published_or_final_version / Literary Studies / Master / Master of Arts

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This study explores the presentation of transgressive, effective and erotic relationships in a selected group of early modern plays as those relationships relate to the English Renaissance ideal of marriage and sexuality expressed in religious and secular tracts. The depictions of illicit love and sexuality in these plays reveal problematic social and moral issues inherent in the construction of the English Renaissance ideal of love and marriage. Not only do the dramatists reveal the tension between transgressive and normative love and sexuality, but they do so through the use of aesthetic forms that transgress conventional dramatic structure. This dissertation contends that the unconventional dramatic representation of transgression functions as a cognitive mode for the audience in their understanding of the practical social reality associated with the abstract ideality of love and marriage. Focussing on a selected plays of English Renaissance dramatists William Shakespeare, Thomas Middleton, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, Thomas Heywood, John Ford, and two anonymous playwrights, I suggest that the dramatists refuse to condemn or condone the transgression. Rather, they endow it with meaning, and while not rescinding the ideal love and sexuality, offer possible ways of accommodating it.

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The purpose of this study was to arrive at conclusions regarding the nature and background of the anonymous playwright of the medieval morality play Mankind (composed c. 1470). The presumed audience for this study is the group of readers who criticize, produce, or perform medieval English drama. An analysis was conducted according to the precepts of classical rhetoric as it appeared in the dialogue of the evil characters Nought, New-Guise, Nowadays, Mischief, and Titivillus. The lines of these characters were closely read for clues as to the rhetorical perspective of the playwright.In addition to the classical evidence, the study gathered textual evidence of Germanic pagan influences upon the playwright. The researcher arrived at the conclusion that the classical and Germanic influences were significant in the playwright's choice of actions and dramatic devices. The study includes a review of literature and a synopsis of the action of the play.

A pesquisa de dissertação intitulada Entre Texto e Palco: Um Estudo sobre a Preparação do Espetáculo e dos Atores pelas Companhias Profissionais Elisabetanas se propõe a analisar alguns elementos relevantes no tocante à organização do espetáculo teatral pelas companhias profissionais elisabetanas. Os objetivos da pesquisa foram estudar a preparação das peças pelas companhias, quais os manuscritos estruturados para preparar o espetáculo e aqueles que seriam entregues aos atores, as partes; compreender a preparação do espetáculo pelos atores e o sistema de repertório, bem como a distribuição de seus papéis e a tradição do sistema de transmissão de papéis entre os atores, tentando verificar se existia algum procedimento de trabalho, instrução, estudo, ensaio, leituras; e por fim, do modo de interpretação, se havia uma noção determinada sobre a representação cênica, que descobrimos era reconhecida no período como passionating, conceito sobre a arte de interpretar do ator. A pesquisa foi bibliográfica, investigativa e de análise de fragmentos de duas peças de Shakespeare, A Tragédia de Hamlet, Príncipe da Dinamarca e Sonho de uma Noite de Verão. Passagens foram pinçadas dessas duas peças de modo que realizamos um estudo comparativo e de análise nos servindo de pontuais perspectivas de críticos que contribuíram imensamente na fundamentação de nossa articulação a respeito dos elementos acima citados e que moveram a pesquisa. Na delimitação do problema quatro foram os autores que fundamentaram nossa dissertação. São críticos que tiveram acesso direto aos manuscritos do período, são eles: David Bradley, Andrew Gurr, Tiffany Stern e John Astington por abordarem em muitos dos seus estudos a temática sobre a questão organizacional do espetáculo como um todo. Desses autores, apropriamo-nos da discussão a respeito do Book e do Plot, documentos que faziam referência à preparação do espetáculo. Investigamos a relevância desses documentos que, pela análise dos autores, indicam como o espetáculo era preparado pelos atores das companhias profissionais elisabetanas. / The dissertation research titled Between Text and Stage: a Study on the Preparation of the Spectacle and the Actors of the Elizabethan Professional Companies, intends to analyze some relevant elements regarding the organization of the Elizabethan theatrical spectacle by the actors of the Elizabethan professional companies. The research objectives were to study the preparation of plays by the companies, which manuscripts were structured to prepare the spectacle and those that would be delivered to the actors, the parts; to comprehend the preparation of the spectacle by the actors and the repertory system, as well as the distribution of its roles, the tradition of the transmission system between the actors, analyzing whether there were some work procedure, instruction, study, gathering, readings; and finally, the mode of interpretation, if there was a certain notion about the art of representation, which we discovered it were recognized in the period as passionating: concept on the art of interpretation. The research was bibliographic, investigative and analitic of fragments from two Shakespeare‟s plays - Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Passages were plucked from these two plays so we conducted an analitic study on them approaching specific perspectives of critics who have contributed immensely in the grounds of our articulation on the elements mentioned above. These critics had direct access to the manuscripts of the period, they are: David Bradley, Andrew Gurr, Tiffany Stern e John Astington. They addressed many of their studies on the subject organizational issue of the spectacles as a whole. From these authors, we assumed the discussion of Book and Plot, documents that referred to the preparation of the spectacles. We investigate the relevance of these documents, the authors' analysis, indicate how the show was prepared by the actors of the Elizabethan professional companies.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The purpose of this study was to examine the development of Elizabethan consort music from its weal origin as presented in two manuscripts from the period. The following conditions governed the selection of the manuscripts: (1) they should contain a representative number of composers from the period; (2) they should picture, as clearly as possible, the evolution of Elizabethan instrumental ensemble music; and (3) they should contain a sufficient number of works in one instrumental form so that a valid analysis of that form could be concluded. The two manuscripts chosen on the basis of the forementioned conditions were British Museum Additional Manuscript 31,390 and Bodleian Library Manuscripts D. 212-216. Together they contained almost two hundred vocal and instrumental compositions by both Continental and English composers from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Approximately half the contents of the two sources were In Nominee, an English instrumental form based on a cantus firmus from the Benedictus of Taverner's "Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas" [TRUNCATED]

