Golden Age Spain on the Jacobean Stage: John Fletcher’s Reading and Writing of Cervantes & Co.

Golden Age Spanish on the Jacobean Stage challenges the received wisdom that, although Fletcher, Massinger, and other Jacobean dramatists drew on Spanish material, English playwrights’ engagement with Spanish literature was limited to exploiting Spanish authors for good plots. Instead, Mary Dudy posits that Fletcher’s engagement with Spanish culture was vastly more profound than has previously been recognized; and in fact, that it constitutes a vital, integral element in his dramatic achievement. Her analysis shows that Fletcher’s acquaintance with Spanish novels led the playwright to experiment with significantly different ways of handling the main themes of his artistry.

This study explores Fletcher’s repeated use of Golden Age Spanish literature, especially Cervantes, in the context of political and cultural factors that rendered England’s relationship to Spain more complex than ever during the reign of James I. Golden Age Spanish on the Jacobean Stage leads inexorably to the conclusion that in order to gain the fullest possible understanding of later English Renaissance drama, we must think through the Spanish question.