Elizabethan Drama and Its Mad Folk / The Harness Prize Essay for 1913

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Gutenberg ID

63896

Title

Elizabethan Drama and Its Mad Folk / The Harness Prize Essay for 1913

Language

en

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Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

E. Allison Peers offers a scholarly analysis of madness in Elizabethan drama, contrasting Shakespeare's profound, tragic portrayals with the farcical or superficial treatments of his contemporaries like Fletcher and Jonson.

Summary up to 500 words

In his 1913 Harness Prize Essay, *Elizabethan Drama and Its Mad Folk*, E. Allison Peers offers a critical examination of how mental instability was depicted in Elizabethan theater. Peers distinguishes between two primary categories of madness: 'true' melancholy, a genuine pathological condition, and 'false' melancholy, which serves as a theatrical device for comedy or spectacle. Through detailed analysis of specific characters, Peers argues that while contemporaries like John Fletcher and Ben Jonson often relegated mad figures to underplots or utilized them for farcical effect, William Shakespeare elevated madness to a central, tragic element. Peers analyzes Shattillion in Philip Massinger and John Fletcher's *The Noble Gentleman*, noting that while the character is skillfully woven into the plot, the treatment remains largely comic, prioritizing humor over deep sympathy. Similarly, he critiques Ben Jonson's Trouble-all in *Bartholomew Fair*, praising the character's realistic depiction of an obsession with warrants but lamenting the lack of genuine pathos, viewing the figure as a mere vehicle for jest. In contrast, Peers asserts that Shakespeare's refusal to treat madness as a butt for the groundlings results in his most sublime figures. Characters like Lear, Hamlet, and Ophelia are not peripheral curiosities but agents or victims of tragedy, inextricably interwoven with the main narrative. The essay further explores hallucinations and delusions, citing the spectral dagger in *Macbeth* and the phantoms tormenting Frank Thorney in *The Witch of Edmonton*. Peers contends that Shakespeare's genius lies in his ability to portray the psychological reality of these states without sacrificing dramatic integrity. By integrating the mad into the core texture of the play rather than using them for pageantry or trivial subplots, Shakespeare achieves a sustained excellence unmatched by his peers. Ultimately, Peers concludes that Shakespeare's integration of the mad establishes his superiority in handling this subject, creating complex, humanized figures that resonate with profound pathos and artistic truth.

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Categories

• Psychology
• Drama
• History