"Drawing upon popular practices, vernacular literature and neglected archival deposits, Constructing 'Monsters' in Shakespearean Drama and Early Modern Culture argues for the crucial place of the 'monster' in the early modern imagination. At once intangible and corporeal, classifiable and incomprehensible, the 'monster' answered to conflicting anxieites about social identity while also shaping the period's new philosophies.

The metaphorical significance of 'monstrous' forms extends across a range of early modern exhibition spaces - fairground displays, 'cabinets of curiosity' and court entertainments. But the 'monster', Burnett contends, finds its most intriguing manifestation in the ideological investments, and performative activities, of contemporary theatre. The study's new readings of Shakespeare, Marlowe and Jonson establish forceful links between seemingly divergent locations, thereby restoring to the theatre and its productions a multi-layered cultural resonance.

This volume makes a powerful case for the drama's contribution to debates about the 'extraordinary body'."--BOOK JACKET.