The development of character presentation in Elizabethan prose fiction, with some particular reference to the works of Thomas Deloney

Abstract

This thesis sets out to demonstrate the gradual growth of interest in, and successful presentation of, character traceable during the Elizabethan period. It attempts to show: (a) the lack both of conscious interest in character and of the tools for its portrayal in the early years; (b) the effects of the period of apprenticeship -the assimilation of new character-types and the development of the methods of presentation; (c) the emergence of certain writers, notably Gascoigne, Greene, Nashe and Deloney, who made original advances in the field of characterisation. It has proved necessary to investigate the origins of English Renaissance fiction in order to reveal the paucity of the story-teller's stock-in-trade at the beginning of the period. Interest in character is to-day taken so much for granted that the lack of satisfying characterisation in early fiction may be wrongly ascribed to failure on the writer's part successfully to fulfil his aims. In fact, the depiction of human personalities and relationships was little part of his aim, and conscious interestin character, except under its moral aspect, was rare. Against this background, the successes of a few writers stand out in their true perspective. The most successful creators of character were, with the possible exception of Robert Greene, innovators rather than perfecters of others' techniques. It has been possible, by concentrating on their achievements in characterisation alone, and by measuring these against the achievements of the average fiction-writer of the day, to shed new light on the work of Gascoigne, Greene, Nashe and Deloney. In particular, a reassessment of the relative merits of Greene's various works of fiction has been arrived at, and the detailed analysis of Deloney's methods of characterisation has shown how he achieved the considerable success now generally conceded to him.