4. Les principales tendances de la période 1594-1616 en Angleterre

‘Ce théâtre comique crée un monde d'illusion où constamment l'ombre se confond avec la substance, les visions de rêve avec le tangible, tandis que les effets de miroir se multiplient, que les identités se prennent et se reprennent. ⁵⁴⁷ ’ ‘MALEVOLE
[Aside] O God, how loathsome this toying is to me ! That a duke should be forced to fool it ! Well, Stultorium plena sunt omnia ; better play the fool lord than be the fool lord. — Now, where's your sleights, Madam Maquerelle ?
(The Malcontent ⁵⁴⁸ , 5. 2. 41-44)’ ‘The sense of the theatre in Marston is used primarily destructively, to cut down his characters and deflate their actions. The result, paradoxically is that he not only undermines the very medium he employs, but makes it appear to be feeding upon itself. ⁵⁵⁰ ’ ‘ Shakespeare responded to the new theatrical developments in the later part of his career in a way that fully exploited the old tradition in which he had been bred and to which his earlier plays are a testimony. Consciousness of theatrical form […] is profoundly enriched by associations of the dramatist's creative process with that of Nature and of the providence of his tragicomic design with the Providence that embraces his characters and audience alike. The result is a drama whose argument of wonder confirms the truth as well as the possibilities of our own experience. ⁵⁵³ ’