Elizabethan Drama Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 56 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Elizabethan Drama.

Elizabethan Drama Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 56 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Elizabethan Drama.
This section contains 709 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the Elizabethan Drama Study Guide

Anti-Semitism

Hatred of Jews prevailed in Elizabethan society, and this is reflected in plays of the period. Two of the strongest examples of plays containing strong anti-Semitism are Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta and William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. In Marlowe's play, Barabas, the Jew of Malta, is a cruel, egotistic, and greedy man. In Elizabethan times, he was played in a confrontational and somewhat comic manner, with the actor wearing a red wig and a long hooked nose. Shylock, the Jewish merchant in The Merchant of Venice, is also presented as a greedy, vindictive man. Shakespeare tempers his character, however, with a bit more humanity than is found in Barabas. Elizabethan anti-Semitism was fueled in 1594 when Queen Elizabeth's Jewish doctor was executed on the charge of trying to poison her.

Disguise

Disguise is a device that is used frequently by the characters in Elizabethan Drama. It...

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This section contains 709 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the Elizabethan Drama Study Guide
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Elizabethan Drama from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.