CRITICISM

Cutts, John P. “Shakespeare's Song and Masque Hand in The Two Noble Kinsmen.” English Miscellany 18 (1967): 55-85.

Attacks the problem of authorship through an examination of the use of masque, music, and song in all of the plays the King's Men performed during the reign of James I, particularly focusing on The Two Noble Kinsmen.

Potter, Lois. “The Two Noble Kinsmen: Spectacle and Narrative.” In The Show Within: Dramatic and Other Insets. English Renaissance Drama (1550-1642): Proceedings of the International Conference Held in Montpellier 22-25 November 1990, edited by François Laroque, pp. 235-51. Montpellier: Publications de Université Paul-Valéry. 1992.

Studies the relationship between the play's elaborate ceremonies and its use of narrative, noting that the play emphasizes narrative over spectacle.

———. “Topicality or Politics? The Two Noble Kinsmen, 1613-34.” In The Politics of Tragicomedy: Shakespeare and After, edited by Gordon McMullan and Jonathan Hope, pp. 77-91. London: Routledge, 1992.

Questions whether or not The Two Noble Kinsmen can be viewed as “inherently political” and comments on the politics of theater and criticism. Potter argues that the political meaning of the play is a matter of context, and in this case, the context is the politics of literary criticism.

Thompson, Ann. “The Two Noble Kinsmen.” In Shakespeare's Chaucer: A Study in Literary Origins, pp. 166-215. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1978.

Offers a detailed comparison of the play with its source, Chaucer's The Knight's Tale, stating that the skepticism in the play is in part due to Chaucer's influence.

Waith, Eugene M. Introduction to The Two Noble Kinsmen, by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, edited by Eugene M. Waith, pp. 1-74. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989.

Provides an overview of the play, discussing its publication and early performances, the authorship controversy, textual history, sources, issues related to the performance and interpretation of the play, and the collaborative structure of the play.