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Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, and Donne. Eric C Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1998 The onC trol of Time in Renaissance England: Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, and Donne. Eric C. Brown Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Brown, Eric C., "The onC trol of Time in Renaissance England: Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, and Donne." (1998). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 6656. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/6656 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE CONTROL OF TIME IN RENAISSANCE ENGLAND; MARLOWE, SHAKESPEARE, JONSON, AND DONNE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Eric C. Brown B.A., University of Maine, 1993 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1996 May 1998 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9836856 UMI Microform 9836856 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgments Foremost, I would like to thank Professor Gail H. Carrithers, Jr.. the chair of my committee andpoeta che mi guidi, who has been gracious, affable, and encouraging throughout the dissertation process and, indeed, my entire period at LSU. 1 would especially like to thank him for his uncompromised support and for always finding the time to read my work. For their helpful suggestions both on this dissertation and on my work in general, 1 would also like to thank Professors Bainard Cowan, James Olney, Lawrence Sasek, Ronald Garay, Anna Nardo, Jesse Gellrich, and Kevin Cope. I have been lucky to have found the company of fnends in Louisiana, and am grateful for their influence, kindness, and love. The dissertation never would have been completed without the support of my family; my mother and father—Elizabeth Carolin and Richard Brown—Shawn, Liza, Amanda, Molly, and Rod. 1 thank them for much more than these pages could ever show. Finally, 1 wish to thank the late Josephine A. Roberts, whom I knew for far too little time. All that is worthwhile in the words that follow 1 dedicate to her memory. II Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. ii A bstract.................................................................................................................................. v Chapter One: Introduction to the Control of Time in the Renaissance...................... 1 Classical Ideas of Tim e..............................................................................................8 Medieval Developments....................................................................................... 18 The Renaissance Control of Time and Spenser's Two Cantos o f Mutabilitie .......................................................................................24 Notes......................................................................................................................... 33 Chapter Two: Violence, Ritual, and Time in Marlowe's "Vast Perpetual Torture-House".................................. 43 Violence, Ritual, and Time......................................................................................45 Tamburlaine the Great Part 1 ................................................................................ 52 Tamburlaine the Great Part 2 ................................................................................ 65 Doctor Faustus ......................................................................................................... 73 The Jew o f Malta ................................................................................................... 86 Notes.........................................................................................................................99 Chapter Three: Lotteries, Hope, and Persecuted Time in The Merchant of Venice.................................................................. 107 History of the Lottery............................................................................................. 110 Time and Hope in Shakespeare.............................................................................115 "Time’s Best Jewel"; The Merchant o f Venice ......................................................119 Notes.................................................................................................................... 149 Chapter Four: "These Two Short Hours We Wish Away": The Control of Time inThe Alchemist..................................................161 Whipped T im e........................................................................................................164 The Alchemist..........................................................................................................167 Notes.................................................................................................................... 187 Chapter Five: "One Natural, Unnatural Day": The Conflict with Time in Donne'sDevotions ..............................................................193 Notes.......................................................................................................................225 111 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter Six: Conclusion: The Control and Execution of Time................................ 231 Notes.......................................................................................................................239 Appendix A: "Like Men at Chess": Time and Control Thein Tempest..................241 Notes...................................................................................................................... 250 Appendix B The Lottery of Queen Elizabeth I andCoriolanus 5 .2 ......................... 254 Notes...................................................................................................................... 259 V ita.................................................................................................................................... 262 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract While critics have much analyzed the idea of time, they have left largely unchronicled an important Renaissance conception. Time the destroyer or devourer and time the creator or revealer of truth are familiar early modem tropes. But the inversion of this power structure-humanity not controlled by but controlling time—was equally pervasive. Especially apparent are inversions in which time is acted upon as an instrument objectified for use and abuse. Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, and Donne all explore this notion of time as controllable instrument, alternately condemning or glorifying time's debasement, enfeeblement, subjugation, and manipulation. For Marlowe, the control of time manifests itself in a series of mythic rituals, so that time is not only dismissed
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