Storming the Stage: Jupiter in Classical Myth, Renaissance Tradition, and Thomas Heywood's Golden Age
Date
2025
Authors
Stirling, Cameron
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Volume Title
Publisher
University Of Victoria
Abstract
Thomas Heywood’s The Golden Age (1611) is a dramatic adaptation of the classical myth of Jupiter overthrowing Saturn. Heywood’s portrayal of Jupiter in The Golden Age only partially follows Renaissance understandings of Classical myth. But Heywood also deviates from some of the Renaissance traditions, in favour of either Classical texts (many newly available in English in Heywood’s lifetime) or his own unique adaptation of the mythology. Over the last eight months, I have worked with Linked Early Modern Drama Online (LEMDO; lemdo.uvic.ca) to lay the groundwork for an open-access digital edition of The Golden Age. I read scholarship on Renaissance interpretations of Classical myth in order to write notes on the characters. This editorial work provided the base text for a March 8th stage performance of The Golden Age, directed by C.W. Marshall and sponsored by UBC’s Public Humanities Hub. The edition and performance together will illuminate Heywood’s deployment of Classical myth and the appeal of these stories to Renaissance playgoers.
Description
Keywords
classical myth, early modern drama, Thomas Heywood, xml.TEI, English renaissance, Jupiter