First performed in 1592, The Jew of Malta was one of the most popular plays of its day and has been a treasure of the Elizabethan Renaissance ever since. Set on the island of Malta when it was a center of Mediterranean trade, it deals with power and power struggles on several levels: between individuals, groups, and empires, and between money, family, and political authority.
The title figure of the play is Barabas, grown wealthy by successful overseas trade. Depicted as the personification of Machiavellian ideas (as Machiavelli was understood in Elizabethan England), Barabas feels...
First performed in 1592, The Jew of Malta was one of the most popular plays of its day and has been a treasure of the Elizabethan Renaissance e...
Thomas Heywood (1574?-1641), a professional English actor and one of the most prolific playwrights of the seventeenth century, is most famous for his plays written about contemporary English life.
The Fair Maid of the West recalls typical Elizabethan bourgeois literature, but its primary relationship is with all adventure narratives regardless of their era. This romantic comedy features vivid pictures of English seaport life and travel to exotic locales by English sea captains. The plot is filled with pirate battles, a shipwreck, courageous adventures, and devoted love. If...
Thomas Heywood (1574?-1641), a professional English actor and one of the most prolific playwrights of the seventeenth century, is most famous for h...
