Mirrors in Shakespeare and Early Modern English Drama

Mirrors reflect theatricality, gendered power dynamics and the role of sovereign power in this open access study of their use in early modern drama as both material objects and metaphorical devices. Using literary studies, performance studies and extensive material history, Valentina Finger highlights the rich complexity of mirrors and mirroring on the early modern stage. The case studies in this book traverse Tudor monarchs and imperial mirrors in Richard II and Macbeth, self-government and court politics in Edward I and Bussy D'Ambois, cosmetic mirrors as tableaus of feminine vanity in The Duchess of Malfi and The Devil's Charter as well as tricks and magic in The Alchemist and A Game at Chess. By assessing this range of Shakespearean drama and less-studied plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries Finger explores political history, imperial power, material and visual culture and gender. This book contributes to our understanding of broader cultural, social, political, religious and gender-related norms as debated in England around 1600. Connecting the mirror and the stage, Finger situates the former as a signifier and producer of early modern theatricality. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation).