Seneca and Elizabethan Tragedy

by Frank Laurence Lucas

Overview

Seneca's plays, which include Hercules Furens, Phaedra, Medea and Oedipus, were widely read during the Elizabethan era, and had an important influence on the dramatists of the time, including Shakespeare, Kyd, Marlowe and Marston. This study, first published in 1922, examines Seneca's Greek predecessors, his character, life and times, and the nature and extent of his influence and legacy. Divided into five sections, the book addresses in turn: the rise of Greek drama before Seneca; Seneca's character and temperament; Seneca's tragedies; the different dramatic forms in the centuries after Seneca; and the important influence of Seneca on Elizabethan dramatists. Lucas provides close readings of a wide range of plays, including Macbeth and The Spanish Tragedy, and places the works in their historical context – Greek, Roman and Elizabethan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108003582
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/20/2009
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.35(d)

Table of Contents

1. The drama before Seneca; 2. Seneca the man; 3. The tragedies of Seneca; 4. Darkness and dawn; 5. Seneca in the Elizabethans; Index.