Mirrors in Shakespeare and Early Modern English Drama: Power, Gender and the Magic of the Theatre (Arden Studies in Early Modern Drama)

Mirrors in the early modern playhouse function as figures of theatricality, reflecting gender dynamics and challenging sovereign power, in this open-access study of their use as stage props and rhetorical devices in plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Combining approaches from literary studies and performance studies with extensive research into material history, Valentina Finger highlights the rich complexity of mirrors and acts of mirroring on the early modern stage.The case studies in this book traverse myths of monarchs and imperial mirrors in Richard II and Macbeth, explore acts of exemplary self-government and court politics in Edward I and Bussy D'Ambois, constitute cosmetic mirrors as canvases for feminine self-authorship in The Duchess of Malfi and The Devil's Charter and illuminate the interplay of scientific knowledge, magic and trick glasses in The Alchemist and A Game at Chess.Within this range of Shakespearean drama and lesser-studied plays by Shakespeare's conte