Metadrama and the Informer in Shakespeare and Jonson
Online ISBN:
9781474426886
Print ISBN:
9781474415118
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
Book
Metadrama and the Informer in Shakespeare and Jonson
Published online:
18 May 2017
Published in print:
1 November 2016
Online ISBN:
9781474426886
Print ISBN:
9781474415118
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
Cite
Angus, Bill, Metadrama and the Informer in Shakespeare and Jonson (Edinburgh , 2016; online edn, Edinburgh Scholarship Online, 18 May 2017), https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474415118.001.0001, accessed 19 Apr. 2025.
Abstract
This book explores the metadramatic plays and devices of Shakespeare and Jonson and finds at the core of their metadrama some disturbing connections, and even an uneasy sense of common practice, between authors and the shadowy figure of the informer. It offers insight into the internal workings and motivations of Shakespeare’s and Jonson’s dramatic structures and opens a new window on their ambitions, concerns and fears. In doing so, it enhances our historical understanding of the structures of authority and society within which the drama was produced, and the place of the informer in those structures.
Keywords:
Shakespeare, Jonson, metadrama, informer, intelligencer, authority, author, early modern, drama
Contents
-
Front Matter
-
Introduction
Suspect Devices – Metadrama and the Narcissism of Small Differences
- 1 Hamlet’s ‘lawful espials’: Metadrama, Tainted Authority and the Ubiquitous Informer
-
2
Every Man In and Out: Metadramatic Ideals and Harsh Realities
- 3 Sympathy for the Informer: Iago, Volpone and Other Metadramatic Authors
- 4 ‘Masters both of arts and lies’: Metadrama and the Informer in Poetaster and Sejanus
- 5 Falstaff, Hal, Coriolanus: Metadrama and the Authority of Policy
- 6 ‘Three Cranes, Mitre, and Mermaid men’: Metadramatic Self-Deprecation and Authority in Bartholomew Fair
- 7 ‘Ministers of Fate’: Politic Oversight and Ideal Authorities
- 8 Onstage Overviews: Metadrama and the Information Market
- Conclusion
-
End Matter
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