Jane Hwang Degenhardt
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748640843
- eISBN:
- 9780748651597
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640843.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter is concerned with the revival of the Knights of Malta in five plays performed sometime between 1589 and 1621, which refer to the territorial battles between the Christians and Muslims. ...
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This chapter is concerned with the revival of the Knights of Malta in five plays performed sometime between 1589 and 1621, which refer to the territorial battles between the Christians and Muslims. It tries to determine if English plays model the redemption of Christian renegades by accepting the Knights' Catholic vow of chastity. It also shows that the figure of a chaste Knight of Malta encouraged a model of English masculinity that could resist and carry out imperialism in honourable ways.Less
This chapter is concerned with the revival of the Knights of Malta in five plays performed sometime between 1589 and 1621, which refer to the territorial battles between the Christians and Muslims. It tries to determine if English plays model the redemption of Christian renegades by accepting the Knights' Catholic vow of chastity. It also shows that the figure of a chaste Knight of Malta encouraged a model of English masculinity that could resist and carry out imperialism in honourable ways.
Jane Hwang Degenhardt
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748640843
- eISBN:
- 9780748651597
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640843.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This book explores the theme of Christian conversion to Islam in twelve early-modern English plays by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Massinger and others. In these works, conversion from Christianity to Islam ...
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This book explores the theme of Christian conversion to Islam in twelve early-modern English plays by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Massinger and others. In these works, conversion from Christianity to Islam is represented as both erotic and tragic: as a sexual seduction and a fate worse than death. The book examines the theatre's treatment of the intercourse between the Christian and Islamic faiths to reveal connections between sexuality, race and confessional identity in early modern English drama and culture. In addition, it shows how England's encounter with Islam reanimated post-Reformation debates about the embodiment of Christian faith. As the book compellingly demonstrates, the erotics of conversion added fuel to the fires of controversies over Pauline universalism, Christian martyrdom, the efficacy of relics and rituals and the ideals of the Knights of Malta.Less
This book explores the theme of Christian conversion to Islam in twelve early-modern English plays by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Massinger and others. In these works, conversion from Christianity to Islam is represented as both erotic and tragic: as a sexual seduction and a fate worse than death. The book examines the theatre's treatment of the intercourse between the Christian and Islamic faiths to reveal connections between sexuality, race and confessional identity in early modern English drama and culture. In addition, it shows how England's encounter with Islam reanimated post-Reformation debates about the embodiment of Christian faith. As the book compellingly demonstrates, the erotics of conversion added fuel to the fires of controversies over Pauline universalism, Christian martyrdom, the efficacy of relics and rituals and the ideals of the Knights of Malta.
