Comedy and the Counter-Reformation: An examination of the evolution of the Italian non-tragic drama and its subsequent effect on the English theatre from Shakespeare to Shirley with particular emphasis on the role of the go-between

Comedy and the Counter-Reformation: an examination of the relationship between the changing moral ambience of Cinquecento Italy and the evolution of the non-tragic erudite drama relating this to the forms taken by English Renaissance comedy. This is divided into six areas broadly presented chronologically: the Humanist comedy - bawdy in tone and language and centred on the Go-Between; mixed-genre experiments, e.g. pastorale and Giraldi's tragedia di fin lieto, and the gradual de-emphasising of the Go- Between's role to meet the changing moral climate of the Counter-Reformation; the commedie gravi of Sforza Oddi, with emphasis on the moral contrast between attivita and passivita, passionate but chaste heroines, and the marginalisation of the Go- Between; Shakespeare, his use of Italian forms, and his carrying-over of Counter Reformation ideals; the use by Jonson and the Satirists of Italian sources and typology and their divergence from these models; and the continuation in the Fletcherian Tragicomedy of structures and morality typical of the comedies of Counter-Reformation Italy. The thesis highlights the influence of Italian literary culture, and thereby the influence of the Counter-Reformation, on the structures, typology and moral tone of the English comedy