The Oriental in Elizabethan Drama

Abstract

The purpose of the study whose results I propose to outline in the following paper has been threefold. I have endeavored: First, to bring together a corpus of Elizabethan plays dealing with oriental matter. I have restricted my study to those plays produced from 1558 to 1642, in which the events portrayed take place or could take place since the rise of the Ottoman empire in the thirteenth century. Furthermore, I have included only those plays in which at least one Oriental appears in the dramatis personae. I have also taken account of both extant and non-extant plays, out of regard for the light which the latter throw on the subjects and general nature of these oriental plays and as an indicator of the interest taken by Elizabethans in the Orient. Secondly, to make an analysis of the plays thus collected, on the basis of: (1) types of plays; (2) sources; (3) scenes of action; (4) nationalities represented; (5) customs depicted. Thirdly, with this corpus as a basis and this analysis as a guide, aided also by an examination of the political situation in Europe and the relations between the English and the Orientals, to determine how extensive and how accurate was the knowledge of the Elizabethans regarding the Orient.