Dawn A . Saliba | University of Malta (original) (raw)
Papers by Dawn A . Saliba
Shakespeare Bulletin, 2011
tually succeeded, over the course of the production run, in two slightly different presentation s... more tually succeeded, over the course of the production run, in two slightly different presentation styles. In early performances the actors mostly read their lines straight, and the audience responded to the play’s romance and adventure. By the last performance, some of the actors read more of Heywood’s lines with exaggerated or misplaced emphasis, and the audience found this burlesque to be quite amusing. Not all the actors succumbed to this temptation. Most notably, Hoben continued to play her role straight, and Glenzer never changed her manic style. But the remaining actors in effect moved closer over time to Trevor Nunn’s 1986 send-up. So to some extent Heywood apparently invites this treatment. Many of his ostensibly straight lines do have an arch, almost self-mocking second tenor. Similar lines may be found in plays by other authors of the period; Marston and Webster come especially to mind. One wonders whether the authors actually intended to set up two possible readings.
King James and the Theatre of Witches: Subversion upon the Jacobean Stage synthesizes a cultural ... more King James and the Theatre of Witches: Subversion upon the Jacobean Stage synthesizes a cultural historicist analysis of King James I of England's evolving perspectives regarding witchcraft with an exegesis of contemporaneous "witch plays." It seeks to examine how the preternatural beliefs and epistemological constructs of one man sitting atop a hegemonic structure influenced Early Modern Britain's dramatic rendition of witches, and, concomitantly, societal theory and praxis. Early on during the Stuart monarch's reign in Scotland (1588-1591), James directed a fevered hunt of witches whom he believed were trying to assassinate him, an event that later came to be known as "The North Berwick Affair." The sovereign played a direct role in the interrogations, personally approving and, at times, overseeing the horrific torture of some of the accused. Afterward, he caused a pamphlet detailing this event (known as The Newes of Scotland) to be disseminated throughout Britain. In 1597, the monarch penned a compendium of witchcraft lore (in the form of a dialogue) entitled Daemonologie, which in some way acted both as a defense of his methods and as a manual for identifying, interrogating and punishing witches.
World Heritage Watch, 2021
THINK, 2021
The Cultural Heritage Act of 2002 Article 4(2): Every citizen of Malta as well as every person pr... more The Cultural Heritage Act of 2002 Article 4(2): Every citizen of Malta as well as every person present in Malta shall have the duty of protecting the cultural heritage as well as the right to benefit from this cultural heritage through learning and enjoyment. The cultural heritage is an asset or irreplaceable spiritual, cultural, social and economic value, and its protection and promotion are indispensable for a balanced and complete life... Every generation shall have the duty to protect this heritage and to make it accessible for future generations and for all mankind.
In the post-apocalyptic novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy presents the collapse of language brought... more In the post-apocalyptic novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy presents the collapse of language brought on as a direct consequence of a nuclear-winter cataclysm. In this dystopic narrative, tropes of this phenomenological breakdown abound: representations of speech, writing, oral tales, and names disintegrate while other examples of literacy and linguistics concomitantly decay. Ironically, the lushness of the author’s prose swells as the words and semantic trappings of this post-holocaustic earth vanish. This paper examines the author’s adept craftsmanship in creating a new lyricism that emerges from the ashes of a fallen and forlorn world.
The women of Mary Zimmerman's 1998 drama, The Metamorphoses (mostly adapted from Ovid's classical... more The women of Mary Zimmerman's 1998 drama, The Metamorphoses (mostly adapted from Ovid's classical poem) are hungry, powerful, fragile—fulfilled. In her work, Zimmerman presents and comments upon the advancing stages of love utilizing classical feminine archetypes in a series of theatrical and poetical vignettes. Zimmerman's staging of Ovid's myths upon the commercial Broadway stage (2002) updates these tales for postmodern consumption. The meta-narrative quality of each mythic rendering also serves as the contemporary voice commenting upon its past: a psychoanalytical / lyrical examination of its own poetic creations in theatrically real time. In The Metamorphoses the act of interpretation becomes performance itself and the mythos of love is endlessly interpreted. Zimmerman's sequence of isochronal vignettes leads her mythic women through the varying degrees of romance: naïve attachment, passion-filled eros, devastating loss, and finally, mature union.
