ABSTRACT
A. R. Braunmuller 337 James IV, probably Greene's last play, does not deserve one critic's epithet
of "moral tragedy"; it does, however, bring coherence to its jumble of literary bits and pieces and provides a complex view ofhuman passion and its social effects. In response to the potential intricacies ofhis subject, Greene elaborately complicates two features of the play: its treatment of dramatic illusion and its handling of romantic, pastoral, and comic conventions. Finally, the play makes no claim to a satisfactory comic resolution of the moral and social crises it presents. 5 Before proceeding to study the relations among dramatic illusion, convention, and the play's subject, I should perhaps offer some support for the proposition that Greene possesses the dramatic ability required to justify a more sophisticated reading of the play.
