Making and Unmaking in Early Modern English Drama : Spectators, Aesthetics and Incompletion

This book discusses early modern English drama as a part of visual culture. It concerns the ideas about 'making and unmaking' that Shakespeare and his contemporaries may have known and formulated, and how these ideas relate to the author's own critical assumptions about early modern aesthetic experience. The study of drama as a part of visual culture offers the perfect context for an exploration of pre-modern aesthetic discourse. The book expounds the author's approach to plays as participants in a lively post-Reformation visual culture in the process of 're-formation'. It then focuses on the social meanings of patronage of the visual arts in a discussion of Paulina as patron of Hermione's image in The Winter's Tale. The discussion of The Winter's Tale pivots around the play's troubling investment in patriarchal notions of 'perfection'. The book also explores image-breaking in Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. This play presents an instance of onstage iconoclasm in the supernatural destruction of a demonic brazen head, a quasi-magical figure that had been depicted in English literature since at least the twelfth century. In focusing on the portrayal of invisibility in The Two Merry Milkmaids, the book explores early modern preoccupation with processes of visual construction in a play in which there is very little artisanal activity. Exploring the significance of visual things that are 'under construction' in works by playwrights. Illustrated with examples, it opens up new interpretations of the place of aesthetic form in the early modern imagination. Why are early modern English dramatists preoccupied with unfinished processes of ?making? and ?unmaking?? And what did ?finished? or ?incomplete? mean for spectators of plays and visual works in this period? Making and unmaking in early modern English drama is about the prevalence and significance of visual things that are ?under construction? in early modern plays. Contributing to challenges to the well-worn narrative of ?iconophobic? early modern English culture, it explores the drama as a part of a lively post-Reformation visual world. Interrogating the centrality of concepts of ?fragmentation? and ?wholeness? in critical approaches to this period, it opens up new interpretations of the place of aesthetic form in early modern culture. An interdisciplinary study, this book argues that the idea of ?finish? had transgressive associations in the early modern imagination. It centres on the depiction of incomplete visual practices in works by playwrights including Shakespeare, John Lyly, and Robert Greene. The first book of its kind to connect dramatists? attitudes to the visual with questions of materiality, Making and Unmaking in Early Modern English Drama draws on a rich range of illustrated examples. Plays are discussed alongside contexts and themes, including iconoclasm, painting, sculpture, clothing and jewellery, automata, and invisibility. Asking what it meant for Shakespeare and his contemporaries to ?begin? or ?end? a literary or visual work, this book is invaluable for scholars and students of early modern English literature, drama, visual culture, material culture, theatre history, history and aesthetics. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched. This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Why are early modern English dramatists preoccupied with unfinished processes of ‘making'and ‘unmaking'? And what did the terms ‘finished'or ‘incomplete'mean for dramatists and their audiences in this period? Making and unmaking in early modern English drama is about the significance of visual things that are ‘under construction'in works by playwrights including Shakespeare, Robert Greene and John Lyly. Illustrated with examples from across visual and material culture, it opens up new interpretations of the place of aesthetic form in the early modern imagination. Plays are explored as a part of a lively post-Reformation visual culture, alongside a diverse range of contexts and themes, including iconoclasm, painting, sculpture, clothing and jewellery, automata and invisibility. Asking what it meant for Shakespeare and his contemporaries to ‘begin'or ‘end'a literary or visual work, this book is essential reading for scholars and students of early modern English drama, literature, visual culture and history. Why are early modern English dramatists preoccupied with unfinished processes of "making" and "unmaking"? And what did the terms "finished" or "incomplete" mean for dramatists and their audiences in this period? Making and unmaking in early modern English drama is about the significance of visual things that are 'under construction' in works by playwrights including Shakespeare, Robert Greene and John Lyly. Illustrated with examples from across visual and material culture, it opens up new interpretations of the place of aesthetic form in the early modern imagination. Plays are explored as a part of a lively post-Reformation visual culture, alongside a diverse range of contexts and themes, including iconoclasm, painting, sculpture, clothing and jewellery, automata and invisibility. Asking what it meant for Shakespeare and his contemporaries to "begin" or "end" a literary or visual work, this book is essential reading for scholars and students of early modern English drama, literature, visual culture and history Front matter Contents List of figures Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: speaking pictures? Early modern English drama and visual culture ‘In the keeping of Paulina’: the unknowable image in The Winter’s Tale ‘But begun for others to end’: the ends of incompletion ‘The brazen head lies broken’: divine destruction in Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay Going unseen: invisibility and erasure in The Two Merry Milkmaids Conclusion: behind the screen Bibliography Index