Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2014
Publication Title
Studies in Renaissance/ Early Modern Literature & Culture
Volume
7
ISSN
1946-1992
Publisher
http://appositions.blogspot.com/
Keywords
Renaissance, Early Modern Literature & Culture
Abstract
This article focuses on the relationship between murder pamphlets and early modern drama. I first provide a brief overview of typical features of murder pamphlets. In the rest of the article, I examine a specific example of a play based on a murder pamphlet, Thomas Middleton and William Rowley’s The Changeling. Exploring the play in contrast to its pamphlet source reveals some of the key differences between the two genres: namely, the pamphlet stories typically follow a moralizing narrative that ensures that providence will bring murderers to a just punishment and repentance, whereas the play invites the audience to experience a subjective world of morally ambivalent motives and ambiguous signs. The two genres thus take dramatically different perspectives on the experience of moral choice and deviance.
Rights
Recommended Citation
Andersen, Jennifer, "Rewriting a Murder Pamphlet: the Perspective of Deviance in The Changeling” Appositions" (2014). English Faculty Publications. 2.
https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/english-publications/2
