Religious Conversion in Early Modern English Drama

Few subjects of the English stage have proved more alluring and enduring than religious conversion. The emergence of the Elizabethan theatre marked a profound shift in the way in which conversion was presented. If medieval drama had encouraged conversion without reservation, early Elizabethan plays started to question it. Considering over forty canonical and lesser known works, this study argues that more so than any other medium, early modern drama engaged with the question of the possibility of undergoing a radical transformation in faith and presented the period's understanding of it as fundamentally unsettled. Offering the first cross-religious exploration of conversion in early modern English drama, and presenting a new reading of William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello, Lieke Stelling reveals telling patterns in the stage's treatment of conversion and religious identity.

Author: Lieke Stelling
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 01/03/2019
Pages: 226
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.01h x 6.15w x 0.68d
ISBN13: 9781108477031
ISBN10: 1108477038
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
- Drama | European | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh