Mathematics And Late Elizabethan Drama (palgrave Studies In Literature, Science And Medicine)

This book considers the influence that sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century mathematical thinking exerted on the writing and production of popular drama between about 1587 and 1603. It concentrates upon six plays by five early modern dramatists: __Tamburlaine, Part 1__ (1587) and __Tamburlaine, Part 2__ (1587) by Christopher Marlowe; __Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay__ (1589) by Robert Greene; __Old Fortunatus__ (1599) by Thomas Dekker; __Hamlet__ (1600) by William Shakespeare; and __The Tragedy of Hoffman__ (1603) by Henry Chettle. Each chapter analyses how the terms, concepts, and implications of contemporary mathematics impacted upon these plays’ vocabularies, forms, and aesthetic and dramaturgical effects and affects. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction (Joseph Jarrett)....Pages 1-34 Algebra and the Art of War: Marlowe’s Tamburlaine 1 and 2 (Joseph Jarrett)....Pages 35-75 ‘Magic, and the Mathematic Rules’: Greene’s Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (Joseph Jarrett)....Pages 77-114 Circular Geometries: Dekker’s Old Fortunatus (Joseph Jarrett)....Pages 115-148 Infinities and Infinitesimals: Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Joseph Jarrett)....Pages 149-190 Quantifying Death, Calculating Revenge: Chettle’s Tragedy of Hoffman (Joseph Jarrett)....Pages 191-217 Conclusion (Joseph Jarrett)....Pages 219-221 Back Matter ....Pages 223-242