Customer Reviews

Four Jacobean Sex Tragedies: William Barksted and Lewis Machin: The Insatiate Countess; Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher: The Maid's Tragedy; Thomas ... of Valentinian (Oxford World's Classics)

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Since Amazon.com can't be bothered to list the contents of all the books, I thought I'd be helpful: this book contains The Maid's Tragedy (Beaumont and Fletcher), The Maiden's Tragedy (Middleton), The Tragedy of Valentinian, and The Insatiate Countess (from a draft by Marston).

Oh my goodness! What a wonderful gruesome collection of early 17th century plays! Jacobean drama is conventionally characterized as "decadent," and this anthology seems to justify the appellation. How about nymphomania, necrophilia, incest, murder, poison, blackmail, adultery, and rape? Although the subject matter is sensational, these are also serious psychological studies, well-written and well-plotted dramas. These fascinating plays are not widely available, but they should be. Anybody interested in 17th century English drama and culture will enjoy these plays. The plays are especially provocative in their treatment of monarchy; the royal court is typically portrayed as deeply corrupted, tyrannous, and decadent. Amazingly, for an age of royal absolutism, these plays seem to justify regicide. David Lynch, more over, here come the Jacobean sex tragedies.

I agree with the comments of the previous reviewer that the editing leaves much to be desired. The use of endnotes instead of footnotes is horribly distracting. I finally just stopped using the notes. Most of the notes are unnecessary and add little to the understanding of the text. If you're familiar with reading Shakespeare, you can probably comprehend these texts without looking at the endnotes.