Biblical Drama under the Tudors

Abstract

Maid's Tragedy or Pbilaster, it is time for him to question his own assumptions.The primary assumption behind Kirsch's theory about "providential" unity is the idea that a play cannot be good if its merits are "merely" theatrical; it must also present a morally coherent picture of the real world.Plays that present such pictures (Shakespeare's, Middleton's, Jonson's) receive Kirsch's approval, and are treated to some extremely penetrating critical discussion -indeed, the chapter on Middleton stands along with Richard Levin's essays in The Multiple Plot as the most illuminating criticism we have on that playwright.But when a play fails this arbitrary test.Kirsch subjects it to lamentably reductive analysis, and misses the valuable theatrical experiences that it does offer us; this is especially true of his chapters on Marston and Ford.Perhaps critics should simply stay away from works that