Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The Two Noble Kinsmen has always had an uneasy relationship with the Shakespearean canon. Based on Chaucer's The Knight's Tale (from The Canterbury Tales ), it was first published in 1634 and attributed to Shakespeare and John Fletcher, a dramatist better known for his collaborative relationships with Francis Beaumont and Philip Massinger. The Fletcher–Shakespeare pairing has been credited with two further creations, the lost Cardenio and Henry VIII; or, All is True. All three playtexts are presumed to have been written between 1612 and 1613. Some critics have cast doubt on Shakespearean participation in The Two Noble Kinsmen ; others have suggested alternative or additional collaborators, such as professional actor and playwright Nathan Field ( Hedrick 1989 ). The inclusion of the play in all standard series of Shakespeare today would suggest that his contribution is now less in doubt, although the critical consensus as to which sections of the play he wrote varies. Collaboration per se is only now beginning to receive due attention in literary criticism, due in large part to the pioneering scholarship of ( Gordon McMullan and Jeffrey Masten McMullan 1994 ; Masten 1997 ). What is certain, however, is that any essay such as this, a contribution to a volume on Shakespeare, must pay due attention to the contributions of Fletcher to the play under discussion. In some cases ... log in or subscribe to read full text