"The Book of Sir Thomas More" and Laughter of the Heart
Sixteenth-century Protestant and Catholic martyrologists use joyfulness, wit, and gallows humor to reveal what is in a martyr's conscience, what motivates martyrs to endure suffering. Despite prominently displaying More's famous sense of humor, however, the Elizabethan play called "Th...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc.
2003
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
Year: 2003, Volume: 34, Issue: 1, Pages: 107-121 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Sixteenth-century Protestant and Catholic martyrologists use joyfulness, wit, and gallows humor to reveal what is in a martyr's conscience, what motivates martyrs to endure suffering. Despite prominently displaying More's famous sense of humor, however, the Elizabethan play called "The Book of Sir Thomas More" maintains a steadfast silence about the reasons More suffered execution. Failing to link More's famous final jests to a declaration of his conscience, the play instead uses joyfulness to hide More's beliefs and thus to conceal the religiously divisive reasons for his death. Even as their protagonist refuses to confess the reasons for his joy, the playwrights strive to leave martyrdom's dramatic power intact. They succeed because they explore the connections between martyrdom and theatrical performance itself. In using the convention of joyfulness to hide, rather than reveal, a martyr's conscience, the playwrights demonstrate that in a climate of religious controversy martyrdom may yield an estrangement of surface from reality akin to that which Renaissance theatrical practices invited. |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/20061315 |