Anonymous, Arden of Faversham

Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne); Emily O'Brien (Trinity College Dublin)

Ed. by William M. Hamlin, Washington State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1592

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play
Tragedy

Resources

This anonymous play, published in its first quarto edition in 1592, is unusual in that it is based on an actual event: on the title page it calls itself “the lamentable and true tragedy of Master Arden of Faversham in Kent, who was most cruellie murdered, by means of his disloyal and wanton wife”. Indeed, the extended title goes on to proclaim that the tragedy shows us “the great malice and dissimulation of a wicked woman, the insatiable desire of filthy lust, and the shameful end of all murderers” – although the play itself is considerably more nuanced than this suggests. Arden of Faversham may in fact be the earliest surviving example of a distinctive group of Renaissance tragedies (frequently described by critics as �…

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2063 words

Citation: Forsyth, Neil, Emily O'Brien. "Arden of Faversham". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 October 2014 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19358, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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