Book description
Following the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign in the early seventeenth
century, the new court of King James was beset by political instability
and moral corruption. This atmosphere provided fertile ground for the
dramatists of the age, whose plays explore the ways in which social
decadence and the abuse of power breed resentment and lead inexorably to
violence and bloody retribution. In Tourneur's The Revenger's Tragedy,
the debauched son of an Italian Duke attempts to rape the virtuous
Gloriana - a veiled reference to Elizabeth I. Webster's The White Devil
depicts a sinister world of intrigue and murderous infidelity, while The
Changeling, perhaps Middleton's supreme achievement, powerfully portrays
a woman bringing about her own unwitting destruction. All three are
masterpieces of brooding intensity, dominated by images of decay,
disillusionment and death.
Gamini Salgado has also edited Three Restoration Comedies for
Penguin Classics.
Gamini Salgado has also edited Three Restoration Comedies for
Penguin Classics.
