The Movement Towards Subversion: The English History Play from Skelton to Shakespeare

This work explores the theme of power in the Renaissance English history play. It analyzes the growing subversion of the sociopolitical hierarchy in Renaissance drama from Skelton’s Magnificence to Shakespeare’s King Lear . Unlike most scholarship, this book studies the lesser-known, often neglected dramas plus some familiar, canonical works. These plays tell us a lot about political and religious attitudes in 16th-century England. Instead of discussing the plays in regard to their relationships with and influence upon Shakespearean drama, the author analyses the plays on their own terms. This book also shows how dramatists employ mediaeval history in their plays to express subversive ideas about Tudor political situations.