Book description
Elizabethan domestic tragedies depicted the workings of Fortune in the
lives of ordinary people, telling stories of sin, discovery, punishment
and divine mercy, with their settings and characterization often
enhanced by a highly entertaining blend of realism and sensationalism.
Only some half-dozen survive to offset the dramas of kings and nobles in
the tragedies of Shakespeare and his peers. They combined journalism and
entertainment with a didactic concern, and their plots were often
derived from contemporary events.
Arden of Faversham
(1592) and A Yorkshire Tragedy
(1608) are both based on chronicles or pamphlets describing authentic
murders, while A Woman Killed with Kindness
(1603) by Thomas Heywood is a fictional creation, considered his
masterpiece.
Thomas Heywood was probably born in Lincolnshire in
the 1570s. He is recorded as having written a play for the Admiral's
Men in 1596 and was regularly engaged as a player in various
companies. As a writer, his output was prolific and ranged from
domestic tragedies such as A Woman Killed With Kindness, to
histories, comedies and prose works, including An Apology for
Actors. He was buried in Clerkenwell, London in 1641.
Keith Sturgess was Lecturer in English Literature at the
Universities of Khartoum and Lancaster, and subsequently Director of
the Nuffield Theatre Studio, Lancaster and Head of the Department of
Theatre Studies.
