Echoes of Violence on the Early Modern English Stage and Beyond

This book offers a compelling examination of how violence reverberates through Renaissance drama and Early Modern society.
This edited collection explores the multifaceted nature of violence in Early Modern England, revealing how violent acts create ripple effects that extend far beyond their initial occurrence. The book's chapters investigate these echoes and distortions, making historically distant violence more comprehensible to contemporary readers. Rather than limiting its scope to physical bloodshed, the collection adopts a broader definition that encompasses violent language, soundscapes, and systemic oppression. By examining both theatrical representations and historical incidents, the authors illuminate the increasingly blurred boundary between staged and real violence. Through this comprehensive approach, the collection weaves a rich tapestry that captures the complex interconnections between various forms of violence in Renaissance England, providing readers with a nuanced understanding of how violence permeated Early Modern society and culture.
This wide-ranging exploration will appeal to specialists in Early Modern violence seeking diverse perspectives, as well as students and scholars researching Renaissance texts, historical violence, or interdisciplinary approaches to Early Modern studies.

List of contents

Contributors
Introduction by Samantha Dressel and Matthew Carter
Chapter 1. Revenge Realness by Samantha Dressel
Chapter 2. Contextualizing Marital Violence by Loreen L. Giese
Chapter 3. The obscene ob skene by Emma K. Atwood
Chapter 4. Sonic Violence in Webster's The Duchess of Malfi by Amanda Eubanks Winkler
Chapter 5. Titular Violence in Beaumont and Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy by Megan Snell
Chapter 6. Shakespeare's Violent Heads by Amina H. Tajbhai
Chapter 7. Hotspur's Trauma: Memory, Identity and War in 1 Henry IV by Eric Dunnum
Chapter 8. Vanishing Echoes of Violence by Matthew Carter
Chapter 9. Pity and Compassion at the Scaffold in Early Modern England by Jennifer Lodine-Chaffey
Chapter 10. Echoes of Peace: Intertextuality, Humanism, and Violence in Shakespeare's King John
by Paul Joseph Zajac
Index

About the author

Samantha Dressel is an Assistant Professor in Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University, USA.
Matthew Carter is an Assistant Professor of English at Clayton State University, USA.

Product details

• Authors: Carter Matthew, Samantha Carter Dressel, Samantha essel
• Assisted by: Carter Matthew (Editor), Samantha essel (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 03.03.2026
• EAN: 9781041114376
• ISBN: 978-1-0-4111437-6
• No. of pages: 256
• Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama > Drama; Humanities, art, music > Art > Theatre, ballet; DRAMA / Shakespeare, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / History & Criticism, Theatre Studies, Literary studies: plays & playwrights, Shakespeare Plays, Literary studies: plays and playwrights, Classic plays / drama, Early Modern England;Shakespeare;Renaissance drama