The Tragic Histories of Mary Queen of Scots, 1560-1690 by Joh... - 9781138376311

Taylor & Francis

Charting developments in public rhetoric and political writing from the Elizabethan period through the Restoration, John Staines here explores the political consequences of the emotions generated by the image of Mary Queen of Scots, tragic woman and queen. This study identifies two basic literary traditions of her tragedy: one conservative, sentimental, and royalist, the other radical, skeptical, and republican. > Author John Staines here argues that sixteenth- and seventeenth-century writers in England, Scotland, and France wrote tragedies of the Queen of Scots - royal heroine or tyrant, martyr or whore - in order to move their audiences towards political action by shaping and directing the passions generated by the spectacle of her fall. In following the retellings of her history from her lifetime through the revolutions and political experiments of the seventeenth century, this study identifies two basic literary traditions of her tragedy: one conservative, sentimental, and ro.