ABSTRACT
Within the context of the early modern understanding of the concept of authority, the following introduction considers the perceived relationship between the noble status afforded to humanist learning, as variously defined, and the authority invested in the teacher's role. In connection with this perception, it discusses the functionality of education as instrumental to the state control of religion and society and, accordingly, that of the schoolmaster as a socializing agent. However, also addressed is the fact that most teachers did not enjoy advanced social standing. Rather, the profession was generally characterized by pejorative associations, connotations affirmed by a preponderance of contemporary stage counterparts performing permutations of pedantic stereotypes that implicitly derogated true scholars and their learning. Further, against the background of the evolution of contending socio-cultural networks and values – religious, commercial, and educational – with implications for the stability of traditional forms of authority and uncertainty regarding the locus of obedience, humanism as an authorizing agency was increasingly beset by insecurity. Yet, despite the failings of its intellectual and societal project, among them, certain unintended consequences of inherent contradictions, the pedagogical agenda survived. And, as the later plays explored in subsequent chapters of this study appear to suggest, the seventeenth century witnessed an emerging emphasis on the humane senses of the term ‘humanist’.
