Thomas Lord Cromwell: Difference between revisions
m wl |
Federhalter (talk | contribs) Adding local short description: "Elizabethan history play", overriding Wikidata description "play (probably mistakenly) attributed to Shakespeare" |
||
| (23 intermediate revisions by 18 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|Elizabethan history play}} |
|||
{{about|the play|person|Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex}} |
{{about|the play|the person|Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex}} |
||
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} |
|||
{{italic title}} |
|||
[[Image:Thomas Lord Cromwell.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Title page of 1613 printing of ''Thomas Lord Cromwell''.]] |
[[Image:Thomas Lord Cromwell.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Title page of 1613 printing of ''Thomas Lord Cromwell''.]] |
||
'''''Thomas Lord Cromwell''''' is an [[Elizabethan]] history play, depicting the life of [[Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex]], the minister of King [[Henry VIII of England]]. |
'''''Thomas Lord Cromwell''''' is an [[Elizabethan]] history play, depicting the life of [[Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex]], the minister of King [[Henry VIII of England]]. |
||
The play was entered into the [[Stationers' Register]] on 11 August 1602 and was published in [[book size|quarto]] later the same year by bookseller William |
The play was entered into the [[Stationers' Register]] on 11 August 1602 by William Cotton and was published in [[book size|quarto]] later the same year by bookseller William Jones, for whom it was printed by Richard Read. The title page of Q1 specifies that the play was acted by The [[Lord Chamberlain's Men]], and attributes the play to a "W. S." A second quarto (Q2) was printed in 1613 by [[Thomas Snodham]]. The Q2 title page repeats the data of Q1, though the Lord Chamberlain's Men are now the [[King's Men (playing company)|King's Men]] (the name change having occurred in 1603). |
||
The "W. S." of the quartos was first identified as [[William Shakespeare]] when publisher [[Philip Chetwinde]] added the play to the second impression of his [[Folios and Quartos (Shakespeare)|Shakespeare Third Folio]] in 1664. Modern scholars reject the Shakespearean attribution; speculation, relying on common initials, has shone on [[Wentworth Smith]] and William Sly as possible alternatives. Individual critics have also suggested [[Thomas Heywood]] and [[Michael Drayton]] as possible authors—suggestions unsupported by firm evidence. |
The "W. S." of the quartos was first identified as [[William Shakespeare]] when publisher [[Philip Chetwinde]] added the play to the second impression of his [[Folios and Quartos (Shakespeare)|Shakespeare Third Folio]] in 1664. Modern scholars reject the Shakespearean attribution; speculation, relying on common initials, has shone on [[Wentworth Smith]] and [[William Sly]] as possible alternatives. Individual critics have also suggested [[Thomas Heywood]] and [[Michael Drayton]] as possible authors—suggestions unsupported by firm evidence. |
||
Indeed, scholars have disagreed about almost every aspect of the play; it has been dated as early as |
Indeed, scholars have disagreed about almost every aspect of the play; it has been dated as early as 1582–83 and as late as 1599–1600. The play is primarily political commentary—or religious propaganda. Baldwin Maxwell argued that the play has a discontinuous nature: the first half, through Act III scene ii, is dramaturgically well-crafted, while the second half is disorganized and loosely put together. Maxwell interpreted this as indicating that the extant text was the telescoped condensation of a two-part original; alternatively, others have suggested that the play is a collaboration between two unequal partners, or a work that was left incomplete by its original creator and finished by another hand.<ref>Logan and Smith, pp. 189–193.</ref> |
||
==In Performance== |
|||
In 2020, the Beyond Shakespeare Company released online a play-reading and discussion of ''The Life and Death of Thomas Cromwell''.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/BnZNq9HkeFw Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20201123155417/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnZNq9HkeFw Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnZNq9HkeFw&t=4272s| title = The Life and Death of Thomas Cromwell {{!}} Second Look (Beyond Shakespeare Exploring Session) | website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> |
|||
==Notes== |
==Notes== |
||
<references/> |
<references /> |
||
==References== |
==References== |
||
| Line 16: | Line 23: | ||
* Maxwell, Baldwin. ''Studies in the Shakespeare Apocrypha.'' New York, King's Crown Press, 1956. |
* Maxwell, Baldwin. ''Studies in the Shakespeare Apocrypha.'' New York, King's Crown Press, 1956. |
||
* Tucker Brooke, C. F., ed. ''The Shakespeare Apocrypha.'' Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1908. |
* Tucker Brooke, C. F., ed. ''The Shakespeare Apocrypha.'' Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1908. |
||
==External links== |
|||
* {{Gutenberg |no = 1736 |name = The Life and Death of Thomas Lord Cromwell }} |
|||
* [http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Cro_F3/scene/1.1/ ''Thomas Lord Cromwell''] from [[Internet Shakespeare Editions]] |
|||
{{shakespeare}} |
{{shakespeare}} |
||
{{Authority control}} |
|||
[[Category:Shakespeare |
[[Category:Shakespeare apocrypha]] |
||
[[Category:English Renaissance plays]] |
[[Category:English Renaissance plays]] |
||
[[Category:Biographical plays about English royalty]] |
|||
[[Category:Plays set in England]] |
|||
[[Category:Plays set in the 16th century]] |
|||
[[Category:1602 plays]] |
[[Category:1602 plays]] |
||
Latest revision as of 20:58, 4 June 2024
Thomas Lord Cromwell is an Elizabethan history play, depicting the life of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, the minister of King Henry VIII of England.
The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on 11 August 1602 by William Cotton and was published in quarto later the same year by bookseller William Jones, for whom it was printed by Richard Read. The title page of Q1 specifies that the play was acted by The Lord Chamberlain's Men, and attributes the play to a "W. S." A second quarto (Q2) was printed in 1613 by Thomas Snodham. The Q2 title page repeats the data of Q1, though the Lord Chamberlain's Men are now the King's Men (the name change having occurred in 1603).
The "W. S." of the quartos was first identified as William Shakespeare when publisher Philip Chetwinde added the play to the second impression of his Shakespeare Third Folio in 1664. Modern scholars reject the Shakespearean attribution; speculation, relying on common initials, has shone on Wentworth Smith and William Sly as possible alternatives. Individual critics have also suggested Thomas Heywood and Michael Drayton as possible authors—suggestions unsupported by firm evidence.
Indeed, scholars have disagreed about almost every aspect of the play; it has been dated as early as 1582–83 and as late as 1599–1600. The play is primarily political commentary—or religious propaganda. Baldwin Maxwell argued that the play has a discontinuous nature: the first half, through Act III scene ii, is dramaturgically well-crafted, while the second half is disorganized and loosely put together. Maxwell interpreted this as indicating that the extant text was the telescoped condensation of a two-part original; alternatively, others have suggested that the play is a collaboration between two unequal partners, or a work that was left incomplete by its original creator and finished by another hand.[1]
In Performance
[edit]In 2020, the Beyond Shakespeare Company released online a play-reading and discussion of The Life and Death of Thomas Cromwell.[2]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Logan and Smith, pp. 189–193.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "The Life and Death of Thomas Cromwell | Second Look (Beyond Shakespeare Exploring Session)". YouTube.
References
[edit]- Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. The Popular School: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama. Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1975.
- Maxwell, Baldwin. Studies in the Shakespeare Apocrypha. New York, King's Crown Press, 1956.
- Tucker Brooke, C. F., ed. The Shakespeare Apocrypha. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1908.
External links
[edit]- The Life and Death of Thomas Lord Cromwell at Project Gutenberg
- Thomas Lord Cromwell from Internet Shakespeare Editions
