Julius Caesar: Difference between revisions
Line 46: Line 46:
==For What It's Worth==
==For What It's Worth==


Will the manuscript containing the tragedy ever be recovered? As early as 1909, Ayres queried: "Can any one tell me where the MS. of Thomas May's tragedy on Julius Caesar is to be found?" Over 200 years after the manuscript was said to be in Stephen Jones's possession, the hopes of recovering it appear exceedingly faint.
Will the manuscript containing the tragedy ever be recovered? As early as 1909, '''Ayres''' queried: "Can any one tell me where the MS. of Thomas May's tragedy on Julius Caesar is to be found?" Over 200 years after the manuscript was said to be in Stephen Jones's possession, the hopes of recovering it appear exceedingly faint.
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>

Revision as of 05:25, 25 July 2015

Thomas May (1616)

This page is under construction.

Historical Records

Biographia Dramatica (1812), 3:437 googlebooks open access:

Julius Caesar. Trag. by Thomas May. The original MS. of this play, which is in five short acts, is in the possession of Mr. Stephen Jones. The author has affixed his name at the conclusion of the piece.


Theatrical Provenance





Probable Genre(s)

Latin tragedy (Harbage).


Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues





References to the Play

None known.



Critical Commentary

Norbrook argues that this play may have shared the political concerns of May's tragedy of Julia Agrippina (1628), which "drew on Lucan in a stark portrayal of imperial corruption."


For What It's Worth

Will the manuscript containing the tragedy ever be recovered? As early as 1909, Ayres queried: "Can any one tell me where the MS. of Thomas May's tragedy on Julius Caesar is to be found?" Over 200 years after the manuscript was said to be in Stephen Jones's possession, the hopes of recovering it appear exceedingly faint.


Works Cited

Ayres, Harry Morgan. Notes and Queries 11 (1909), 248. Internet Archive
Baker, David Erskine, Issac Reed, and Stephen Jones (eds.). Biographia Dramatica; or, A Companion to the Playhouse. 3 vols. London: Longman et al., 1812. (NB: Baker to 1764, Reed to 1782, and Jones to 1811.)
Norbrook, David. "May, Thomas (b. in or after 1596, d. 1650)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.


Site created and maintained by Domenico Lovascio, University of Genoa; updated 25 July 2015.