520 Class 4
THE RES PUBLICA
Primary Reading: Stow,
Aldermen, Maiors and Shiriffes(BHO); Middleton, The Triumphs of Truth (.pdf); Dekker, prefatory matter, Induction, and the first two triumphs (Politick Bankruptisme and Lying) from The seuen deadly sinnes (EEBO).
Other References: Note! These references are
for information only. I may draw upon them in my discussion, but do not expect
you to read them.
Note: The mayor-elect in 1613 was named Sir
Thomas Middleton. The author of the mayoral show, sponsored by the Grocers’
Company, is also named Thomas Middleton.
Discussion Questions:
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Keeping in mind the context of the 1603 plague that occasioned Dekker’s play and the physical sites he mentions, how does Dekker map a
moral topography
onto London? Are there other maps or works we’ve looked at that do a similar reading of the city? (CK) -
While Dekker’s play is an obvious parody of the Lord Mayor’s Pageant, it can also be seen as a parody of the civic offices that Stow presents in
Alderman, Maiors and Shiriffes.
How does Dekker invert and undermine Stow’s representation of these civic offices? What is the effect of this inversion? (CK)
References
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Citation
Dekker, Thomas. The seuen deadly sinnes of London drawne in seuen seuerall coaches, through the seuen seuerall gates of the citie bringing the plague with them. London, 1606. EEBO. Reprint. Subscription.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Gordon, Andrew.Performing London: The Map and the City in Ceremony.
Literature, Mapping, and the Politics of Space in Early Modern Britain. Ed. Andrew Gordon and Bernhard Klein. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001. 69–88.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Middleton, Thomas. The Triumphs of Truth. London, 1613. Ed. David M. Bergeron. Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works. Ed. Gary Taylor and John Lavagnino. Oxford: Clarendon, 2007. 968–76.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Stow, John. A Survey of London. Reprinted from the Text of 1603. Ed. Charles Lethbridge Kingsford. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1908. [Also available as a reprint from Elibron Classics (2001). Articles written before 2011 cite from the print edition by volume and page number.]This item is cited in the following documents:
