Gismond of Salerne: An Elizabethan and Cupidean Tragedy

Author: Kingsley-Smith, Jane

Source: The Yearbook of English Studies, Volume 38, Numbers 1-2, 1 July 2008 , pp. 199-215(17)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

Gismond of Salerne, written by five gentlemen of the Inner Temple and performed before Elizabeth I at Greenwich in 1566-67, has received very little critical attention. This chapter argues for the play's engagement with the Elizabethan succession, maintaining that its Cupidean revenge plot warns against a monarch's mistreatment of his/her heirs. Moreover, its anatomization of the lovesick, female body potentially alludes to that of Elizabeth herself. Finally, Gismond will be seen to have invented `Cupidean tragedy', a dramatic form that would exert a powerful influence upon the more familiar love tragedy.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Roehampton University

Publication date: 2008-07-01

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A supplement to the Modern Language Review, this journal includes articles and reviews on the language and literature of the English-speaking world. Most of the volumes published so far are 'Special Numbers', collections of between fifteen and eighteen commissioned articles on particular topics, such as the impact of the French Revolution on English writers; literature in the modern media; and colonial and imperial themes in literature.