‘Presume Not That I am the Thing I Was’: Altering Perceptions of the Disabled via the Staging of Disability in Early Modern England

<p>Attitudes toward people with physical or mental disabilities have varied throughout history. Each society collectively defines what is considered normal and abnormal, and those values change over time. Many cultural factors impact how much these views change, including the dominant social philosophies and religions of an era. In Early Modern England, the rise of large public theaters and an increasingly permissive society contributed to the development of plays becoming a powerful tool for swaying public opinion.</p> <p>Using this new pulpit, Shakespeare and his contemporaries staged plays that often depicted disability and deformity in negative ways, including the implications that a character’s outward physical differences, like Richard III’s deformities, signaled an inner monstrosity. By touching the emotions of the audience with passionate and sometimes despicable characters, these playwrights were able to transform the generally positive views of the disabled, held by many playgoers of the era, into disgust and intolerance. Because these plays, primarily by Shakespeare, continue to be staged, the animus against the disabled, presented via the stage, continues to this day.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Nyfeler, William

Contributors dc:contributor

• David H. Wood

• Disability
• Disabled
• Deformed
• Renaissance
• Shakespeare
• Audience
• Discrimination
• Othering
• Othered
• Hamlet
• Literature in English, British Isles

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/566

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.nmu.edu:theses-1593