- 264 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Money and Magic in Early Modern Drama
About this book
Money, magic and the theatre were powerful forces in early modern England. Money was acquiring an independent, efficacious agency, as the growth of usury allowed financial signs to reproduce without human intervention. Magic was coming to seem Satanic, as the manipulation of magical signs to performative purposes was criminalized in the great 'witch craze.' And the commercial, public theatre was emerging – to great controversy – as the perfect medium to display, analyse and evaluate the newly autonomous power of representation in its financial, magical and aesthetic forms. Money and Magic in Early Modern Drama is especially timely in the current era of financial deregulation and derivatives, which are just as mysterious and occult in their operations as the germinal finance of 16th-century London. Chapters examine the convergence of money and magic in a wide range of early modern drama, from the anonymous Mankind through Christopher Marlowe to Ben Jonson, concentrating on such plays as The Alchemist, The New Inn and The Staple of News. Several focus on Shakespeare, whose analysis of the relations between finance, witchcraft and theatricality is particularly acute in Timon of Athens, The Comedy of Errors, Antony and Cleopatra and The Winter's Tale.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Halftitle page
- Title Page
- Dedication page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction
- 1 The perverse eco-politics of object-oriented criticism: Money, magical thinking and the new materialism
- 2 The vice of collecting money in Mankind
- 3 Cozening queens and phony fairies: Fairy counterfeits in early modern drama
- 4 The sign of Abel Drugger: Fake news, finance and flattery in Ben Jonson’s ‘dotages’
- 5 Coins, counterfeit and queer threat in The Comedy of Errors
- 6 The magic of bounty in Timon of Athens: Gold, society, nature
- 7 ‘An Antony that grew the more by reaping’: The immeasurable bounty of the sharing economy in Cleopatra’s Egypt
- 8 Woman, warrior or witch? Fetishizing Margaret of Anjou on the early modern stage
- 9 ‘The stone is mine’: Theatre, witchcraft and ventriloquism in The Winter’s Tale
- Index
- Imprint