Article: Community, Authority, and the Motherland in Sackville and Norton's Gorboduc.(16th century playwrights Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton)(Critical Essay)

Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton's Gorboduc (1561-62) has elicited critical interest mainly because it is the first blank-verse tragedy in English and because it engages the politically delicate matter of the Elizabethan succession. As scholars of the play have noted, Gorboduc urges Elizabeth I to accept parliamentary advice by marrying, providing an heir, and ensuring the stability of the country. [1] I shall argue that the play renders this advice emotionally legitimate by advancing the claims of what it calls the "mother land" (V.ii.179). [2] In the process, Gorboduc questions dynastic notions of community: the play addresses the tendency of monarchies to promote ...

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