Our sense of the distinction between the “medieval” and the “early modern” is structured by two notions: that the early modern period is characterized by the death of a chivalric culture that is dominant in the medieval period; and that the early modern is distinguished from the medieval by its superior historical self-awareness. This essay reassesses these themes through a reading of Shakespeare and Fletcher's The Two Noble Kinsmen (1634). This is a play of knighthood and chivalric spectacle, adapted from Chaucer's Knight's Tale, which brings Chaucer on stage in the play's prologue. Reading the play through a tradition of “Theban” narratives that proliferated from antiquity through the Middle Ages shows that the representation of chivalric culture in The Two Noble Kinsmen constructs a vision of the past very different from how modern accounts distinguish between medieval and early modern cultures.
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Winter 2010
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Research Article|
January 01 2010
Living in the Past: Thebes, Periodization, and The Two Noble Kinsmen
Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (2010) 40 (1): 173–195.
Citation
Alex Davis; Living in the Past: Thebes, Periodization, and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 1 January 2010; 40 (1): 173–195. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/10829636-2009-018
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