Byron, Lord - Charles J. Clancy (essay date 1982)
Charles J. Clancy (essay date 1982)
SOURCE: Clancy, Charles J. “Death and Love in Byron's Sardanapalus.” The Byron Journal 10 (1982): 56-70.
[In the following essay, Clancy considers the relationship between death and love in Sardanapalus.]
Sardanapalus1 has been compared to the tragedies of Seneca by Kahn,2 and to the heroic tragedies of Dryden by Cooke.3 It has been read by a number of critics as an autobiographical play,4 and considered from the point of view of its acting in its bowdlerized editions by Nurmi, Taborski, and Howell.5 The most prevalent critical approach, which takes a number of forms, is that which examines the principle of duality in the play. G. Wilson Knight argues that bisexuality is the key to Sardanapalus;6 Paul Elledge agrees and further suggests that the play unfolds as the hero's character evolves positively;7 Allen...
[The entire page is 6425 words long]
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