In the post-apocalyptic novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy presents the collapse of language brought... more In the post-apocalyptic novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy presents the collapse of language brought on as a direct consequence of a nuclear-winter cataclysm. In this dystopic narrative, tropes of this phenomenological breakdown abound: representations of speech, writing, oral tales, and names disintegrate, while other examples of literacy and linguistics concomitantly decay. Ironically, the lushness of the author’s prose swells as the words and semantic trappings of this post-holocaustic earth vanish. This paper examines the author’s adept craftsmanship in creating a new lyricism that emerges from the ashes of a fallen and forlorn world.
The Red Bull's production of Dekker, Ford, and Rowley's *The Witch of Edmonton* presents some bit... more The Red Bull's production of Dekker, Ford, and Rowley's *The Witch of Edmonton* presents some biting commentary on social and class structure that is easily applied to our own era. Jesse Berger's artful rendition of the Jacobean tragicomedy furthers the exploration of social inequity that Dekker and his comrades were deeply concerned with. Despite the centuries that have passed since the play's first staging, the drama is as thematically relevant today as it was 400 years ago. Dekker would, no doubt, look on this 21st Century performance of his work with approval.
Conference Presentations by Dawn A . Saliba
From pestilence to impotence, from tempests to plague, many of the denizens of Renaissance Englan... more From pestilence to impotence, from tempests to plague, many of the denizens of Renaissance England thought Satan and his ever-present minions, the witches, to be lurking behind every ill. The mass hysteria and inquisitions that ensued in the Middle Ages executed countless thousands and continued throughout the early modern period. Of course the majority of the European populace followed the teachings of the Church and its leaders, but there were also those in this period who didn't fall so easily into this tradition of belief. There were skeptics and satirists who questioned the dogma of their era and, as early as the 16 th century, produced philosophical and theatrical writing that called into critical account beliefs and practices regarding the systematic victimization and persecution of countless people, especially unmarried, older women. Be that as it may, cynics and believers alike could not help but be affected by the legends, folktales and sermons (not to mention witch-hunts) surrounding them, perhaps none more so than the actor and playwright.
Kassandra: Prophetess; victim; madwoman—throughout the ages, she has been labeled all of these th... more Kassandra: Prophetess; victim; madwoman—throughout the ages, she has been labeled all of these things, and more, but rarely, has she ever been held up as a paradigm of actual heroism. Kassandra is often thought of as a tragic victim of fate—she who was first blessed with the gift of prophecy by Apollo, when he first fell in "love" with her, and then later cursed by the same God, once she spurned his advances. Her punishment? The fact that no one would believe her premonitions or warnings—especially in regards to the fall of Troy—a problematic destiny for the poor prophetess,. But Kassandra is more than a mere victim of the onslaughts of destiny. She is also an agent of change, a brave and inspired heroine, who, though often depicted as pitiable, mad, victimized and ineffectual, is not; she is a prophetess of some possessed power and she employs it to wreak havoc upon at least one bloodthirsty enemy of Troy.
The metaphysical hermeneutics of King James I influenced the theatre of his time in an inscrutabl... more The metaphysical hermeneutics of King James I influenced the theatre of his time in an inscrutable fashion. The fact that Shakespeare created the text of Macbeth for his monarch is a prime example of this phenomenon. Without James, Macbeth wouldn't exist—and many of the folkloric actions Shakespeare attributed to his witches stem directly to texts written or sanctioned by the king.
James's relationship to witchcraft started early. As a young King of Scotland, the twenty-three year old directed a fevered hunt of witches whom he believed were trying to assassinate him, an event that later came to be termed as "The North Berwick Affair." The sovereign played a direct role in the interrogations, personally approving and, at times, overseeing the horrific torture of some of the accused. In 1591, he caused The Newes of Scotland, a pamphlet detailing this event, to be disseminated throughout Britain. Six years later, he penned Daemonologie, a treatise intended to transmit his theoretical beliefs regarding satanic witch-lore. After King James's ascent to the British throne (and the reprinting of his Daemonologie), William Shakespeare writes Macbeth. The drama was intended, at least in part, as a compliment to James and contains direct allusions to the North Berwick Affair.
The Newes from Scotland describes the very same image in a similar context and the trope of a witch sailing on water inside of a sieve is too specific an image to be coincidental. That Shakespeare drew from The Newes of Scotland in an effort to please his kingly patron is a plausible deduction.This paper examines James's epistemological involvement with witchcraft as a primary motivation in the formulation of Shakespeare's drama and establishes The Newes of Scotland as a definitive source of Macbeth. Ultimately, Shakespeare adheres to James's witch-lore but concomitantly (by creating characters who can not be quelled by man) subverts it.
