The Will in English Renaissance Drama

Douglas Clark reveals how moments of willing and will-making pervade English Renaissance drama and play a crucial role in the depiction of selfhood, sin, sociality, and succession. Exploring the dramatic performance of the will as both internal faculty and legal document, this wide-ranging study synthesizes concepts from historical, theological, philosophical, and legal studies. Clark explores the diverse connections that Shakespeare, Jonson and Middleton as well as overlooked playwrights of the early Elizabethan era made between types and understandings of the will, and reveals the little-understood ethical issues to which they gave rise in relation to the mind, emotions, and soul. Understanding the purpose of the will in its multiple forms was a central concern for writers of the time, and Clark shows how this concern profoundly shaped the depiction of life and death in both Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. This title is part of the Flip it Open programme and may also be available open access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.