Introduction: on revenge tragedy and the shaping influence of classical philosophy -- Oeconomia and the vegetative soul: Thomas Kyd's naturalisation of revenge in The Spanish tragedy -- Fixing moderation: Titus Andronicus and the Aristotelian determination of value -- 'A fine pate full of fine dirt': Hamlet among the atomists -- 'Vein by vein': the pneumatics of retribution in John Marston's Antonio's revenge -- Prohairesis on the inside: The duchess of Malfi and epictetian volition -- Epilogue: a kind of sensible justice.
Summary:
This book discovers within early modern revenge tragedy the surprising shaping presence of a wide array of classical philosophies not commonly affiliated with the genre. By recovering the pervasive influence of Aristotelian faculty psychology on The Spanish Tragedy, Aristotelian ethics on Titus Andronicus, Lucretian atomism on Hamlet, Galenic pneumatics on Antonio's Revenge and Epictetian Stoicism on The Duchess of Malfi, Crosbie reveals how the very atmospheres and ontological assumptions of revenge tragedy exert their own kind of conditioning dramaturgical force. The book also revitalises our understanding of how the Renaissance stage, even at its most lurid, functions as a unique space for the era's practical, vernacular engagement with received philosophy.
Series:
Edinburgh critical studies in Shakespeare and philosophy
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