Thesis Chapters by Dawn A . Saliba
King James and the Theatre of Witches: Subversion Upon the Jacobean Stage, 2021
King James and the Theatre of Witches: Subversion upon the Jacobean Stage is a cultural historici... more King James and the Theatre of Witches: Subversion upon the Jacobean Stage is a cultural historicist analysis of King James I of England’s evolving perspectives regarding witchcraft and his influence upon contemporaneous “witch plays.” It examines how the beliefs of one man sitting atop a hegemonic structure influenced Early Modern Britain’s dramatic rendition of witches and societal theory and praxis.
Early on during the Stuart monarch’s reign in Scotland (1588-1591), James directed a fevered hunt of witches whom he believed were trying to assassinate him, an event that later came to be known as “The North Berwick Affair.” He played a direct role in the interrogations, personally approving and, at times, overseeing the horrific torture of some of the accused. Afterward, he published a pamphlet detailing this event (The Newes of Scotland), which was disseminated throughout Britain.
In 1597, the monarch also penned a compendium of witchcraft lore (in the form of a dialogue) entitled Daemonologie, which in some way acted both as a defense of his methods and as a manual for identifying, interrogating and punishing witches.
The influence of James’s ontological musing is apparent. Once the King ascended to the British throne, London-based dramatists endeavored to both paradoxically please their monarch with plays that catered to his interests while at the same time subverting his serious belief in witchcraft lore. King James’s works and involvement in witchcraft trials are notably referenced, sometimes satirically so, in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Ben Jonson’s Masque of Queenes, Thomas Middleton’s The Witch, and Dekker, Rowley & Ford’s The Witch of Edmonton—all of which subversively speak to the King’s philosophical engagement with witchlore.
Through an exegesis of this collection of four Jacobean “witch-plays,” an examination of King James’s role within the witchcraft debates and his involvement with contemporaneous witch trials, this work shows how the monarch’s various publications on witchlore transmuted stage and the culture. Taken as a group, these dramas provide a window into the newly emergent humanism of the Renaissance world and its struggle with gender- driven categories—especially regarding the cultural praxis of accusing, torturing and executing “witches.”
Shakespeare Bulletin, 2011
tually succeeded, over the course of the production run, in two slightly different presentation s... more tually succeeded, over the course of the production run, in two slightly different presentation styles. In early performances the actors mostly read their lines straight, and the audience responded to the play’s romance and adventure. By the last performance, some of the actors read more of Heywood’s lines with exaggerated or misplaced emphasis, and the audience found this burlesque to be quite amusing. Not all the actors succumbed to this temptation. Most notably, Hoben continued to play her role straight, and Glenzer never changed her manic style. But the remaining actors in effect moved closer over time to Trevor Nunn’s 1986 send-up. So to some extent Heywood apparently invites this treatment. Many of his ostensibly straight lines do have an arch, almost self-mocking second tenor. Similar lines may be found in plays by other authors of the period; Marston and Webster come especially to mind. One wonders whether the authors actually intended to set up two possible readings.
King James and the Theatre of Witches: Subversion upon the Jacobean Stage synthesizes a cultural ... more King James and the Theatre of Witches: Subversion upon the Jacobean Stage synthesizes a cultural historicist analysis of King James I of England's evolving perspectives regarding witchcraft with an exegesis of contemporaneous "witch plays." It seeks to examine how the preternatural beliefs and epistemological constructs of one man sitting atop a hegemonic structure influenced Early Modern Britain's dramatic rendition of witches, and, concomitantly, societal theory and praxis. Early on during the Stuart monarch's reign in Scotland (1588-1591), James directed a fevered hunt of witches whom he believed were trying to assassinate him, an event that later came to be known as "The North Berwick Affair." The sovereign played a direct role in the interrogations, personally approving and, at times, overseeing the horrific torture of some of the accused. Afterward, he caused a pamphlet detailing this event (known as The Newes of Scotland) to be disseminated throughout Britain. In 1597, the monarch penned a compendium of witchcraft lore (in the form of a dialogue) entitled Daemonologie, which in some way acted both as a defense of his methods and as a manual for identifying, interrogating and punishing witches.
