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askirmishofwit's review
4.0
I only actually read the first two plays in this collection, Arden of Faversham and A Woman Killed With Kindness, but both are wonderful glimpses into the importance of the family in Early Modern culture and literature. The dramatic form in particular helps to showcase these interactions and connections visually and I can only imagine the use of theatrical modes (soliloquies, asides, staging) helps to solidify some of the more comedic and farcical elements in what are otherwise considered tragedies.
I particularly enjoyed Arden of Faversham, with its questioning of oath-taking/promises, marital relationships, use of women as bargaining tools, class-based antagonisms, and the microcosm-macrocosm of a stable family as the foundation of a stable state or society, this play functions on so many levels and I thoroughly enjoyed it as a piece of Early Modern drama.
I particularly enjoyed Arden of Faversham, with its questioning of oath-taking/promises, marital relationships, use of women as bargaining tools, class-based antagonisms, and the microcosm-macrocosm of a stable family as the foundation of a stable state or society, this play functions on so many levels and I thoroughly enjoyed it as a piece of Early Modern drama.
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