A Study of the Theme of Cruelty in Four Renaissance Dramas

<p>Because the theme of cruelty pervades most of the Renaissance tragedies and even some of the comedies (Volpone and The Silent Woman, for example), it is appropriate to trace the development of this theme in four Renaissance dramas.1 Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and John Webster represent the begin­ning, middle, and close of the age. This study examines both men­tal suffering and physical torture, and it has been fascinating to learn that Marlowe and Shakespeare concentrated more on mental an­guish than did Kyd, and Webster even more so than his predecessors. This fact alone is evidence of a certain development. In addition, the psychological motivation of the characters toward their several acts of cruelty is substantially different in each play. Webster, again, has advanced noticeably beyond his forerunners in such analysis.</p> <p>There are two aspects of such a study that must be thoroughly understood before one attempts to examine each play individually. the sources of Elizabethan drama and the ruling ideas of the age.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Humanities

Year

1971

Author dc:creator

• Simon, Nancy W.

• Humanities
• Arts and Humanities

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.dominican.edu/humanities-print-theses/177

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.dominican.edu:humanities-print-theses-1176