Money and Magic in Early Modern Drama

Money, magic, and the theatre were powerful forces in early modern England, with money acquiring an independent agency and magic becoming Satanic. The commercial, public theatre was emerging as the perfect medium to display, analyze, and evaluate the newly autonomous power of representation in its financial, magical, and aesthetic forms. Chapters examine the convergence of money and magic in a wide range of early modern drama, from the anonymous Mankind to Shakespeare, focusing on plays such as The Alchemist, The New Inn, and The Staple of News.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 27 June 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Money, magic, and the theatre played significant roles in early modern England, with money gaining independent agency through usury and magic becoming associated with Satanism due to the criminalization of magical signs. The commercial, public theatre emerged as a perfect medium to display, analyze, and evaluate the newly autonomous power of representation in its financial, magical, and aesthetic forms. In the current era of financial deregulation and derivatives, which are as mysterious and occult as the germinal finance of 16th-century London, "Money and Magic in Early Modern Drama" is particularly relevant. The book examines the convergence of money and magic in a wide range of early modern drama, from anonymous works to Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and Shakespeare. Several chapters focus on Shakespeare, whose analysis of the relations between finance, witchcraft, and theatricality is particularly acute in "Timon of Athens," "The Comedy of Errors," "Antony and Cleopatra," and "The Winters Tale."

Weight: 334g
Dimension: 137 x 215 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350247086