A scholarly, modern-spelling edition of a play by the Caroline dramatist John Ford, which has not seen much previous critical attention due to being accidentally omitted from the 1652 edition of his complete works. The introduction resituates the play in the Ford canon and explores how it spoke to audiences when it was first composed in the late 1620s, when it tapped into the contemporary fascination with the pathology of melancholy, and also when it was finally published in 1653. By this time the play's main plot about a sovereign who is threatened with execution would have recalled the beheading of Charles I four years earlier. The play can thus be seen as examining both psychology and politics.
| ISBN: | 9781526181145 |
| Publication date: | 28th January 2025 |
| Author: | Lisa Hopkins |
| Publisher: | Manchester University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 240 pages |
| Series: | The Revels Plays |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800 Literary studies: plays and playwrights Literature: history and criticism |