How to Study a Renaissance Play: Marlowe, Webster, Jonson (1988)

Alongside Shakespeare, the great English dramatists of the Renaissance are Marlowe, Webster and Jonson. In this new guide, Chris Coles shows you how to approach the plays of these three major playwrights and how you can build your own critical response to their complex and demanding plays.

If you are studying any of these three dramatists, then this is likely to prove the one critical book you will need. Chris Coles starts with the basic problem of understanding what a play is about, and then shows you how to discuss such matters as themes, language, characters and staging. The plays he discuses are Doctor Faustus, Edward II, The Duchess of Malfi, The White Devil, Volpone and The Alchemist. A final chapter provides very full guidance on how to write an essay and how to answer examination questions. The whole book offers good advice which is certain to improve not only your examination performance but also your enjoyment of Renaissance Drama.