Antitheatricalism and Jonsons Volpone Essay -- Jonson Volpone Essays

Antitheatricalism and Jonsons Volpone    Crossdressing in England was mostly opposed by the Fundamentalist branch of the Protestant church service known as the Puritans. The Puritan dogma, much bid the notion of transvestism, was constantly challenged. Puritans found resistance in the religious authorities of the Church of England and the English government. Before 1536, the Roman Catholic Church was unimpeded and ever won over Puritan proposals regarding legislation. Without a cooperative political ear, the Puritans resorted to observational spiritual expression by changing their social behavior and structuring. referable to these changes, a formidable way of attacking the theaters use of crossdressing was developed- public preaching and pamphlets. Other individuals and groups (like the Juvenalians) supported the moral and social reform movement by speaking and writing essays and books on the subject. Due to the nature the actors role in Ben Jonsons Volpone, the adjoin was also implicated in this moral battle. The ideology hindquarters the Puritan protest was based on biblical sentiment and the patristical literary tradition of Roman writers like Tertullian and St. Augustine. The Puritans religious banner for combatting gender transgression was Deuteronomy 225- The woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man, incomplete shall a man put on a womans garment (Tiffany 58). In general, gentile myths were also associated with crossdressing. Puritans like William Pryne labeled these actors as beastly male monsters that prodigal into women (Tiffany 59). Further, the Puritans feared that men dressing as women caused the men in the audience to propensity for real females and to form homoerotic desires for the male actors (the re... ...goal of the Antitheatrical movement in the Renaissance, was two supported and denounced by Jonson in various ways. However, the general perception is that Jonson (unlike Shakespeare) render the fires of degradation- implicating women with the weakness, lack of intelligence, and reason they were believed to exude. In the annals of theatrical history, Jonsons metadrama could be tell to perpetuate this social stereotype. Nevertheless, Jonsons crossing of the gender line and sexual scenes like Volpones flashing of Celia were enough to have religious, moral, and social commentators screaming blood murder. deuce issues demand prominence in the play. While outwardly a play driven by blatant genderless controversy, the inward thematic, character-driven nature of Volpone suggests a pact and adherence to the intellectual and theological moralism of the time.