Signs of change in Jacobean city comedy

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with a study of a particular genre, Jacobean city comedy, in relation to its socio-economic and religious context. It aims to show that the structural forms of city comedy share similarities with structures in Jacobean social consciousness. By arguing that the plays are productions of a material age this study suggests that these structures are manifestations of ideological changes brought about by two related systems of thought: capitalism and Protestantism.