, Shakespeare recovers the legal complexity of early modern torture and makes it central to an account of the anti-torture politics of the English stage. More people were tortured in the 1580s and 1590s than at any other time in England's history, and this sudden increase generated a backlash in the form of calls for the protection of liberties. Chapters on plays by Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare show how theater contributed to this backlash by means of its unique ability to present on the public stage the otherwise private suffering characteristic of state torture. Above all, these playwrights alerted audiences to the dangers posed by the concentration of absolute power in the hands of the monarch. The introduction and first chapter of Torture and the Drama of Emergency demonstrate that although torture was unknown to common law, it was executed in the context of a state of emergency. The second chapter presents Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy as resistance literature: rather than critiquing Spanish cruelty, as its setting implies, the play indicts English torture. Kyd uses the genre of revenge tragedy, enormously popular after and because of his play, to argue that torture is a form of revenge the state itself might carry out. Chapter three, on 1 and 2 Tamburlaine, argues that Tamburlaine transforms the world into a military camp by extending martial law to everyone, everywhere. Marlowe's portrayal of the creation and rise of this totalitarian regime depicts the nightmarish consequences for the people when the state's power to extend martial law remains unchecked. The final chapter, on King Lear, argues that in his most pessimistic play Shakespeare suggests there is no escape from the state's ability to seize absolute power in times of crisis. Lear's moving but tenuous declaration of human rights remains a dream that cannot survive the state of emergency created when he divides the kingdom. / text

In his Book of the Courtier, Castiglione appeals to the Renaissance notion of self-fashioning, the idea that individuals could shape their identity rather than relying solely on the influence of external factors such as birth, social class, or fate. While other early modern authors explore the practice of self-fashioning—Niccolò Machiavelli, for example, surveys numerous princes identifying ways they have molded themselves—Castiglione emphasizes the necessity of modeling one's-self after a variety of sources, "[taking] various qualities now from one man and now from another." In this way, Castiglione advocates for a self-fashioning grounded in a discriminating kind of synthesis, the generation of a new ideal form through the selective combination of various source materials. While Castiglione focuses on the moves necessary for an individual to fashion himself through this act of discriminatory mimesis, his views can explain the ways authors of the period use source material in the process of textual production. As poets and playwrights fashioned their texts, they did so by consciously combining various source materials in order to create not individuals, as Castiglione suggests, but characters to represent new cultural ideals and values. Early moderns viewed the process of textual, as well as cultural production, as a kind of synthesis. Creation through textual fusion is particularly common in early modern accounts of the heroic, in which authors synthesize classical conceptions of the hero, which privilege the completion of martial feats, and Christian notions of the heroic, based on the contemplative nature of Christ. In this dissertation, I demonstrate how Thomas Kyd in The Spanish Tragedy (1585), Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene (1590), William Shakespeare in Titus Andronicus (1594), and John Milton in A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle (1632) syncretized classical and Christian notions of the heroic ideal in order to comment upon and shape political, social, and literary discourses. By recognizing this fusion of classical heroism with contemplative heroism, we gain a more nuanced understanding of the reception of classical ideas within an increasingly secular society.