Contents

• Introduction
• Chronology
• Historical Overview
• Literary Overview
• Sample Reading : Hamlet
• Reference

Chapter 2 also includes detailed readings of the following literary texts:

• Sir Thomas More, Utopia
• Elizabeth Cary, The Tragedy of Mariam
• Works of Philip Sidney and Mary Wroth
• Works of John Donne

Suggested essay questions

• What do you see as the main continuities and discontinuities across the Renaissance period in terms of the social and political environment in Britain?
• To what extent do you think that the texts that you are studying are designed specifically to respond to a courtly audience?
• Reflect upon the motivations which might have prompted Renaissance writers to reference classical culture in the texts you are studying.
• Examine the ways in which a text you are studying may be seen to respond to or challenge Renaissance expectations of genre.
• Discuss the ways in which a text you are studying may be seen to respond to or challenge prevailing Renaissance ideas on gender difference, racial identity or social order.
• 'Desire is invariably portrayed as an anarchic force in Renaissance literature'. Discuss