Elizabethan Drama

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses "Shakespeare's Contemporaries", a collection of critical essays on Elizabethan drama. The paper focuess on the essays pertaining to Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus". The paper also argues with Alfred Harbage's introduction, which claims that Elizabethan criticism of popular Elizabethan drama does not exist.

From the Paper:

"The essays pertaining to Marlowe's Dr. Faustus written by Arthur Mizener and W. W. Greg are asking for a re-reading of the play in order to talk about it and teach it. They defend Marlowe's use of language by criticizing essayist Charles Lamb's comments of the early 1800s that Marlowe was a poet. They address the critical complaint that once Dr. Faustus has the power he demands, he gives in to it too easily and goes to hell. They defend that Marlowe did that purposely in order to show the betrayal of ideals. "But the logical outline is there, and I must differ from Marlowe's critics, and believe that when he sketched that outline Marlowe knew what he was about." (p 97 Greg essay). Although Dr. Faustus has given in to the power of Lucifer, his decline is slow as he questions the existence of hell, "I think hell is a fable," (Act II scene I l128)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bluestone, Max and Rabkin, Norman. Shakespeare's Contemporaries. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1961.

More papers on Elizabethan Drama:

• Essay # 3592 : "The Elizabethan Tragedy"
• Essay # 56797 : "Elizabethan Theater and Drama"
• Term Paper # 107041 : "Comedy, Drama and Tragedy"

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