The politics of honour in restoration drama : moments of crisis, 1660-1681
The politics of honour in restoration drama : moments of crisis, 1660-1681
This thesis examines how the concept of honour functioned as a part of political discourse during the reign of Charles II and in particular how this discourse of honour shifted in response to political crisis. I have chosen to examine dramatic texts, both performed and published, because they were essential building blocks in reconstituting the honour community that had been given riven by the Great Civil War of 1642-46. During the Restoration, these plays provided a public forum for exploring the impact of the recent political upheaval on the body politic. My thesis examines how dramatic texts sought to re-inscribe the relationship of the elite to the crown by attempting to reforge broken links of loyalty and by reviving cultural memories.
In the introduction, I discuss the definitions of honour, the historiography of the Restoration drama and the links between representations of honour in the Interregnum and the Restoration periods. Chapter I deals with the events of the immediate post-Restoration era and highlights how the issue of loyalty was interrogated and hammered home on the stage. Chapter II explores the failure of the government to address political problems in the first few years of the Restoration period and the extent to which the memories of Civil War continued to permeate dramatic texts in the early years of the reign of Charles II. Chapter III shows how the discourse of honour on the stage engaged with the disasters of fire, plague and war in the late 1660s. Chapter IV highlights the way in which the growth of faction posed a threat to the language of honour and how emerging concerns over a Catholic succession began to revive the notion of honour as loyalty in the latter half of the 1670s. The closing chapter examines the dramatic response to the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-81 and shows the importance of the dramatic discourse of honour in rebuilding support for the crown at this time of extreme danger for the future of the Stuart monarchy.
University of Southampton
Ford Huntley, Marjorie
eeec573f-927a-4363-a8b8-66547a5672a3
2006
Ford Huntley, Marjorie
eeec573f-927a-4363-a8b8-66547a5672a3
Ford Huntley, Marjorie
(2006)
The politics of honour in restoration drama : moments of crisis, 1660-1681.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
This thesis examines how the concept of honour functioned as a part of political discourse during the reign of Charles II and in particular how this discourse of honour shifted in response to political crisis. I have chosen to examine dramatic texts, both performed and published, because they were essential building blocks in reconstituting the honour community that had been given riven by the Great Civil War of 1642-46. During the Restoration, these plays provided a public forum for exploring the impact of the recent political upheaval on the body politic. My thesis examines how dramatic texts sought to re-inscribe the relationship of the elite to the crown by attempting to reforge broken links of loyalty and by reviving cultural memories.
In the introduction, I discuss the definitions of honour, the historiography of the Restoration drama and the links between representations of honour in the Interregnum and the Restoration periods. Chapter I deals with the events of the immediate post-Restoration era and highlights how the issue of loyalty was interrogated and hammered home on the stage. Chapter II explores the failure of the government to address political problems in the first few years of the Restoration period and the extent to which the memories of Civil War continued to permeate dramatic texts in the early years of the reign of Charles II. Chapter III shows how the discourse of honour on the stage engaged with the disasters of fire, plague and war in the late 1660s. Chapter IV highlights the way in which the growth of faction posed a threat to the language of honour and how emerging concerns over a Catholic succession began to revive the notion of honour as loyalty in the latter half of the 1670s. The closing chapter examines the dramatic response to the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-81 and shows the importance of the dramatic discourse of honour in rebuilding support for the crown at this time of extreme danger for the future of the Stuart monarchy.
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Published date: 2006
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Local EPrints ID: 466094
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/466094
PURE UUID: 9e2a09d8-5fc1-4206-8048-3cb5f03f9b5c
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Date deposited: 05 Jul 2022 04:17
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 20:30
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Author:
Marjorie Ford Huntley
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