Using recent scholarship on intersubjectivity and cultural cognitive narratology, this project explores the disruption and reformation of early modern identity in Elizabethan revenge tragedies. The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate how revenge tragedies contribute to the prevalence of a dialogical rather than monological self in early modern culture. My chapter on Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy synthesizes Debora Shuger’s work on the cultural significance of early modern mirrors--which posits early modern self-recognition as a typological process--with recent scholarship on the early modern dialogical self. The chapter reveals how audiences and mirrors function in the play as cognitive artifacts that enable complex experiences of intersubjectivity. In my chapter on Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, I trace how characters construct new identities in relation to their shared suffering while also exploring intersubjectivity’s potential violence. When characters in Titus imagine the inward experience of others, they project a plausible narrative of interiority derived from inwardness’s external signifiers (such as tears, pleas, or gestures). These projections and receptions between characters can lead to reciprocated sympathy or violent aggression. My reading of John Marston’s Antonio’s Revenge explores revenge as a mode of competition. Marston suggests a similarity between the market conditions of dramatic performance (competition between playwrights, acting companies, and rival theaters) and the convention of one-upmanship in revenge tragedy, i.e. the need to surpass preceding acts of violence. While other Elizabethan revenge tragedies represent reciprocity and collusion between characters as important aspects of intersubjective self-reintegration, Marston’s play emphasizes competition and rivalry as the dominant force that shapes his characters. My final chapter provides an analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet. I argue that recent scholarship on intersubjectivity and cognitive cultural studies can help us re-historicize the nature of Hamlet’s “that within which passes show.” Hamlet’s desire for the eradication of his consciousness explores the consequences of feeling disconnected from others in a culture wherein identity, consciousness, and even memory itself depend on interpersonal relations.

A pesquisa de dissertação intitulada Entre Texto e Palco: Um Estudo sobre a Preparação do Espetáculo e dos Atores pelas Companhias Profissionais Elisabetanas se propõe a analisar alguns elementos relevantes no tocante à organização do espetáculo teatral pelas companhias profissionais elisabetanas. Os objetivos da pesquisa foram estudar a preparação das peças pelas companhias, quais os manuscritos estruturados para preparar o espetáculo e aqueles que seriam entregues aos atores, as partes; compreender a preparação do espetáculo pelos atores e o sistema de repertório, bem como a distribuição de seus papéis e a tradição do sistema de transmissão de papéis entre os atores, tentando verificar se existia algum procedimento de trabalho, instrução, estudo, ensaio, leituras; e por fim, do modo de interpretação, se havia uma noção determinada sobre a representação cênica, que descobrimos era reconhecida no período como passionating, conceito sobre a arte de interpretar do ator. A pesquisa foi bibliográfica, investigativa e de análise de fragmentos de duas peças de Shakespeare, A Tragédia de Hamlet, Príncipe da Dinamarca e Sonho de uma Noite de Verão. Passagens foram pinçadas dessas duas peças de modo que realizamos um estudo comparativo e de análise nos servindo de pontuais perspectivas de críticos que contribuíram imensamente na fundamentação de nossa articulação a respeito dos elementos acima citados e que moveram a pesquisa. Na delimitação do problema quatro foram os autores que fundamentaram nossa dissertação. São críticos que tiveram acesso direto aos manuscritos do período, são eles: David Bradley, Andrew Gurr, Tiffany Stern e John Astington por abordarem em muitos dos seus estudos a temática sobre a questão organizacional do espetáculo como um todo. Desses autores, apropriamo-nos da discussão a respeito do Book e do Plot, documentos que faziam referência à preparação do espetáculo. Investigamos a relevância desses documentos que, pela análise dos autores, indicam como o espetáculo era preparado pelos atores das companhias profissionais elisabetanas. / The dissertation research titled Between Text and Stage: a Study on the Preparation of the Spectacle and the Actors of the Elizabethan Professional Companies, intends to analyze some relevant elements regarding the organization of the Elizabethan theatrical spectacle by the actors of the Elizabethan professional companies. The research objectives were to study the preparation of plays by the companies, which manuscripts were structured to prepare the spectacle and those that would be delivered to the actors, the parts; to comprehend the preparation of the spectacle by the actors and the repertory system, as well as the distribution of its roles, the tradition of the transmission system between the actors, analyzing whether there were some work procedure, instruction, study, gathering, readings; and finally, the mode of interpretation, if there was a certain notion about the art of representation, which we discovered it were recognized in the period as passionating: concept on the art of interpretation. The research was bibliographic, investigative and analitic of fragments from two Shakespeare‟s plays - Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Passages were plucked from these two plays so we conducted an analitic study on them approaching specific perspectives of critics who have contributed immensely in the grounds of our articulation on the elements mentioned above. These critics had direct access to the manuscripts of the period, they are: David Bradley, Andrew Gurr, Tiffany Stern e John Astington. They addressed many of their studies on the subject organizational issue of the spectacles as a whole. From these authors, we assumed the discussion of Book and Plot, documents that referred to the preparation of the spectacles. We investigate the relevance of these documents, the authors' analysis, indicate how the show was prepared by the actors of the Elizabethan professional companies.