Surveillance, Militarism And Drama In The Elizabethan Era (language, Discourse, Society)

Curtis Breight challenges the view that Renaissance English rulers could not dominate their domestic population. He argues, alternatively, that the Elizabethan state was controlled by the Cecilian faction, which maintained power by focusing English energies outwardly. Cecilians launched relentless assaults by land and sea against England's neighbours. By the 1590s their policies had enriched a few yet destroyed countless people, and this book reads the drama of Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare in relation to ongoing national and international conflict. The Elizabethan Period Has Often Been Represented As A 'golden Age' Featuring Domestic Peace And The Flowering Of Cultural Production, Especially Drama. Using Neglected Documentary Evidence, Curtis C. Breight Presents An Opposite View, Arguing That The Elizabethan State Was In Fact Controlled By A Machiavellian Faction Founded By Sir William Cecil, Whose Power Lay In Focusing English Energies In Global Conflict Between Protestant England And International Catholicism. He Reveals How Knowledge Gained Through Surveillance Facilitated Massive Military And Maritime Operations In Which Many Lives Were Lost, Fuelling Popular Resistance To Domestic And Foreign Policies. This National And International Conflict Energised The Drama Of Christopher Marlowe And William Shakespeare, Both Of Whom Scrutinised The Cecilian Policies In Their Plays. Drawing On Archival Sources, Pamphlets, State And Critical Theory Together With Historiography, This Groundbreaking Study Interprets Their Drama From A Postdisciplinary Perspective And Shows It To Be Closely Bound With The Realpolitik Of Its Time. Introduction: Regnum Cecilianum -- 1. State Power -- 2. Manifestations Of State Power -- 3. Cultures Of Surveillance -- 4. Propaganda Wars And The English Succession Crisis -- 5. 'danger Is In Words': The Drama And Assassination Of Christopher Marlowe -- 6. 'we Few, We Happy Few, ' Or 'murdering Our Men' -- 7. Military Conflict Among The Elite -- 8. 'the Days Of Villainy' -- Conclusion: Legacies Of Surveillance And Militarism. Curtis C. Breight. Series Statement From Jacket. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 307-336) And Index. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction: Regnum Cecilianum....Pages 1-42 Front Matter....Pages 43-43 State Power....Pages 45-69 Manifestations of State Power....Pages 70-91 Front Matter....Pages 93-93 Cultures of Surveillance....Pages 95-110 Propaganda Wars and the English Succession Crisis....Pages 111-126 ‘Danger is in Words’: The Drama and Assassination of Christopher Marlowe....Pages 127-167 Front Matter....Pages 169-169 ‘We Few, We Happy Few,’ or ‘Murdering our Men’....Pages 171-189 Military Conflict among the Elite....Pages 190-207 ‘The Days of Villainy’....Pages 208-238 Conclusion: Legacies of Surveillance and Militarism....Pages 239-241 Back Matter....Pages 242-348 Challenges the view that Renaissance English rulers could not dominate their domestic population. This text reads the drama of Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare in relation to ongoing national and international conflict.