ABSTRACT
A Larum For London repeatedly emphasizes its moral lessons, explicitly justifying its lurid depictions of violence as illustrations of Spanish cruelty and the consequences of Flemish pride and luxury. The play contains many scenes of cruelty and brutality, ostensibly presented for the edification of its audience, yet the amount and type of violence depicted in the play challenge the boundaries of propriety; gratuitous is, in fact, the word best describing the playwright's use of violence. A Larum For London succeeds where Jack Straw and Sir Thomas More failed. The authors of these plays attempted to exploit anti-immigrant feelings by dramatizing historical instances of English violence against immigrants, but they were frustrated in their efforts by the state; the evidence offered by these plays suggests that Tilney would allow only innocuous depictions of these events. The author of A Larum For London, however, successfully exploits anti-immigrant sentiments by presenting the Spanish attack on Antwerp as a moral lesson.
