"He takes false shadows for true substances": Madness and Metadrama in The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicus

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dc.contributorBruster, Douglas
dc.contributorBarret, J.K.
dc.creatorWilliams, David Higbee
dc.date.accessioned2018-06-07T14:49:21Z
dc.date.available2018-06-07T14:49:21Z
dc.date.issued2018-05
dc.description.abstractAlthough scholars have written extensively about madness and metadrama, they have rarely discussed the relationship between the two on the early modern stage. In many plays, however, mad characters become acutely metatheatrical, oftentimes putting on spectacles, consciously performing in front of others, and gaining various levels of dramatic awareness. In this thesis, I analyze the ways that two influential plays, The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicus, present madness theatrically and suggest an association between lunacy and drama. The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicus offer a unique opportunity to study this issue. Not only are they relatively early plays, showing theatricalized madness at early stages in its development, but they were both added to later. These additions present more developed, explicit manifestations of the link between madness and metadrama. By viewing the original plays and the additions as four texts, we can trace the gradual establishment of the link in early modern drama, as lunacy and theater become united by their shared mistaking of “false shadows for true substances.” Through this connection, we can detect a simultaneous anxiety and fascination regarding the illusory nature of drama.en_US
dc.description.departmentEnglishen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.15781/T2BR8N033
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/65302
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.relation.ispartofPlan II Honors Theses - Openly Availableen_US
dc.rights.restrictionOpenen_US
dc.subjectPlan II Honors Thesis
dc.subjectmadnessen_US
dc.subjectmetadramaen_US
dc.subjectmetatheatreen_US
dc.subjectmetatheateren_US
dc.subjectShakespeareen_US
dc.subjectKyden_US
dc.subjectTitus Andronicusen_US
dc.subjectThe Spanish Tragedyen_US
dc.title"He takes false shadows for true substances": Madness and Metadrama in The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicusen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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