World Heritage Watch, 2021
THINK, 2021
The Cultural Heritage Act of 2002 Article 4(2): Every citizen of Malta as well as every person pr... more The Cultural Heritage Act of 2002 Article 4(2): Every citizen of Malta as well as every person present in Malta shall have the duty of protecting the cultural heritage as well as the right to benefit from this cultural heritage through learning and enjoyment. The cultural heritage is an asset or irreplaceable spiritual, cultural, social and economic value, and its protection and promotion are indispensable for a balanced and complete life... Every generation shall have the duty to protect this heritage and to make it accessible for future generations and for all mankind.
In the post-apocalyptic novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy presents the collapse of language brought... more In the post-apocalyptic novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy presents the collapse of language brought on as a direct consequence of a nuclear-winter cataclysm. In this dystopic narrative, tropes of this phenomenological breakdown abound: representations of speech, writing, oral tales, and names disintegrate while other examples of literacy and linguistics concomitantly decay. Ironically, the lushness of the author’s prose swells as the words and semantic trappings of this post-holocaustic earth vanish. This paper examines the author’s adept craftsmanship in creating a new lyricism that emerges from the ashes of a fallen and forlorn world.
The women of Mary Zimmerman's 1998 drama, The Metamorphoses (mostly adapted from Ovid's classical... more The women of Mary Zimmerman's 1998 drama, The Metamorphoses (mostly adapted from Ovid's classical poem) are hungry, powerful, fragile—fulfilled. In her work, Zimmerman presents and comments upon the advancing stages of love utilizing classical feminine archetypes in a series of theatrical and poetical vignettes. Zimmerman's staging of Ovid's myths upon the commercial Broadway stage (2002) updates these tales for postmodern consumption. The meta-narrative quality of each mythic rendering also serves as the contemporary voice commenting upon its past: a psychoanalytical / lyrical examination of its own poetic creations in theatrically real time. In The Metamorphoses the act of interpretation becomes performance itself and the mythos of love is endlessly interpreted. Zimmerman's sequence of isochronal vignettes leads her mythic women through the varying degrees of romance: naïve attachment, passion-filled eros, devastating loss, and finally, mature union.
In the post-apocalyptic novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy presents the collapse of language brought... more In the post-apocalyptic novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy presents the collapse of language brought on as a direct consequence of a nuclear-winter cataclysm. In this dystopic narrative, tropes of this phenomenological breakdown abound: representations of speech, writing, oral tales, and names disintegrate, while other examples of literacy and linguistics concomitantly decay. Ironically, the lushness of the author’s prose swells as the words and semantic trappings of this post-holocaustic earth vanish. This paper examines the author’s adept craftsmanship in creating a new lyricism that emerges from the ashes of a fallen and forlorn world.
The Red Bull's production of Dekker, Ford, and Rowley's *The Witch of Edmonton* presents some bit... more The Red Bull's production of Dekker, Ford, and Rowley's *The Witch of Edmonton* presents some biting commentary on social and class structure that is easily applied to our own era. Jesse Berger's artful rendition of the Jacobean tragicomedy furthers the exploration of social inequity that Dekker and his comrades were deeply concerned with. Despite the centuries that have passed since the play's first staging, the drama is as thematically relevant today as it was 400 years ago. Dekker would, no doubt, look on this 21st Century performance of his work with approval.
From pestilence to impotence, from tempests to plague, many of the denizens of Renaissance Englan... more From pestilence to impotence, from tempests to plague, many of the denizens of Renaissance England thought Satan and his ever-present minions, the witches, to be lurking behind every ill. The mass hysteria and inquisitions that ensued in the Middle Ages executed countless thousands and continued throughout the early modern period. Of course the majority of the European populace followed the teachings of the Church and its leaders, but there were also those in this period who didn't fall so easily into this tradition of belief. There were skeptics and satirists who questioned the dogma of their era and, as early as the 16 th century, produced philosophical and theatrical writing that called into critical account beliefs and practices regarding the systematic victimization and persecution of countless people, especially unmarried, older women. Be that as it may, cynics and believers alike could not help but be affected by the legends, folktales and sermons (not to mention witch-hunts) surrounding them, perhaps none more so than the actor and playwright.
