Home > EARLYTHEATRE > Vol. 12 > Iss. 2 (2009)
Abstract
Among the many musical characters present in Jacobean city comedies as well as the broader canon of English Renaissance drama, Merrythought from Francis Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle is undoubtedly one of the fullest and most vivid exemplifications of how characterization can be conducted via constant singing. This merry old man sings more than he speaks. His singing accounts for more than 140 lines, which is about twenty lines surplus of his speech. He believes in achieving mirth and health through much singing, a good portion of which has the pretext of conviviality, in particular, drinking. This article offers a dramaturgical study of how Merrythought’s songs form an indispensible component in this metatheatrical city comedy, while accommodating an expression of the contemporary belief in music’s duality.
Author Biography
Katrine K. Wong is Assistant Professor in English Literature at University of Macau. A holder of the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship, she received her PhD from the University of Leeds in 2008, where she worked as a research assistant in Music in English Renaissance Drama, a pilot project funded by the British Academy. She has spoken at national and international conferences on Renaissance drama, music in theatre, film and music, and autobiography. She is currently working on a book project with an interdisciplinary focus on theatrical meanings of music and its association with gender and love in English Renaissance drama. Wong is also a classically trained pianist and operatic soprano.
Recommended Citation
Wong, Katrine K..
'A Dramaturgical Study of Merrythought's Songs in The Knight of the Burning Pestle'.
Early Theatre
12.2 (2009): 91-116 (paper). Article 5.
Available at:
http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/earlytheatre/vol12/iss2/5