Galatea and Midas by George Hunter

Galatea and Midas by George Hunter

Galatea and Midas are two of John Lyly's most engaging plays. Lyly took up the story of two young women, Galatea (or Gallathea) and Phillida who are dressed up in male clothes by their fathers so that they can avoid the requirement of the god Neptune that every year 'the fairest and chastest virgin in all the country' be sacrificed to a sea-monster. Hiding together in the forest, the two maidens fall in love, each supposing the other to be a young man. Galatea has become the subject of considerable feminist critical study in recent years. Midas (1590) uses mythology in quite a different way, dramatising two stories about King Midas in such a way as to fashion a satire of King Philip of Spain (and of any tyrant like him) for colossal greediness and folly. In the wake of the defeat of Philip's Armada fleet and its attempted invasion of England in 1588, this satire was calculated to win the approval of Queen Elizabeth and her court.

George K. Hunter is Professor Emeritus at Yale University

David Bevington is Phyllis Fay Horton Professor in the Humanities at the University of Chicago

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780719078279
ISBN 10	071907827X
Title	Galatea and Midas
Author	George Hunter
Series	The Revels Plays
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Manchester University Press
Year published	2007-01-01
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.