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- Title
A new way to please you: Helen of Troy in early modern comedy.
- Authors
Heavey, Katherine
- Abstract
Helen of Troy most commonly featured in early modern English literature as an example of unsurpassed beauty, or as an unfaithful and sexually voracious woman. Inextricably linked to the fall of Troy, Helen was associated with feminine unreliability, the deaths of worthy men, and the fall of a great city. This article explores a less common use of Helen's myth, demonstrating how early modern playwrights including Shakespeare, Heywood and Shirley found comic potential in her story, and repackaged a well-worn story of betrayal in new and innovative ways, making sport of Helen's reputation, of Helen-like women, and of the men infatuated by this icon.
- Subjects
HELEN, of Troy, Queen of Sparta (Legendary character) in literature; EARLY modern English drama; ENGLISH drama (Comedy); SHAKESPEARE, William, 1564-1616; HEYWOOD, Thomas, d. 1641; SHIRLEY, James, 1596-1666; DRAMA criticism
- Publication
Renaissance Studies, 2014, Vol 28, Issue 3, p426
- ISSN
0269-1213
- Publication type
Literary Criticism
- DOI
10.1111/j.1477-4658.2012.00827.x