Book contents
Coda
All Together in the ‘Darke House’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2026
Summary
The Coda draws together the preceding chapters by taking a single example from Twelfth Night that encompasses all of the ‘parts’ of a play examined separately in individual chapters: spectacle, words, plot, and action. Focusing on 4.2, when Malvolio is imprisoned in a ‘dark house’, it considers the many invitations to judge all four aspects in this single scene, as well as its potential to please playgoers with all of these elements. The Coda emphasises that the separate treatment of each ‘part’ in individual chapters is a means of making visible otherwise overlooked aspects of dramatic production and theatrical censure, rather than a suggestion that for example some plays sought engagement with their spectacle alone and others with their language. It indicates the potential for future studies to draw collectively on the topics and approaches of each chapter, rather than treating them as alternative options.
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- Experiencing Shakespeare's TheatresPlaygoing, Pleasure and Judgement in Early Modern England, pp. 234 - 240Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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