The Aesthetics of Spectacle in Early Modern Drama and Modern Cinema This page intentionally left blank The Aesthetics of Spectacle in Early Modern Drama and Modern Cinema Robert Greene’s Theatre of Attractions Jenny Sager University of Nottingham, UK © Jenny Sager 2013 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-33239-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-46170-7 ISBN 978-1-137-33240-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137332400 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India. Contents List of Illustrations vi Acknowledgements vii List of Abbreviations ix Conventions x Introduction 1 1 The Aesthetics of Spectacle 23 Part I Stage Properties 2 The Leviathan in Thomas Lodge and Robert Greene’s A Looking Glass for London and England 53 3 Resurrecting the Body in Robert Greene’s James IV (c. 1590) 70 4 The Brazen Head in Alphonsus King of Aragon and Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay 83 Part II Stage Conventions 5 Madness and Poetic Inspiration in Orlando Furioso 109 6 The Aesthetics of Violence in Selimus 127 Conclusion 140 Notes 145 Bibliography 179 Index 208 v List of Illustrations 1 Woodcut from the title page of John Dickenson’s Greene in Conceipt (London, 1598), sig. A1 17 2 On the set of his 1975 movie Jaws, Steven Spielberg poses beside the gaping jaws of a shark 54 3 Woodcut from the title page of the anomymous pamphlet A True and Wonderful Relation of a Whale (London, 1645), sig. A1 62 4 F ifteenth- century wall painting of the Last Judgement in the chancel of the Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross in Stratford-u pon-Avon 65 5 A still from George Méliès’s film L’homme à la tête en caoutchouc (1902) 84 6 Woodcut on the title page of Robert Greene’s The Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (London, 1630), sig. A 89 7 Film still from Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990) 110 8 The frontispiece of Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy (London, 1638), sig. A1 116 9 The logo of The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) 128 10 Detail of woodcut from emblem no. 16, taken from The Mirror of Majesty (London, 1618), p. 37 137 vi Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank Emma Smith, without whose advice, encouragement and support this book would never have been completed. I am indebted to James McBain, who stuck by this project and indeed by its author, in good times and in bad. Thanks are also due to Paulina Kewes. I am also hugely grateful to all those who offered comments on early drafts: Diane Purkiss, Matthew Steggle, Bart van Es, Katherine Duncan Jones, Richard Dutton, Richard Proudfoot, Andrew Klevan, Chris Stamatakis and Guy Perry. L ong- term thanks are owed to my undergraduate tutors at St Andrews, Eric Langley, Neil Rhodes, Alex Davis and the much missed Barbara Murray. I would also like to thank Jacquie Rawes for being a brilliant proof reader, adviser and even better friend. This book is dedicated to R.B. In addition, I would especially like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council, for their financial support. Particular gratitude goes to the staff of the Bodleian Library, the British Library, Helmi Fagan at the Globe’s Archive and Heather Romaine at Bristol University’s Drama Department. Thanks also to Benjamin Doyle, Sophie Ainscough, Felicity Plester, Catherine Mitchell, Jo North and the two anonymous readers at Palgrave Macmillan. Chapter 3 appeared in Early Modern Literary Studies, 16.2 (2012) and an earlier version of Chapter 2 was published in the University of Durham’s e - journal Postgraduate English, no. 23 (2011). I am grateful to the publishers for permission to reuse this material. The author and publisher would also like to thank the following for permission to reproduce copyright material: the Museum of Modern Art, New York, courtesy of Scala Group, for the still from George Méliès’s film L’homme à la tête en caoutchouc (1902); the Bodleian Library for the title page woodcut of John Dickenson’s Greene in Conceipt (London, 1598) and the title page woodcut of the anonymous pamphlet A True and Wonderful Relation of a Whale (London, 1645); Universal Pictures, courtesy of Kobal Collection, for the image of Steven Spielberg during the filming of Jaws (1975); Heritage Technology Ltd for the fifteenth-c entury wall painting of the Last Judgement in the c hancel of the Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross in Stratford- upon-Avon; the British Library for the title page woodcut from Robert Greene’s The Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (London, 1630), vii viii Acknowledgements the title page woodcut from Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy (London, 1638) and the woodcut from emblem no. 16 from The Mirror of Majesty (London, 1618); Castle Rock Entertainment courtesy of Kobal Collection, for the film still from Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990); Paramount courtesy of Kobal Collection, for the logo of The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972). List of Abbreviations Greene’s works and works attributed to Greene Alp Alphonsus King of Aragon (c. 1587) FB Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (c. 1589) JB John of Bordeaux (c. 1590–4?) JIV James IV (c.1590) LG A Looking Glasse for London and England (c. 1588) OF Orlando Furioso (c. 1591) Sel Selimus (c. 1591–4) Shakespeare’s works AW All’s Well that Ends Well AYL As You Like It Cym Cymbeline Ham Hamlet 2H4 Henry IV, part 2 H5 Henry V 1H6 Henry VI, part 1 JC Julius Caesar KJ King John Mac Macbeth MND A Midsummer Night’s Dream R2 King Richard II RJ Romeo and Juliet Tit Titus Andronicus TN Twelfth Night TS The Taming of the Shrew WT The Winter’s Tale ix