Cry of curs : language, class and the mob in Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare

File(s)
Date
2009-04-10Author
Zirbel, Jason J.
Advisor(s)
Klemp, Paul J.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
According to Stephen Greenblatt, "the Renaissance displays a markedly increased
sensitivity, nourished by classicism, to theoretical implications of genre differentiation."
In the works of Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare, the respective genres of pastoral
romance, chivalric romance, and history stage play each work to advance the individual
class interest of the author. In Book 2 of the Old and New Arcadia, the aristocratic
Sidney depicts upper-class characters as possessing a linguistic facility which allows and
at times justifies their manipulation of the inherently inarticulate lower-class mob. In
Book 5 canto 2 of Spenser's Faerie Queene, the knight Artegall acts as an enforcer of
centralized authority, deconstructing the populist ideology of a demagogic giant, and
recalling the bureaucratic Spe~ser's own fear of the unrestrained voice of the lower
orders as laid out in his View ofthe Present State of Ireland. Finally, the Roman history
play Coriolanus allows Shakespeare to demonstrate the importance of language and roleplaying
in the social and political arenas, thereby legitimating the occupation by which he
earned the financial capital that allowed him to lay claim to the title of gentleman.
The humanistic belief in the power of language to shape social reality is evident in the
work of each author, as is influence of the class society that formed the ideology
underlying each text.
Subject
Sidney, Philip
Shakespeare, William
Spenser, Edmund
Politics and literature -- Great Britain -- History
Speech and social status -- England
English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700, History and criticism
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/34328Type
Thesis
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts - English
--University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 2008