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The geography of difference in Pericles and Foure Prentises of London
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2021-2-237-256
Abstract
Both Shakespeare and George Wilkins's Pericles and Thomas Heywood's Foure Prentises of London are romances striking in geographical scope. Analysing the two plays principally through John Gillies's concept of ‘geography of difference,' this essay argues that the geography of difference in Foure Prentises of London enhances the crude ideology of Eurocentric and masculine hegemony, whereas Pericles aims at Pentapolis, the Greek city-state, not only physically and geographically, but also spiritually and epistemologically. In Pericles, geographical mobility subserves poetic geography, and poetic geography subsumes geographical mobility. On the other hand, in the larger contemporary contexts, geographical mobility interacts intricately with the aristocratic ideology. In terms of ideology Pericles is basically a conservative play despite its geographical mobility, while Foure Prentises of London responds more keenly to its era and glorifies the middling rank with an aristocratic ideology by means of geographical mobility. Shakespeare and Wilkins's and Heywood's dramatic practices illustrate the rich possibilities inherent in the genre of romance.
Keywords
W. Shakespeare,
T. Heywood,
Pericles,
Prince of Tyre,
The Foure Prentises of London,
Renaissance drama,
romance,
ideology,
geography of difference
Supporting agencies: The study has been supported by the National Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation, China (authorization: 19ZDA298).
About the Author
T. Hao
Zhejiang University
China
China
Hao Tianhu - PhD.
866 Yuhangtang Rd., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310058.
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Review
For citations:
Hao T. The geography of difference in Pericles and Foure Prentises of London. Voprosy literatury. 2021;(2):237-256. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2021-2-237-256
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