Searle, A. orcid.org/0000-0002-9672-6353 (2021) Compassion, Contingency and Conversion in James Shirley’s The Sisters. In: Compassion in Early Modern Literature and Culture: Feeling and Practice. Cambridge University Press , Cambridge , pp. 159-176. ISBN 9781108495394
Abstract
Alison Searle examines the formal procedures connected to compassion in James Shirley’s The Sisters (licensed 26 April 1642). She focuses on the problems posed by outsiders: the compassion of bandits dwelling as an anti-society in the woodlands, the recurring trope of the vagrant/beggar/gypsy/actor used to interrogate histrionic techniques deployed to evoke compassion and the complexities of policing the performance of compassion within the early modern Protestant state. Shirley’s play elucidates the ways in which compassion could create new, dangerous communities, as well as exposing the limits of existing groups. By postulating the ruler as a potential object of compassion, the play proleptically examines one of the most pressing political questions of the English Civil War: can the monarch be an object of compassion? The play’s invitation to feel pity for the plight of the king creates a political space for subversive action. If one can empathise with the king, is he a potential peer?
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Keywords: | compassion, conversion, theatre, early modern England, Caroline comedy , English Civil War , monarchy , James Shirley, The Sisters, vagrants |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of English (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 06 Oct 2023 09:08 |
Last Modified: | 06 Oct 2023 09:08 |
Published Version: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/compassio... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/9781108862172.013 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:202193 |