Gismond of Salerne: An Elizabethan and Cupidean Tragedy
Author: Kingsley-Smith, Jane1
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.
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