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Infected vision in the works of Thomas Middleton
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Date
2013
Authors
Mooney, Coirle Anna
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University College Cork
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the extent and range of the ocular vocabulary and themes
employed by the playwright Thomas Middleton in context with early modern scientific,
medical, and moral-philosophical writing on vision. More specifically, this thesis
concerns Middleton’s revelation of the substance or essence of outward forms through
mimesis. This paradoxical stance implies Middleton’s use of an illusory (theatrical) art
form to explore hidden truths. This can be related to the early modern belief in the
imagination (or fantasy) as chief mediator between the corporeal and spiritual worlds as
well as to a reformed belief in the power of signs to indicate divine truth. This thesis
identifies striking parallels between Middleton’s policy of social diagnosis and cure and
an increased preoccupation with knowledge of interior man which culminates in Robert
Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy of 1621. All of these texts seek a cure for diseased
internal sense faculties (such as fantasy and will) which cause the raging passions to
destroy the individual. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate how Middleton takes a
similar ‘mental-medicinal’ approach which investigates the idols created by the
imagination before ‘purging’ the same and restoring order (Corneanu and Vermeir 184).
The idea of infection incurred through the eyes which are fixed on vice (or error) has
moral, religious, and political implications and discovery of corruption involves stripping
away the illusions of false appearances to reveal the truth within whereby disease and
disorder can be cured and restored. Finally, Middleton’s use of theatrical fantasy to detect
the idols of the diseased imagination can be read as a Paracelsian, rather than Galenic,
form of medicine whereby like is ‘joined with their like’ (Bostocke C7r) to restore health.
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Keywords
Early modern drama and ocular culture , Thomas Middleton
Citation
Mooney, C. A. 2013. Infected vision in the works of Thomas Middleton. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.