This study takes a look at a controversial question: what do the acts and shows of grief performed in early modern drama tell us about the religious culture of the world in which they were historically staged? Drawing on performance studies, it provides detailed readings of play texts to explore the politics, pathologies and parodies of mourning.
'...a timely and welcome contribution to this field...a densely argued, rewarding study, offering readers a wealth of material regarding rituals of mourning and commemoration in the studied texts and early modern England more generally...' - Wolfram R. Keller, Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
'In eloquent prose, and with clarity and precision of argument, Döring shows how the Shakespearean theatre, in its repetitious, commemorative, and comic performances of mourning, accomplished the necessary cultural work of habituation.' - Katharine Goodland, Sonderdruck aus Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen
'In eloquent prose, and with clarity and precision of argument, Döring shows how the Shakespearean theatre, in its repetitious, commemorative, and comic performances of mourning, accomplished the necessary cultural work of habituation.' - Katharine Goodland, Sonderdruck aus Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen