The Devil in Early Modern Theatre

So next semester's courses got released. It looks like I'll be taking Old English, Renaissance, a seminar with one of my committee members, and I'm proposing an independent study, again, to fill a gap in my dissertation, and prep me for my comps.

I would like to conduct an independent study with Dr. ----- for the Spring 2014 semester for several reasons. The first is the next time Dr. ----- is teaching a graduate level course is Spring 2015, when I am hoping to take my comprehensive exams, and I would like Dr. ----- to serve on my Committee of Studies.The second is, this independent study would enable me to build part of my comprehensive exam reading list for the area of Early Modern/Renaissance. My dissertation researches the folkloric figure of Satan from Old Norse mythology, up to and including Milton’s characterization in Paradise Lost. This independent study would enable me to focus on how the devil was portrayed in Early Modern theatre.My argument is that the folkloric figure of the devil was most often seen in the genre of the people, theatre, so I would benefit greatly from this focused course.

    I have attached a list of proposed primary, and secondary sources for this independent study. The primary texts all feature the devil, as well as allow the opportunity for me to examine how other, minority populations, such as Jews, were “othered” as devils in literature of the time. The secondary sources focus on the portrayal, and meanings of the devil in Early Modern theatre, as well as the implications and symbolism of this figure on the stage. I would also like to research the connection between devil figures in theatre with the concepts of carnival as it was seen in Early Modern theatre.

Primary Sources

Barnes, Barnabe. The Devil’s Charter.Merry Devil of Edmonton.

Dekker, Thomas.

Harding, Sam. Sicily and Naples.

Heminges, William. The Fatal Contract.

Marlowe, Christopher. Doctor Faustus.

----. The Jew of Malta.

Rowley, William, Thomas Dekker and John Ford. The Witch of Edmonton.

Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice.

Webster, John. The White Devil.

-----. The Devil’s Law Case.

Secondary Sources

Booth, Roy. “Witchcraft in Flight and the Early Modern English Stage”, Early Modern Literary Studies, 2007.

Cox, John D. The Devil and the Sacred in English Drama 1350-1642. Cambridge Publishing, 2000.

Forman, Valerie. Tragicomic Redemptions: Global Economics and the Early Modern English Stage. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.

Harris, Jonathan Gil and Natasha Korda, eds. Staged Properties in Early Modern English Drama.  Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Heyland, Peter. Disguise in the Early Modern Stage. Ashgate Publishing, 2011.

Levack, Brian. The Devil Within: Possession and Exorcism in the Christian West. Yale University Press, 2013.

Raiswell, Richard and Peter Dendle. The Devil in Society in Premodern Europe. Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, Victoria University in the University of Toronto, 2012.

Theile, Verena and Andrew D. McCarthy, eds.. Staging the Superstitions of Early Modern Europe. Ashgate Publishing, 2013.

Van Dijkhuizen, Jan Frans. Devil Theatre: Demonic Possession and Exorcism in English Renaissance Drama. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Waldron, Jennifer. Reformations of the Body: Idolatry, Sacrifice, and Early Modern Theater. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Williamson, Elizabeth. The Materiality of Religion in Early Modern English Drama. Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2009.

If anyone has any sources they could recommend, I would be appreciative