ABSTRACT
Although Renaissance theorists emphasized literature’s morally didactic function and its obligation to render vice hateful, early modern literature features some of the most compelling representations of evil in the history of Western literature. This violation of contemporary theoretical norms was particularly acute on the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage, where witty and engaging villains upstaged virtuous characters and indulged in baroque acts of sadism and depravity. This chapter examines the disjunction between theory and practice through analyses of the work of the prominent antitheatrical writer, Stephen Gosson (1554-1624), and one of Shakespeare’s most notorious tragedies: Titus Andronicus (c. 1592). Gosson demonstrates the persistent conflation of aesthetic and moral elements and standards within early modern theoretical discourse, which typically reinforces the connection between beauty and virtue and renders the appeal of evil as such inconceivable. However, Gosson also suggests that a love of sin might be natural and that objects thought to be unpleasant might actually be aesthetically pleasing. In Titus Andronicus, this seemingly perverse aesthetic sensibility largely governs the play. The primary effect of the play’s exploration of the depths of blood and horror is to aestheticize violence and to articulate and develop a connoisseurship of pain. Characters within the play who are able to do so become more morally compromised but also more dramatically impressive.
