Author Description
Early modern private prayer is skilled at narrative and drama. In manuals and sermons on how to pray, collections of model prayers, scholarly treatises about biblical petitions, and popular tracts about life crises prompting calls to God, prayer is valued as a powerful agent of change. Model prayers create stories about people in distinct ranks and jobs, with concrete details about real-life situations. These characters may act in play-lets, or appear in the middle of difficulties, or voice a suite of petitions from all sides of a conflict. Thinking of early modern private prayers as dramatic dialogues rather than lyric monologues raises the question of whether play-going and praying were mutually reinforcing practices. Could dramatists deploying prayer on stage rely on having audience members who were already expert at making up roles for themselves in prayer, and who expected their petitions to have the power to intervene in major events? Does prayer's focus on cause and effect structure the historiography of Shakespeare's Henry VI, Richard III, Richard II, Henry V, and Henry VIII?
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates whether the dramatic structures inherent in early modern private prayer influenced the theatrical techniques and historiographical narratives found in Shakespeare's history plays. Ceri Sullivan, a scholar of early modern literature and religion, examines how manuals, sermons, and model prayers of the period functioned as dramatic dialogues. By analyzing the intersection of devotional practice and stagecraft, the author argues that the performative nature of prayer provided a framework for how audiences understood cause, effect, and intervention in Shakespearean drama.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of early modern prayer manuals, sermons, and popular tracts.
- A comparative study of devotional dialogue and theatrical monologue.
- Examination of Shakespeare's history plays including Henry VI, Richard III, Richard II, Henry V, and Henry VIII.
Scope Limits
- The study focuses primarily on the intersection of prayer and drama rather than a comprehensive history of early modern theology.
- It does not provide an exhaustive analysis of every Shakespearean play, concentrating specifically on the history cycle.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars recognize this work as a nuanced contribution to the study of early modern religious culture and its influence on secular literature. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the author's meticulous attention to the rhetorical parallels between devotional texts and stage scripts.
Page Count:
272
Publication Date:
2020-01-01
ISBN-10:
0192599275
ISBN-13:
9780192599278
In literature
Shakespeare Studies
English literature
English & College Success
Drama Theory
History - Modern
English
Literary Criticism
Shakespeare William