Book contents
- Libels and Theater in Shakespeare’s England
- Libels and Theater in Shakespeare’s England
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Seeds of Sedition
- Part I The Scene of Libel
- Part II Libels on the Elizabethan Stage
- Chapter 3 Libels Supplicatory: Shakespeare and Peele’s Titus Andronicus
- Chapter 4 Libel, Equity, and Law in Sir Thomas More
- Chapter 5 Jane Shore’s Public: Pity and Politics in Heywood’s Edward IV
- Chapter 6 Turning Plays into Libels: Satire and Sedition in Jonson’s Poetaster
- Epilogue Staging Libel in Early Stuart England
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 3 - Libels Supplicatory: Shakespeare and Peele’s Titus Andronicus
from Part II - Libels on the Elizabethan Stage
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2023
- Libels and Theater in Shakespeare’s England
- Libels and Theater in Shakespeare’s England
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Seeds of Sedition
- Part I The Scene of Libel
- Part II Libels on the Elizabethan Stage
- Chapter 3 Libels Supplicatory: Shakespeare and Peele’s Titus Andronicus
- Chapter 4 Libel, Equity, and Law in Sir Thomas More
- Chapter 5 Jane Shore’s Public: Pity and Politics in Heywood’s Edward IV
- Chapter 6 Turning Plays into Libels: Satire and Sedition in Jonson’s Poetaster
- Epilogue Staging Libel in Early Stuart England
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Shakespeare and George Peele’s Titus Andronicus (1591–94) stages both the proliferating texts and the religious violence of the early 1590s. These years saw a spate of sectarian libels from persecuted Puritans and Catholics alike. In Titus, the marginalized Andronici likewise launch ephemeral scraps of writing into the sky, texts that join appeals for redress with violent threats. These libels bear an especially close resemblance to those scattered in the streets by the Puritan extremist William Hacket and his accomplices in 1591. But the echoes are also cross-confessional, indicating a broader interest in the “manner” of religiopolitical speech. The play folds its topical allegory into a Tacitean-humanist history of political communication: the rise of the emperor, Saturninus, brings about the end of public oratory. Their speech silenced, the Andronici unleash a flurry of texts that takes the Tacitean story of rhetorical decline into its early modern future. By yoking libels not just to the pursuit of justice but also to factionalism and violence, Titus takes a hard look at the viral and virulent media of the late Elizabethan public sphere.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Libels and Theater in Shakespeare's EnglandPublics, Politics, Performance, pp. 87 - 114Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023