Free English Literature Dissertations - (in Clark P.262 Act Iv Scene I L.295-297) Claudio:who, Hero? Don John:even
(in Clark p.262 Act IV Scene I l.295-297)
CLAUDIO:Who, Hero?
DON JOHN:Even she Leonato’s Hero, your Hero, every man’s Hero.
(Shakespeare Much Ado About Nothing in Proudfoot p.927 Act III Scene II l.95-96)
and
OCTAVIA:Your hand my Lord; ’tis mine, and I will have it.
(in Clark p.244 Act III Scene I p.266)
SHYLOCK:[’t]is dearly bought; ’tis mine, and I will have it.
(Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice in Proudfoot p.851 Act IV Scene I l.100)
Dryden’s play is full of such complex linguistic loops which almost make the play a violation of theatrical decorum itself: a play which is better read or studied than staged, perhaps less surprising than it seems given the increasing divide between oral/stage culture and print culture and the growing interest in studying and glossing the printed word that typifies the Restoration period.
Dryden has been focused on here as representative of the Restoration trend for critical remodelling of Shakespeare through adaptation, but many other dramatists of the period produced work that was equally significant, both in terms of reflecting political events, and in refining Shakespearean dialogue and action for emergent neo-classical tastes. The titles alone of John Crowne’s The Misery of Civil War (1680) and Nahum Tate’s The Sicilian Usurper (1680) explicitly state their depiction of events similar to those that had recently unfolded in English history. Both Davenant’s Macbeth (1664) and Tate’s King Lear (1681) took as their templates plays explicitly concerned with the nature of kingship, and developed this theme in the light of the events of the dissolution and Restoration of the monarchy. Davenant’s The Law Against Lovers (1662) had already used Angelo’s brief but repressive rule in Measure for Measure as a parallel to Cromwell’s rule in the Interregnum, and his Macbeth created an analogy between the title character’s usurpation and Cromwell’s seizing of power, and the restoration of Malcolm with that of Charles. Davenant also expanded the role of Macduff’s wife, thereby not only capitalising on the innovation of the actress, but also providing a pleasingly expanded neo-classical symmetry between Lady Macbeth and her virtuous counterpart. Tate’s King Lear, notorious today for a denouement which leaves Lear alive and Cordelia and Edgar about to marry, makes a definite political statement in ‘the King’s blest Restauration’ (in Clark p.371 Act V Scene VI l.117) and subjugation of the attempt of the Bastard, Edmund, to seize the throne, and evidently gave the play enormous public appeal in its time.
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