The Healthy Body: Desire and Sustenance in John Lyly’s Love’s Metamorphosis
Dooley, Mark
Early Modern Literary Studies 6.2 (September, 2000)
Abstract
John Lyly’s play Love’s Metamorphosis is described on its title page as “A Witty and Courtly Pastoral” and was first performed around 1590 by the Children of Paul’s. This essay argues that Love’s Metamorphosis is one of a series of plays by Lyly which explore the tension between erotic desire and chastity but, unlike the earlier plays which, it is argued by critics, celebrate chastity as a form of praise for the cult of virginity promoted by Elizabeth I, this play critiques virginity and promotes an active sexuality as chastity. The central concern of Love’s Metamorphosis is the relation between the corporeal body and its material and emotional/social requirements, and this, I shall show, is a relation which structures the entire narrative of the play.
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