Kassandra: Prophetess; victim; madwoman—throughout the ages, she has been labeled all of these th... more Kassandra: Prophetess; victim; madwoman—throughout the ages, she has been labeled all of these things, and more, but rarely, has she ever been held up as a paradigm of actual heroism. Kassandra is often thought of as a tragic victim of fate—she who was first blessed with the gift of prophecy by Apollo, when he first fell in "love" with her, and then later cursed by the same God, once she spurned his advances. Her punishment? The fact that no one would believe her premonitions or warnings—especially in regards to the fall of Troy—a problematic destiny for the poor prophetess,. But Kassandra is more than a mere victim of the onslaughts of destiny. She is also an agent of change, a brave and inspired heroine, who, though often depicted as pitiable, mad, victimized and ineffectual, is not; she is a prophetess of some possessed power and she employs it to wreak havoc upon at least one bloodthirsty enemy of Troy.
The metaphysical hermeneutics of King James I influenced the theatre of his time in an inscrutabl... more The metaphysical hermeneutics of King James I influenced the theatre of his time in an inscrutable fashion. The fact that Shakespeare created the text of Macbeth for his monarch is a prime example of this phenomenon. Without James, Macbeth wouldn't exist—and many of the folkloric actions Shakespeare attributed to his witches stem directly to texts written or sanctioned by the king.
James's relationship to witchcraft started early. As a young King of Scotland, the twenty-three year old directed a fevered hunt of witches whom he believed were trying to assassinate him, an event that later came to be termed as "The North Berwick Affair." The sovereign played a direct role in the interrogations, personally approving and, at times, overseeing the horrific torture of some of the accused. In 1591, he caused The Newes of Scotland, a pamphlet detailing this event, to be disseminated throughout Britain. Six years later, he penned Daemonologie, a treatise intended to transmit his theoretical beliefs regarding satanic witch-lore. After King James's ascent to the British throne (and the reprinting of his Daemonologie), William Shakespeare writes Macbeth. The drama was intended, at least in part, as a compliment to James and contains direct allusions to the North Berwick Affair.
The Newes from Scotland describes the very same image in a similar context and the trope of a witch sailing on water inside of a sieve is too specific an image to be coincidental. That Shakespeare drew from The Newes of Scotland in an effort to please his kingly patron is a plausible deduction.This paper examines James's epistemological involvement with witchcraft as a primary motivation in the formulation of Shakespeare's drama and establishes The Newes of Scotland as a definitive source of Macbeth. Ultimately, Shakespeare adheres to James's witch-lore but concomitantly (by creating characters who can not be quelled by man) subverts it.
King James and the Theatre of Witches: Subversion Upon the Jacobean Stage, 2021
King James and the Theatre of Witches: Subversion upon the Jacobean Stage is a cultural historici... more King James and the Theatre of Witches: Subversion upon the Jacobean Stage is a cultural historicist analysis of King James I of England’s evolving perspectives regarding witchcraft and his influence upon contemporaneous “witch plays.” It examines how the beliefs of one man sitting atop a hegemonic structure influenced Early Modern Britain’s dramatic rendition of witches and societal theory and praxis.
Early on during the Stuart monarch’s reign in Scotland (1588-1591), James directed a fevered hunt of witches whom he believed were trying to assassinate him, an event that later came to be known as “The North Berwick Affair.” He played a direct role in the interrogations, personally approving and, at times, overseeing the horrific torture of some of the accused. Afterward, he published a pamphlet detailing this event (The Newes of Scotland), which was disseminated throughout Britain.
In 1597, the monarch also penned a compendium of witchcraft lore (in the form of a dialogue) entitled Daemonologie, which in some way acted both as a defense of his methods and as a manual for identifying, interrogating and punishing witches.
The influence of James’s ontological musing is apparent. Once the King ascended to the British throne, London-based dramatists endeavored to both paradoxically please their monarch with plays that catered to his interests while at the same time subverting his serious belief in witchcraft lore. King James’s works and involvement in witchcraft trials are notably referenced, sometimes satirically so, in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Ben Jonson’s Masque of Queenes, Thomas Middleton’s The Witch, and Dekker, Rowley & Ford’s The Witch of Edmonton—all of which subversively speak to the King’s philosophical engagement with witchlore.
Through an exegesis of this collection of four Jacobean “witch-plays,” an examination of King James’s role within the witchcraft debates and his involvement with contemporaneous witch trials, this work shows how the monarch’s various publications on witchlore transmuted stage and the culture. Taken as a group, these dramas provide a window into the newly emergent humanism of the Renaissance world and its struggle with gender- driven categories—especially regarding the cultural praxis of accusing, torturing and executing “witches.”