"What's in a Name": Speech Prefixes in Early English Printed Drama, 1570-1625

This dissertation explores speech prefixes--the often-truncated names of the characters printed before each speech--in 206 first edition quartos of early English drama printed between 1570 and 1625. At face value, these speech prefixes are neutral or even boring as they simply tell the reader who is speaking. However, this dissertation argues that speech prefixes actively create meaning in playbooks in ways that often go unnoticed. Using this database of the speech prefixes from two hundred six early printed quartos, "What's in a Name": Speech Prefixes in Early English Printed Drama, 1570-1625 combines methods of distant reading common to the field of Digital Humanities with more traditional close reading practices to argue that speech prefixes are not only able influence the way readers view specific characters and plays, but they also have the ability to conservatively influence the way readers interact with social hierarchies in their own lives. This dissertation asks critics to rethink what is important on the pages of printed drama as speech prefixes are crucial to the way that material playbooks make meaning for readers.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Alabama Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Bell, Charles

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dowd, Michelle M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• McElroy, Tricia A.
• Riter, Robert B.
• Smith, Cassander L.
• Tavares, Elizabeth E.

• Book History
• Early English Drama
• Shakespeare
• Speech Prefixes

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US, English

Dc Identifier Other

1072796

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ir.ua.edu:123456789/14373