Ships That Do Not Sail: Antinauticalism, Antitheatricalism, and Irrationality in Stephen Gosson

Authors

Kent Lehnhof, Chapman UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

Stephen Gosson's similes, particularly in 1579's The Schoole of Abuse, commend affective restraint, value stasis over motion, and idealize immobility. Combined with his Platonic mistrust of emotion and his dislike of stage plays for the emotional response they provoke, his criticisms can be seen to express a desire to slow cultural change and social mobility. The effect of this in The Schoole of Abuse is that it deprives objects and agents of their essential identify by removing the action that best defines them, implying that to become our best selves, we must give up the very qualities that define us.

Comments

This article was originally published in Renaissance Drama, volume 42, issue 1, in 2014. DOI: 10.1086/674683

Recommended Citation

Lehnhof, Kent. "Ships That Do Not Sail: Antinauticalism, Antitheatricalism, and Irrationality in Stephen Gosson," Renaissance Drama 42.1 (2014): 91-111.
DOI:10.1086/674683

Peer Reviewed

1

Copyright

University of Chicago Press