Ovid and the Politics of Emotion in Elizabethan England

Elizabethan English culture is saturated with tales and figures from Ovid s Metamorphoses. While most of these narratives interrogate metamorphosis and transformation, many tales - such as those of Philomela, Hecuba, or Orpheus - also highlight heightened states of emotion, especially in powerless or seemingly powerless characters. When these tales are translated and retold in the new cultural context of Renaissance England, a distinct politics of Ovidian emotion emerges. Through intertextual readings in diverse cultural contexts, Ovid and the Politics of Emotion in Elizabethan England reveals the ways these representations helped redefine emotions and the political efficacy of emotional expression in sixteenth-century England.

Elizabethan English culture is saturated with tales and figures from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. While most of these narratives interrogate metamorphosis and transformation, many tales—such as those of Philomela, Hecuba, or Orpheus—also highlight heightened states of emotion, especially in powerless or seemingly powerless characters. When these tales are translated and retold in the new cultural context of Renaissance England, a distinct politics of Ovidian emotion emerges. Through intertextual readings in diverse cultural contexts, Ovid and the Politics of Emotion in Elizabethan England reveals the ways these representations helped redefine emotions and the political efficacy of emotional expression in sixteenth-century England.

"Elizabethan English culture is saturated with tales and figures from Ovid's Metamorphoses. While most of these narratives interrogate metamorphosis and transformation, many tales - such as those of Philomela, Hecuba, or Orpheus - also highlight heightened states of emotion, especially in powerless or seemingly powerless characters. When these tales are translated and retold in the new cultural context of Renaissance England, a distinct politics of Ovidian emotion emerges. Through intertextual readings in diverse cultural contexts, Ovid and the Politics of Emotion in Elizabethan England reveals the ways these representations helped redefine emotions and the political efficacy of emotional expression in sixteenth-century England."--BOOK JACKET NL-ZmNBD Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-26 Elizabeth I’s Metamorphic Body and the Politics of Ovidian Desire....Pages 27-58 Ovidian Emotion and Allegory in the Faerie Queene....Pages 59-104 Grief and the Ovidian Politics of Revenge in Titus Andronicus....Pages 105-124 Ovidian Witches in Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft....Pages 125-140 Afterword....Pages 141-145 Back Matter....Pages 147-185 This book reveals how imitations of Ovid's works helped to redefine emotional experience and the political efficacy of emotional expression in late sixteenth-century England. This book reveals how imitations of Ovid's works helped to redefine emotional experience and the political efficacy of emotional expression in late sixteenth-century England