The end of satisfaction : drama and repentance in the age of Shakespeare

255 Pages·2014·1.732 MB·English

by  Hirschfeld, Heather Anne, Shakespeare, William

The End of Satisfaction

The End of Satisfaction
Drama and Repentance in the
Age of Shakespeare
Heather Hirschfeld
Cornell University Press
Ithaca and London
Copyright © 2014 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or
parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in
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Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2014 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Hirschfeld, Heather Anne, 1968–, author.
The end of satisfaction : drama and repentance in the age of
Shakespeare / Heather Hirschfeld.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 8014- 5274- 1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Shakespeare, William, 1564– 1616—Criticism and interpretation.
2. En glish drama— Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500– 1600—History
and criticism. 3. Repentance in literature. 4. Desire in literature.
I. Title.
PR658.R44H57 2014
822'.309353—dc23
2013038570
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Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Anthony
Dayenu!
Contents
Ac know ledg ments ix
Introduction: Where’s Satisfaction? 1
1. “Adew, to al Popish satisfactions”: Reforming Repentance in
Early Modern En gland 16
2. The Satisfactions of Hell: Doctor Faustus and the
Descensus Tradition 39
3. Setting Things Right: The Satisfactions of Revenge 65
4. As Good as a Feast?: Playing (with) Enough on the
Elizabethan Stage 94
viii Contents
5. “Wooing, wedding, and repenting”: The Satisfactions of
Marriage in Othello and Love’s Pilgrimage 119
Postscript: Where’s the Stage at the End of Satisfaction? 147
Notes 153
Bibliography 205
Index 233
Ac know ledg ments
A book on satisfaction opens itself up to many puns and allusions, often
starting with the Rolling Stones. I try to avoid them h ere. Instead, I enjoy the
opportunity to turn from a vocabulary of repentance, compensation, and
atonement to the related, but distinct, language of gratitude and thanks.
This project would not have been possible without the fi nancial and ad-
ministrative support of scholarly institutions. I am grateful to have held a
short- term fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library and to have received
from the National Endowment for the Humanities a summer stipend as
well as a year-l ong fellowship. All three w ere essential to the completion of
this book. I have also been the benefi ciary of various sources of support at
the University of Tennessee: the Department of Eng lish, the Offi ce of Re-
search, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Humanities Center, and the
Marco Institute for Medieval and Re nais sance Studies.
Friends and colleagues have listened to me opine about satisfaction more
than I had a right to expect. At UT, this includes Donna Bodenheimer, Katy
Chiles, Dawn Coleman, Margaret Lazarus Dean, Mary Dzon, Rachel Golden,