Dramatic Form in Shakespeare and the Jacobeans

These essays are concerned with aspects of dramatic form, such as plot construction and characterisation, in works by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. They focus in detail on the plays' texts, at the same time seeking to establish around them the dramatists' view of their world. Leo Salingar examines six plays by Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Twelfth Night, Hamlet and King Lear) and five leading works by other Jacobean playwrights (Volpone, The Silent Woman, Bartholomew Fair, The Revenger's Tragedy and The Changeling). There is also a study of Cervantes' Don Quixote, and two general essays on drama in the light of Elizabethan usage of the key words art and wit. Each study considers its subject from a perspective that takes account of social history, stage conditions, the history of ideas, or critical theory. The collection provides a coherent survey of the dramatic forms in Shakespeare's time.

Preface; 1. Shakespeare and the Italian concept of 'art'; 2. Is The Merchant of Venice a problem play?; 3. Falstaff and the life of shadows; 4. The design of Twelfth Night; 5. Shakespeare and the ventriloquists; 6. Romance in King Lear; 7. King Lear, Montaigne and Harsnett; 8. 'Wit' in Jacobean comedy; 9. Comic form in Ben Jonson: Volpone and the philosopher's stone; 10. Farce and fashion in The Silent Woman; 11. Crowd and public in Bartholomew Fair; 12. The Revenger's Tragedy and the Morality tradition; 13. The Changeling and the drama of domestic life; 14. Don Quixote as a prose epic; Notes; Bibliographical note; Index.

A collection of essays concerned with aspects of dramatic form, such as plot construction and characterisation, in works by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. They focus in detail on the plays' texts, at the same time seeking to establish around them the dramatists' view of their world.