Possibly The Most Heated Critical Controversy In English Renaissance Studies Has Concerned The Question Of Personal Identity, The Existence Of Self. Notes

Possibly the most heated critical controversy in English Renaissance studies has concerned the question of personal identity, the existence of self. The Renaissance preoccupation with ideas of "the self", inaugurated by the rise of Humanism and fostered perhaps by the Reformation's religious doubt, may be examined through the tragic drama of the period. The medium of drama can in itself been seen as a negation of the self; the adoption of other identities in a performance which seeks to imitate reality yet reveal its separation and elevation from it is an idea form in which writers can investigate the social and personal aspects of identity. As the theatre inevitably places an emphasize on the relationship between linguistic and physical action in its formation of character, the staged 'self', it allows for a more vigorous examination of concepts of identity. From the Elizabethan to the Caroline stage, playwrights continually explored ideas of personal identity and self hood within tragic plots. Tragedy, more so than comedy provided a poignant setting in which to explore ideas of human agency and freewill, the imperatives of familial and social obligation, and the subsequent crisis of identity that these issues initiate. Whilst comedic plays inevitably explored ideas of confused or mistaken identity and gender, tragedy was frequently distinguished as having a higher moral and didactic purpose. Indeed, the abundant discourse in the Elizabethan period on what tragedy, the so called "high and excellent" (Sidney's Defense) art should aim to achieve on the stage is evidence of the fact that it was considered important cultural medium that was seen to have a moral and didactic duty in its "dolefull talles of unfortunate and afflicted princes" (Puttenham, Arte of Poesy). Although its emphasis on courtly setting may suggest that the tragedies of the period were more interested in distant political matters not relevant to its audience, it seems clear from a survey of many of the plays of the period's concerns that this setting is more of a device than a indication of its ultimate aim. By setting a drama among princes and kings, the dramatist is in fact able to place a high significance and emphasis on individual action and power, in a dramatic situation which allows for an acceleration of action and plot fitting to the play's length. As the form develops however from the the 1580's to the 1630's, there is a distinct shift in the affairs that are presented on stage, the emergence of domestic tragedies and city comedies reveals again the growing interest and exploration of the self throughout the Renaissance. Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy (1588--1592), considered to be the first English 'Revenge Tragedy', uses the idea of revenge to explore the relationship between the individual and divine and social powers. Its use of a revenge plot inevitably calls into question to role and power of the individual within a social structure. Francis Bacon in his later essay 'On Revenge' described it as a "kind of wild justice" which "putteth the law out of Office" because it was essentially the "princes part to pardon". In Kyd's play, Hieronimo takes the law into his own hands; the plays extensive catalogue of violent actions, murders and suicide, is a morbid testament to its accentuation of individual power and agency. The Spanish Tragedy therefore is a fantasy of vicarious power which Hieronimo usurps in order to act out retribution and thus become the agent of revenge himself. Kyd's use of the play--within--a--play device is perhaps unparalleled in its aesthetic and poetic perfection in that, a play about revenge, finds it conclusion in a performance of a revenge play (Solomon and Persida) through which the actual act 

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