Flowers of Friendship: Amity and Tragic Desire in "The Two Noble Kinsmen."

Author / Editor
Stretter, Robert.

Title
Flowers of Friendship: Amity and Tragic Desire in "The Two Noble Kinsmen."

Published
English Literary Renaissance 47 (2017): 270-300.

Description
Argues that Shakespeare and John Fletcher's adaptation of KnT in "The Two Noble Kinsmen" emphasizes the failure of same-sex friendship, darkens tone, and approaches tragic pessimism--in contrast with Chaucer's "cautiously optimistic philosophical romance." Compares aspects of the play with KnT--particularly details pertaining to flower imagery and same-sex friendship in tension with erotic, procreative love--and assesses the anxious depiction of Chaucer and literary paternity in the prologue to "The Two Noble Kinsmen."

Chaucer Subjects
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion
Knight and His Tale
Style and Versification