Prompting prudence : early modern revenge drama and the memory-training tradition

Abstract

This thesis examines the methods by whieh revenge playwrights direct playgoer attention to significant moments in their plays. My contention is that many of the devices employed by these playwrights in their dramaturgical practice (whether visual, aural, or verbal prompts) are drawn from civic practices which communicate secular or religious authority to the spectator/listener. I suggest that the mnemonic properties found m these civic didactic practices are inherited from the widespread dissemination of the central tenets of the memory-training tradition from the late medieval period (especially highlighting the importance of the Scholastic appropriation of the memory-training tradition).