Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Genres at Play : History, Tragedy, and Comedy in Shakespeare's Richard II

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  • This thesis examines a range of generic influences in William Shakespeare's Richard II. By exploring the play's references to conflicting interpretations of history from different generic perspectives, I hope to advance a more nuanced reading of the play's dynamic staging of history. In Chapter One, I suggest that Richard II complicates medieval and early modern conceptions of history by referencing the de casibus tradition alongside competing interpretations of history. Ultimately, I argue that the play presents a multi-faceted performance of history that evades stable meaning by drawing attention to the ways in which characters' interpretations shift as they tell and retell historical events from contrasting generic perspectives. In Chapter Two, I examine the mingling of comic and tragic elements in Richard II. Because early modern audiences and playwrights emphasized transitions, or rapid changes of emotion, I suggest that Richard II's mixed affect is not an aberration, but rather part of early modern attitudes toward passions and playgoing. Together, these chapters present a reading of Richard II that highlights how early modern notions of affect and playgoing can offer today's readers and playgoers a version of history that dramatizes the challenge of interpreting historical events.
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