1st Edition

Twins in Early Modern English Drama and Shakespeare

By Daisy Murray Copyright 2017
210 Pages
by Routledge

210 Pages
by Routledge

210 Pages
by Routledge

This volume investigates the early modern understanding of twinship through new readings of plays, informed by discussions of twins appearing in such literature as anatomy tracts, midwifery manuals, monstrous birth broadsides, and chapbooks. The book contextualizes such dramatic representations of twinship, investigating contemporary discussions about twins in medical and popular literature and... Read more

CONTENTS



List of Figures



Acknowledgments





Introduction



Chapter One: Tragedies: The Duchess of Malfi and The Cruel Brother



Chapter Two: Tragicomedies: The Devil’s Law Case, The Twins and The Lovesick Court



Chapter Three: Comedies: Changes: or, Love in a Maze, Patient Grissil, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, Ignoramus and Senile Odium





Chapter Four: Shakespearean Comedy: The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night



Conclusion



Bibliography

Biography

Daisy Murray is Higher Education Programme Developer for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

"As a new work on an often-discussed but rarely properly studied facet of early modern drama, Murray’s text is valuable, but where it shines is in its considera-tion of non-dramatic representation and culture. This book is undeniably within the realm of theatre and theatre history, but it is also a work of social and cultural history around ideas of conception, childbirth, science, and gender. As a resource for scholars thinking about drama, genre, families, twins, science, non-dramatic literary culture, or any one of a number of other specific subtopics, this text is a fresh, insightful volume that will surely open up new avenues of inquiry for its readers."

- Jess Hamlet, University of Alabama, Early Theatre