Religious conversion in early modern English drama /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Stelling, Lieke, author.
Imprint:Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Description:xi, 217 pages ; 24 cm
Language:English
Subject:
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11791999
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9781108477031
1108477038
9781108701822
1108701825
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:"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" --
Table of Contents:
  • Part I: Spiritual conversion. "Be by me converted": medieval and reformation drama
  • "The whole Summe of Christianitie": spiritual conversion in Protestant sermons
  • "'Twas I but 'tis not I": dramatic transformations of spiritual conversion
  • Part II: Interfaith conversion. "More stable and perfect faith": religious diversification and the paradox of interfaith conversion
  • "False runagates" and "Superlunatical hypocrites": securing religious identity on the stage
  • "Most beautiful pagan; most sweet Jew": preserving Christianity in authentic conversions
  • "For Christian shame": Othello's assimilation into Venice
  • Conclusion
  • Appendix: List of spiritual and interfaith conversion plays.