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Criticizing Kings: Gender, Classical History, and Subversive Writing in Seventeenth-Century England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Jamie Gianoutsos*
Affiliation:
Mount Saint Mary’s University

Abstract

This article provides one of the first studies of two late works by George Chapman, “Pro Vere” (1622) and “A iustification of a strange action of Nero” (1629). Through a close examination of these works, and through situating Chapman’s texts alongside other neglected works of the 1620s that voiced opposition to the Stuart court and kings, the article examines the critical and subversive role that classical history and gendered language played in forging ideological conflict in England during the Stuart period. More broadly, the article seeks to demonstrate the importance of studying imaginative writings for understanding Stuart political culture.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Renaissance Society of America

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