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Religion and restoration drama: the new plays of 1660-1720
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Fletcher, David (2023) Religion and restoration drama: the new plays of 1660-1720. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3986054~S1
Abstract
One of the most distinctive features of the changing religious and cultural landscape in England between 1660 and 1720 was the reopening of the public theatres, after their closure in 1642. This reawakening generated a rich repertoire of new plays. This thesis seeks to examine how these plays treated religion, broadly conceived, and what they tell us about both drama and attitudes to religious institutions and faith. Religion was one of the most ubiquitous issues of the period and the stage was one of its most striking cultural representations. This thesis brings together for the first time these two fundamental elements of life in England over the whole of the long Restoration period. Many new plays of the period engaged with religious issues and included in their cast lists a wide range of religious characters, both clerical and lay. This thesis will show that most of these characters are shown in a negative light. Many of these portrayals were used to attack specific religious groups at times of conflict, but the relative absence of positive religious portrayals means that any counterbalancing force is limited. The remorselessness of these negative portrayals raises the question of the attitude shown in these plays to religion in general. The central argument of this thesis is that the dramatists’ attitude to religion was, at the very least, either intentionally or carelessly disrespectful. In some cases, there is evidence of what one of the characters calls ‘a damn'd Atheistical Age’.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PR English literature | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | English drama -- Restoration, 1660-1700 -- History and criticism, Theater -- Religious aspects, Theater -- England -- History -- 17th century -- Drama, Religion in literature | ||||
Official Date: | 2023 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of History | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Knights, Mark, Knights, Mark, West, John | ||||
Extent: | viii, 200 pages) : illustrations | ||||
Language: | eng |
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